8 Bladon Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A semi-detached two-storey gentleman’s residence with attic and basement, built 1877. Rectangular on plan, the pair with 14 - 16 Bladon Park are symmetrical to the West - facing Malone Road. It has a irregular five-openings wide elevation to the south, with projecting porch having conservatory over; perpendicular two-storey return to east, further abutted by recent two-storey glass conservatory extension.

Steeply pitched gabled natural slate roof with rolled lead ridge around flat central section; overhanging eaves on exposed rafter tails with bargeboards and fascia; uPVC rainwater goods; finials to attic gables; attic dormer to west having leaded cheeks and finial. Two substantial red brick chimneystacks with projecting blue-brick banding, moulded copings and four yellow clay pots (one stack shared with adjoining house). Similarly detailed slender red brick chimneystack with three yellow clay pots to east. Walling is Flemish bonded red clay brick with flush blue clay brick banding at cill and lintel level. Sandstone plaque located to first floor west elevation between nos. 8 and 14 - 16 Bladon Park with inscription ‘GRETTON VILLAS/1877.’ Square-headed, shouldered window openings with chamfered red brick surrounds, chamfered flush sandstone sills and profiled shouldered lintels, polychromatic brick voussoirs beneath dog-toothed blue brick hood moulds. Paired window openings to principal rooms. Windows are painted timber 1/1 sliding sashes with horns. Square-headed door opening located in projecting red brick porch, centrally located to south elevation.

West elevation, facing the Malone Road, has a gabled right bay over a two-storey canted bay, dormer to left bay. Windows are paired (with exception of canted bay, which has traditional three to each floor).

North elevation fully abutted by adjoining building - 14 - 16 Bladon Park HB26 17 023B

East elevation (rear) is gabled over each bay; right bay has a pair of windows (plainly detailed) to first floor and attic; window with floating sidelights to ground floor. Left bay is abutted by lower two-storey return, with perpendicular ridge; it has margin-paned sashes to north and south, and east elevation is further abutted by a contemporary two-storey fully glazed extension.

South elevation is five windows wide, irregularly arranged; extreme left bay has a pair of windows directly aligned to each floor; to its right is the entrance bay; primary entrance is contained within a projecting porch surmounted by a glazed conservatory extension to first floor; the opening is shouldered with chamfered brick jambs and sandstone lintel; the door is six-panelled double-leaf with brass furniture and an overlight; there is a window to each cheek. Immediately to right, closely spaced, is a single window to each floor, both bays are spanned by a gablet. The two right bays are slightly subservient in detailing, and windows are diminished in size over three floors; all windows are single with exception of paired window to ground floor right. The South elevation fo the lower two storey section has two windows on each floor - detailed as others on this elevation.

Setting
Located on the east side of the Malone Road, accessed from Bladon Park. The property is set back from the Malone Road and Bladon Park within a large private manicured garden enclosed by a quarry-faced basalt wall to Malone Road; boundary walls to Bladon Park are c.2000 in a historic style, also giving access to a contemporary housing development to east. Entrance to Bladon Park from Malone Road flanked by original curved sandstone walls with decorative moulded sandstone piers surmounted by cast-iron urns. Gate lodge, built at the same time, located on south side of Bladon Park.

Materials:
Roof: slate
Walling: red and blue clay brick
RWG: uPVC
Windows: timber sliding sash

Historical information

The former No.128 Malone Road was designed c.1877 by architect William Batt as a pair with no.130 Malone Road to the north and no.128A, a small gate lodge on the opposite corner of Bladon Park to the south. Batt designed numerous houses in the Malone and Stranmillis area, from large Victorian Villas to smaller suburban Edwardian houses. Commonly referred to as Gretton Villas, nos.128-130 Malone Road were built for and let by Robert Atkinson who lived at Beaumont, a large house located immediately north of the Villas on the Malone Road (now demolished). Brett (1978) implies that the name derived from the English brewing firm Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton who owned several warehouses in Belfast at this time. While no connection can be found between the villas and the firm, the company’s ownership of Bladon Castle in Derbyshire and the street name Bladon Park lends weight to this claim. The address at this time is recorded in the valuation revisions as no.1 Bladon Park, later changing to no.98 Malone Road and, perhaps erroneously, being recorded on one occasion as no.130 Malone Road. The house is occasionally referred to as South Gretton - It has been renumbered 14 - 16 Bladon Park.

The first recorded occupant was Charles Henry Brett, co-founder of law firm L'Estrange and Brett, who lived in no.128 from c.1883. The address at this time is recorded as no.1 Bladon Park.

The house was severely damaged by a fire on 3 March 1892. Charles lodged an insurance claim on the 1st April 1892 with the Alliance Life and Fire Assurance Co, London, for the total of £868. Papers accompanying the claim state that the kitchen, lobby and stairs, study, large first floor bedroom and the east and south west bedrooms on the second floor were totally destroyed, with significant damage throughout the rest of the house. The claim included a telescope, a microscope, five violins, two violas, two violincellos and two pianofortes. The valuation revisions value the house at £73 c.1897, presumably before the damage to the house had been rectified as this rises to £106 c.1906. Larmour (1991) notes that, after this fire, the elaborate pierced bargeboards seen in a sketch of the houses in the Irish Builder were not reinstated. The valuation revisions of 1906-1915 notes the presence of a gardener's house, valued at £6 and sub-let to a James Gwynne.

Papers of L'Estrange and Brett indicate a dispute regarding an escalation of the rent to £165 per annum, with a 'Notice to Quit' order being issued to repossess the property in 1922. This, however, appears to have been resolved as Sir Charles remained in Gretton Villas until his death in 1926. His daughters, Helen, Lucy and Mary (also recorded as Margaret), are recorded as living in the property as late as 1951.

A planning application, lodged on 4th October 2002, was approved to erect a triple garage and new boundary wall. A subsequent application, lodged 28th March 2006, was approved for new walls, gateway and fencing to nos.128 and 128A. Despite these alterations, the original gate piers flanking the entrance to Bladon Park have been retained.

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/64/2 Second Edition OS map (1823)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/64/3 Third Edition OS map (1901)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/31A General Valuation of Ireland – Annual Revisions (1897-1905)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/42 General Valuation of Ireland – Annual Revisions (1906-1915)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/42 General Valuation of Ireland – Annual Revisions (1916-1930)
6. PRONI D3303/12/T Miscellaneous legal papers relating to Sir Charles Henry Brett
7. PRONI Street Directories 1901-1992
8. Planning
references Z/2002/2274/F and Z/2006/0967/F

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, Paul ‘The Architectural Heritage of Malone and Stranmillis’ Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1991
2. Brett, C.E.B. 'Long Shadows Cast Before: nine lives in Ulster, 1625-1977' J.Bartholomew, 1978

Online Sources

1. The National Archives of Ireland, 1901 census (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Cromac/Bladon_Park/)
2. The National Archives of Ireland, 1911 census (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Cromac/Bladon_Park/)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

8 Bladon Park is one of a handsome and imposing pair of semi-detached villas, built in the late 1870s to designs by William Batt, who designed several large residences in the Malone area. The villas are a good example of Batt's preferred High Victorian style, defined by finialled gables and polychrome brick tempered with sandstone dressings; the detailing is not as ornate as built, following significant fire damage in the late nineteenth century, when pierced bargeboards were replaced with a plainer style. Nonetheless, the pair are well-proportioned and retain a largely original aspect with consistent detailing . No. 8 has recent glazed additions, but these have been designed in a sympathetic style which does not detract from the special architectural interest of the house. The pair are prominently located on the main road, within Malone Conservation Area, and are much enhanced by a fine mature setting with some boundary features intact, and the original gate lodge, which is located at the corner of Bladon Park. Historically the villas are representative of the development of prestigious suburbs to the south of Belfast city, to accommodate the city's wealthiest citizens. The house has associations with Charles Henry Brett, founder of well-regarded Belfast law firm, L'Estrange and Brett.
No 8 Bladon Park has group value with it neighbour No 14 - 16 Bladon Park (HB26 17 023B) and its original gate lodge 1 Bladon Park (HB26 17 024).

General comments

This record has been re-numbered and was previously HB26/17/023.

Formerly 128 Malone Road.