28 CADOGAN PARK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two and a half storey Edwardian Freestyle asymmetrically planned multi-bay red-brick house, ‘Crusheen’ was built in 1902 to designs by Vincent Craig. The house was built for Francis Hunter, linen manufacturer; it is the first detached dwelling to have been built on a new site in Cadogan Park by the Workman family. Set on a raised site off the tree lined Cadogan Park in South Belfast, within the Malone Conservation Area. Here, detached dwellings of a similar size and scale sit on individual plots of roughly an acre, many of which are in a similar Arts and Crafts style. The front garden of no 28 sits behind a low red-brick retaining wall with spaced pillars and gate posts capped in curved reconstituted stone. A tarmacadam drive leads to the front facing door of the house and then to the rear garden which has a red-brick double garage with painted timber concertina doors; there are fine lawns to front and rear, mature rose beds and specimen trees to front and back gardens.

Pitched multi-gabled diminishing Westmoreland green slated roof. Gutters are half-round cast-iron supported on deeply projecting timber painted eaves and timber soffit in arts and crafts style. Red terracotta ridges and finials to gables. Tall brick chimneys to centre of plan with replacement clay pots.

Walling is exposed red-brick in English Garden wall bond to all elevations except front projecting bay as noted below, which is roughcast rendered with faux half timbering to gable. Windows are generally segmental arched brick openings, with square headed painted timber frames, openings are side casement with metal frame glazed in clear and leaded glass except as described below. Cills are generally reconstituted stone.

Materials:

Walls: red clay brick in English-garden wall bond
Roof: diminishing Westmoreland green slate and felted dormers
Windows: timber frame with metal casement, generally side hung with some leaded and stained glass, unless otherwise stated
RWGs: hoppers and rwgs in painted cast-iron

Front Elevation (S):

Principal (S) Elevation faces Cadogan Park. Asymmetrical arrangement over two and a half storeys, consisting of red brick except in two projecting bays (centre and right) where brick acts as plinth to cill level at ground floor, with string course reconstituted stone cill where the material changes to painted roughcast render in the central bay, continuous glazing to the RH bay. Square-headed timber framed windows with painted metal casements within. Original arts and crafts decorative window ironmongery. To front projecting porch, small window and front door are glazed in leaded stained glass. Front door is original hardwood panelled door with oval upper light in leaded stained glass. Original doorbell in situ. Reconstituted stone elliptically arched coved hood moulds to windows where not in a bay. Central projecting (porch) bay is two storey and has half timbered effect to small gabled roof at first floor. Square headed tri-partite window with leaded and stained glass. RH bay is single storey square on plan with small cloakroom window in leaded glass set in rendered wall giving way to continuous clear glazing, comprising of side hung metal windows within timber frame, wrapped round side to east elevation and painted timber corner column supporting slated roof; original cast-iron rwgs throughout. Raised floor vents in the form of metal grilles bearing the name ‘ROBINSON’S PATENT’ at ground floor level. Segmental arched tri-partite window with leaded glass and small casement attic window also in leaded glass to gable. At roof level, adjacent to chimney, a small dormer tripartite squared metal window to attic appears later than original, and has flat roof in felt.

Side Elevation (E):

East (side) elevation faces on to driveway, consists of four parts: the side of the front (S) projecting single storey timber framed bay, two storey section with overhanging eaves, 2 storey gable with overhanging eaves, and the now partly infilled yard wall with stepped parapet with bullnosed glazed terracotta capping. All in red brick, part obscured by climbing vegetation. Windows are segmental-arched brick arched tripartite timber framed metal side-hung casement as elsewhere, some with leaded lights. A square headed window with reconstituted stone straight head has been inserted into the yard wall at the time of the kitchen extension. A hardwood sheeted and painted timber door leads into the yard. A cast iron opening with the partially visible insignia ‘BROWN AND CO .......’ may indicate where gas or coal originally entered the yard. Painted cast iron rwgs and hoppers.

Rear elevation (N):

Rear (N) elevation faces on to the garden and is in two parts - a small two storey gabled two bay to LHS with the former yard and outbuilding wall makes up the left hand portion; a larger attic storey gable makes up the RHS. Painted plain timber barge with projecting eaves and expose rafters in Arts and Crafts style. Windows are segmental-arched brick with reconstituted stone cills.

Walls which surrounded former yard (now partially enclosed by kitchen) are red brick in English bond, finishing at first floor level with a stepped parapet to east and west, with bullnose glazed teracotta capping, culminating in a tall squared red brick chimney probably to aid extraction originally from the gas boiler.

Within the yard, (see separate description for this yard and outbuildings) the rear elevation has single storey extension infilling most of the yard. A one over one sliding sash opaque single-glazed window looks on to the yard, situated to the left of a projecting 'room' accessed from the former pantry in plan, where an air raid shelter roughly 1m square with flat concrete pavior acting as roof covering has been inserted during the inter-war period. The walls are red brick and the opening which allowed access from the former pantry has been since blocked up.

The RHS of this north elevation consists of a larger gable, having a single storey projecting canted bay at ground floor with curved brick ‘specials’ to corners. Here, the drawing room is accessed from a small, red quarry tiled area of the garden. A hardwood timber painted door with stained glass light to LHS leads directly into the drawing room. The projecting bay has tripartite curved headed window with side hung casement metal windows in timber framed upper lights featuring a maiden in stained glass. Roof to bay is slated with projecting eaves as elsewhere and cast iron rwgs. At first floor single side hung casement windows look into each of the bathrooms and a small leaded light looks into what was the formerly separate wc. The window pertaining to the master bedroom is a tripartite casement with a curved head though the window itself is sqaure-headed. At attic level, a small segmental-arched casement window sits within the gable; a dormer window with a double window in metal and flat felted roof projects to form the bathroom internally, this dormer was probably added at a later date. Decorative wall vents suggest cavity wall construction.

Side Elevation (W)

West (side) elevation has two parts, a two storey section with continuous projecting eaves and a small bay with slightly projecting decorative faux half-timbered gable at first floor only, supported on projecting reconstituted stone cill and timber and reconstituted stone scrolled brackets. Projecting elliptical bay to LHS at ground floor corresponds with drawing room, may be of a later date as brick bond to plinth differs from elsewhere and roof is felt – this may correspond with the time of the insertion of the 2no. Dormers at roof level. Windows to this bay are square-headed metal fixed with smaller top-hung openings.

A single timber framed fixed metal window with elliptical head sits below the projecting bay at ground floor. Painted cast iron floor vents at ground level.

The W elevation returns to the front garden via a modern painted metal gate.

Historical information

Cadogan Park was laid out in c.1900-02 along part of the line of what had originally been a division between two of the - probably early 17th century - strip farms that ran westwards from the high ground of the Malone Ridge to the Bog Meadows, a line that up until 1896 had also acted as the municipal boundary. As the suburbanisation of the Malone area gathered pace in the late 19th century, largely virgin land in the vicinity was acquired from the Shaftesbury (Donegall) estate by Belfast industrialists the Workman brothers in the 1890s, who through their Windsor Building Company (established 1892) and Marlborough Park Company (c.1900) began to sell off plots for development. Named after 5th Earl Cadogan, the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, sites within Cadogan Park, began to be sold (on 10,000yr leaseholds) from 1902 onwards, with present nos.24, 28, 30-34 built between that date and 1907, and much of the rest of the street developed in the 1920s and 1930s.

No.28, ‘Crusheen’, (presumably named after the village in Co. Clare), was the first house to be constructed within the new street, built in 1902-03 to a design by Belfast architect Vincent Craig for Francis Hunter, a 36yr-old Belfast linen merchant. It appears in the valuation book for the first time in 1903, valued for rates purposes at the relatively high sum of £75. Unfortunately appears to be no contemporary descriptions of the house in the ‘Irish Builder’ or any similar source, but it is described a few years later in the 1911 census as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 18 rooms in use by Mr Hunter, his Scots wife, Jenny, and their two domestic servants. In 1917 Hunter sold the lease to Rev. Robert Workman, a retired Presbyterian minister (who served the Glastry congregation up until 1910) and one of the brothers originally involved in the development of Cadogan. He died in 1924 and the house, a ‘detached villa…containing 3 spacious reception rooms, 6 bedrooms, all modern conveniences, southern aspect…’, was sold to Rev. William Colquhoun, Minister of Fitzroy Avenue Presbyterian Congregation.

Colquhoun died in 1934, but the property appears to have remained with his relations until 1943, when it was put up for auction again, the particulars describing it as ‘pleasantly situated in an elevated position’ in a ‘select Park a short distance from Malone Road…substantially constructed and well planned, the principal rooms having a South-westerly aspect’. The accommodation is noted as comprising ‘a porch, attractive Hall (hardwood floor), spacious drawing-room (bow window), dining-room, morning-room, cloakroom (W.C.), mistress's Pantry, modern pantry etc, enclosed yard with wash-house, coalhouse, W.C. etc.’, with a ‘good staircase to first floor, containing 4 Bedrooms, dressing-room, bathroom, W.C., store cupboard, and ‘on the top floor…two maids’ bedrooms, bathroom, boxroom’, whilst outside was a garage and ‘easily-maintained garden.’

It was subsequently acquired by George Rankin, a Co. Donegal-born timber merchant who founded the firm of George Rankin & Co. of Milewater Street, who lived there until his death in February 1945, when after another auction it was sold to Robert McAllister. Mr. McAlister died c.1961 and in 1970 the house passed from Rosaleen McAlister to Hugh and Irene Davis (relatives of the McAlisters?). The most recent owner was Mr. Samuel R. Carnew (another McAlister relation?).

Changes to the property include the addition of a bow window to the west elevation sometime before 1943, possibly c.1930s. The dormers and the enclosure of the attic stair appear to be post c. 1960; the kitchen may also have been extended at this time. To the rear of the former pantry, a small flat-roofed projection served as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War.

The property was listed in 1986, with a grant paid in that year for repairs to the lead valleys, re-fixing of slates and re-pointing of two chimneystacks. In 1988, an application was made for repairs following bomb damage to the building, mainly the replacement of some of the windows and repairs to leaded lights on doors and windows. A subsequent inspection by Historic Buildings reported that the repairs were 'excellent' and 'done exactly as before the bomb'

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D2778/13 Papers relating to the Windsor Building Co. Ltd and the Marlborough Park Company (1892 - 1972)
2 PRONI VAL12B/43/P/1, 1897-1905
3 Deeds and other papers relating to no.28 Cadogan Park, 1902-86 (In possession of owner)
4 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1903 to 1996
5 PRONI OS8/30/5/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1903
6 PRONI VAL12B/43P/3, 1906-15
7 Census of Ireland, 1911 [online]
8 PRONI VAL12B/43P/7, 1916-30
9 OS maps various sheets at 1:1250/2500 scale, 1920-85 [online]
10 ‘Belfast Gazette’, 17 Oct 1924
11 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 31 July 1925, 3 June 1943
12 ‘Northern Whig’, 2 April 1934, 20 June 1945, 30 August 1945

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’, (unpublished QUB MA thesis), 1967
2 Larmour, Paul, ‘The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis’, (UAHS, 1991), p.186

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
V. Authorship

Evaluation

'Crusheen' was designed in 1902 by Vincent Craig for Francis Hunter, linen manufacturer; it was the first house, on a new site, in Cadogan Park, now part of the Malone Conservation Area.

Red brick and rough-cast with half-timber detailing and projecting eaves, it is an attractive example of a house in the 'Edwardian Free Style'. It shows the free apporach to house design at the time, with asymmetrical arrangement of various shaped rooms wth bays clustered around a central hall, big sweeping roofs and fashionable 'Art Nouveau' patterns in the leaded lights. The house is externally and internally almost entirely intact, and is still in its original setting. Designed by one of the leading architects in Ulster at the turn of the century Vincent Craig, this is an important building of significant architectural and historic interest because of its high degree of preservation and famous author.