143 Malone Road, Belfast BT9 6SX

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial two-storey Italianate stuccoed former villa with open-columned porch, built 1897 for Frank Kerr Solicitor, to designs by architect William J Moore. Now in use as offices for the Construction Employers Federation.
Located on the corner of Malone Road and Myrtlefield Park, the building faces SE onto Malone Road behind an original painted lined and ruled rendered wall with square piers and replacement metal railings. It sits back from the main road, overlooking a lawn to front, surrounded by mature landscaping and is located on the SW side of St John’s Church of Ireland (HB26/18/015). Former lawn to rear is now hard-surfaced car parking.
Original single-storey gatelodge located on S corner of site, now refurbished.

Building consists of an advanced main front block, lower two-storey wing on NE side, which is abutted to rear by a pitched-roof one-and-a-half storey extension on NW side with single-storey returns. The latter extension is built adjacent to the hall on the NW side of the adjacent St John’s Church.
Main block has painted, ruled and lined rendered walls, a natural slate hipped roof with lead ridges and central flat section. Two rendered chimneys on front pitch and one on rear. Return on NE side of front block has hipped roof with central flat section, no chimneys.
All windows to former villa are original 1/1 timber sliding sash with single glazing with exception of three replacement uPVC windows to rear façade of side return.
Painted moulded stone surrounds to all windows with exception of bay windows; painted plinth, stone cills and string courses.
Raised, toothed painted stone quoins. Corbelled, dentilled eaves beneath moulded cast iron guttering.

Front elevation (SE)
Advanced, symmetrical front block on left side, with lower two-storey return wing on right.
Front block has central open porch flanked by single-storey canted bays with flat parapet lead roofs and square-headed window openings.
Open porch has four painted stone columns with Corinthian capitals, square pillars to outer corners and circular to centre.
Original bolection moulded six-panelled timber front door with decorative carved timber surround.
Three pairs of window openings on first floor level with arched heads.
Side return has two window openings to ground floor level, one at each side, and four openings on first floor level.

Side elevation (SW)
Main block to right side with canted bay window (same as front elevation) on left of ground floor level, two window openings to right of bay and two pairs of window openings on first floor.
Raised patio area to left side of main block.
SW façade of rear return onto raised patio area with shallow square bay with three window openings on ground floor level, three window openings aligned above with painted stone surrounds. Single window opening on right side on both levels.

Rear Elevation (NW)
Main block has a varied fenestration, with a large stained glass window with arched head to approximate centre of façade at half landing level, a canted bay window on left and other single window openings. Rear door located in left corner with panelled timber door with upper glazed panel within painted stone moulded surround.
Painted render chimney stacks located on both left and right sides.
Rear of return has three square uPVC replacement windows on ground floor level and three window openings on first floor level.

NW side of return is abutted by one-and-a-half storey extension with painted lined and ruled rendered walls, pitched natural slate roof and black clay ridge tiles. Varied fenestration with mixture of replacement uPVC and timber windows and roof light windows at eaves level with window openings below.
Tall plain chimney to rear gable. One-and-a-half storey extension is abutted by single storey returns on SW and NE sides with monopitch roofs.

Side elevation (NE)
Ground floor is abutted by a flat-roofed single-storey extension/return. Three window openings to first floor level.

Setting:
Located on a large corner site on corner of Malone Road and Myrtlefield Park, the building faces SE onto Malone Road behind an original painted line and ruled rendered wall with square piers and replacement metal railings. It sits back from the main road, overlooking a lawn to front, surrounded by mature landscaping and is located on the SW side of St John’s Church of Ireland (HB26/18/015). Former lawn to rear is now hard-surfaced car parking.
Original single-storey rendered gatelodge located on S corner of site, now refurbished with replacement windows and artificial slate roof.

Materials:
Walls – painted lined & ruled render with painted stone surrounds and quoins
Roof – natural slate with lead ridges
Windows – 1/1 timber, sliding sash with exception of small number of replacement windows to rear
Rainwater goods – painted cast iron gutters, painted cast iron downpipes and painted PVC downpipes

Historical information

The current substantial villa dwelling in a classical style was built in 1897 for Frank Kerr, solicitor, to designs by W J Moore (Dictionary of Irish Architects) and was subsequently occupied consecutively by three successful Belfast businessmen and their families before being converted to offices in the 1970s.

The house was initially named ‘Altfort’, and was the residence of Frank Kerr, solicitor. The site chosen was a plot lying between St John’s Church (built 1893-4) and an old farmhouse, ‘Myrtlefield’ (dating from c1780-1801 – demolished c1900 but gave its name to nearby Myrtlefield Park). Paul Larmour remarks that the style of the dwelling is ‘rather sober and conservative…unaffected by any of the emerging decorative trends of the nineties’, perhaps as befits the conservative profession of its builder, Frank Kerr.
The dwelling was entered into valuation records in 1897 at a valuation of £140. Valuation records also record the gate lodge at a valuation of £4. The cost of construction was estimated by valuers at £2,500-3,000 and the house was said to be of brick and slate, with the valuation plan showing a stable courtyard attached to the N corner of the house. Additional stables were added to the courtyard in 1911.

The 1901 census records Frank Kerr, solicitor, living with his wife, Isabella and four children ranging in age from 5 to 15. The family had two servants, a cook from Maghera, Derry and an English housemaid. Outbuildings included three stables, a coach house, a harness room, a cow house and a hay house. The gardener, Arthur Toner, lived in the gate house at the time of the census.

Frank Kerr lived at Altfort until c1910 and then moved to another house nearby in Myrtlefield Park, which he also named Altfort. At the time of his death in 1933, Frank Kerr was described as an ‘outstanding man’, having ‘broad views and sympathies’ and ‘kindness of heart’. Kerr was born in Dromore and apprenticed to a Police Court solicitor, becoming a solicitor himself in 1887, and rapidly building a up a lucrative business. Kerr was solicitor to the Tramways Committee of Belfast Corporation for 30 years. He was a prominent Catholic who was described on his death as having a ‘very broad mind and ideas’ with a genial disposition and a love of sport and sterling character. This led him to have a wide circle of friends, professionally and socially. He was a keen huntsman and member of the County Down Staghounds Hunt Club and of Royal County Down Golf Club, but following an accident had to give up some of these activities. Two of his sons were killed in WW1, his son, Private John (Jack) Kerr was killed in action on 20th March 1917 during the German retreat to the Hindenburg line (resident in Canada and fighting with Australian Infantry, 21st Infantry Battalion) and is buried in the Villers Bretonneux military cemetery near the Australian National Memorial. Lieutenant James Kerr of the Royal Irish Rifles won an award for gallant conduct and constant devotion to duty in the field before being killed in action on 21st March 1918 at the start of the German spring offensive and is buried at Pozières, 30 km away from his brother. Two other sons became priests, Very Rev Hugh Kerr, parish priest in Gweedore and his brother Rev Frank Kerr CC of St Malachy’s church, Belfast, subsequently Parish Priest at St Matthew’s.

The architect of the dwelling house, William John Moore of Belfast, had a varied practice that included commercial and industrial premises and housing but is perhaps best known for his churches (Churches of St Mary, Cushendall; St Mary Star of the Sea, Portstewart; St Patrick and St Brigid, Glenariff). Moore was also prominent in the public life of Belfast as a Nationalist Councillor for the Falls (1907), and an alderman and vice-chair of the Improvement Committee (the body that granted ‘planning permission’) of Belfast Corporation until 1919. Moore was a director of the ‘Irish News’ and of the Celtic Football Club. Described on his death as an ‘eminent Catholic citizen’, his funeral was ‘one of the most remarkable witnessed in the city for a long time’ and was attended by large numbers from ‘every section of the community’.

After Frank Kerr had left the house, it passed to Adam Clarke Capper (1861-1945), a linen and cotton yarn merchant. Capper worked in the linen yarn business of his father, also called Adam Clarke Capper (1828-1894) and is recorded in the 1911 census, living in the current dwelling with his English wife, Rebecca, and four children, the oldest son an apprentice in the yarn business. This family also had a cook and a housemaid, advertising for ‘reliable useful help’ in 1920 specifying ‘Protestant’. The house had 19 rooms. A C Capper renamed the house ‘Malvern’, the name of a spa town in Worcestershire, a name it retained until the 1970s, through several changes of owner. The English chauffeur, Frederick Sheppard, lived in the gate lodge at the time of the census, with his Scottish wife and the 1911 census return shows a motor house listed as an outbuilding. In 1911, there were only 5,058 cars licensed in the whole of Ireland, the wealthy merchant classes of Belfast being relatively rapid adopters of the new means of transport.

Adan Clarke Capper’s son, also named Adam Clarke Capper (1894-1916) who was educated at Inst and Queen’s before becoming an apprentice in the yarn business, was commissioned as an officer in November 1914 and was killed in the Battle of the Somme as part of the capture of the village of Ginchy on 9th September 1916 at the age of 23.

In 1934, valuation records give details of the interior. The house had electric lighting and on the ground floor there was a hall with mahogany dado panelled walls (this appears to have survived), four reception rooms, the dining room having a parquet floor, a cloak room, hot and cold water and WC, two pantries, a kitchen and scullery. On the first floor were three double bedrooms, one with a dressing room off, a modern bathroom with hot and cold water and a tiled floor, a dressing room, a storeroom which was a former billiard room and a maid’s double bedroom. The main landing and staircase also had dado panelling and there were two bedrooms on the attic floor. Outbuildings included the former stables which had a loft over and were used as a motor house for two cars with roller shutter doors. In the remaining outbuildings were three horse stalls and a harness room. The valuation plan also shows a greenhouse abutting the stableyard and a summer house in the garden. In 1935 it is noted that the house was ‘old but compact, well planned and in good repair’.

Rebecca Capper died in 1944 and her husband shortly afterwards in 1945. In addition to being governing director of AC Capper & Sons, Capper was also a member of the Belfast Philharmonic Society for 50 years and a member of the Ulster Reform Club for 35 years. After Adam Clarke’s death in 1945 the contents of the house were sold by auction and a full inventory is given in the Belfast Newsletter of 24th July 1945. The contents included large quantities of valuable antique furniture including pieces by Sheraton, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Adam and Louis XV and XVI French furniture, and water colours and oils by notable English Victorian artists such as Myles Birket Foster, Samuel Bough, John Brett and William Callow as well as the Irish artist, William Conor.

In 1946 the house was purchased for £3,650, by Hugh Armstrong, building contractor with premises in Lower Windsor Avenue. Armstrong was a prominent member of the business community and the public life of Belfast, being both a member of the Belfast Corporation for many years and a Harbour Commissioner. The gate lodge, which comprised three rooms, a living room, bedroom and small pantry with sink and a yard and outdoor WC was renovated by Armstrong and extended into the yard with the addition of an indoor bathroom. It was then occupied by Thomas Stringer, the gardener. Armstrong died in January 1949 and his widow died shortly afterwards in January 1952. The house was advertised for sale in 1952 and a full description is given in the Belfast Newsletter. Of the ‘superior’ and ‘attractively designed’ residence, with on the ground floor: a spacious hall with fireplace and wide branching staircase, drawing room with bay, morning room with bay, dining room, study and two cloakrooms, kitchen, 2 pantries, scullery and larder. On the first floor were 6 bedrooms and one dressing room, two bathrooms, a linen press and two attic bedrooms. The outdoor yard contained a wash house, coalhouse and WC, a stable and harness room with 3 loose boxes, a large garage and a potting shed.

The house was subsequently purchased by the Cromie family. Enoch Garfield Cromie, a ‘wholesale meats and livestock contractor’, based in Belfast Abbatoir in Stewart Street, supplied butchers across Belfast and beyond and Frederick John Cromie (probably Enoch’s brother) worked as a Director of the business. Enoch was resident until at least 1962 and Frederick John Cromie remained in the house until his death in 1969. F J Cromie had been associated with the cattle trade across the island of Ireland for 40 years. He was a native of Moy, County Down and began working for his father in the butchery trade at the age of 17, eventually becoming, with his brother, a cattle exporter and owner of a chain of butcher’s shops. Frederick’s widow, Mrs Greta Cromie, the Northern Ireland representative of the Women’s Section of the British Legion continued to live in the house for several years after her husband’s death.

In the 1970s the house was taken over by the Federation of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors NI Ltd, now known as Construction Employers’ Federation and converted to offices (1974-5). The house has undergone some changes since that time. Paul Larmour noted in 1991 that the CEF deserved congratulations ‘for keeping the whole property, both house and gardens, in such immaculate condition, and for having converted the house to offices in such a discreet manner’. The NE wing has been extended and remodelled internally (planning consent 2008) but the historic elevations have been largely retained. A raised patio has been constructed to the rear and the former gardens to the rear have been tarmacked for car parking (planning consents 1991 and 1998). The current gates and railings are replacement (planning consent 1998).

References:
Primary Sources:

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832-3)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-21)
5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920 and 1931)
6. PRONI VAL/7/B/14/28 Belfast Revaluation Field Book 1900
7. PRONI VAL/12/A/7/R/41 Valuers’ Note Book 1914
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/6C Annual Revisions (1879-1885)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/6D Annual Revisions (1885-1893)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/6E Annual Revisions (1894-1897)
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/1 Annual Revisions (1897-1905)
12. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/4 Annual Revisions (1906-1915)
13. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/7 Annual Revisions (1916-1930)
14. PRONI Wills – Adam Clarke Capper, died 9th September 1916
15. PRONI Wills – Rebecca Capper, died 24th July 1944
16. PRONI Wills – Adam Clarke Capper, died 22nd May 1945
17. PRONI Wills – Hugh Armstrong, died 20th January 1949
18. PRONI Wills – Katherine Annie Armstrong, died 10th January 1952
19. Irish Independent, 25th September 1916
20. Northern Whig, 3rd October 1916
21. Belfast Weekly Telegraph, 21st April 1917
22. Irish Weekly, 5th May 1917
23. Northern Whig, 10th April 1918
24. Belfast Newsletter, 28th April 1920
25. Belfast Telegraph, 14th November 1921
26. Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner, 19th November 1921
27. Larne Times, 31st August 1929
28. Northern Whig, 4th October 1933
29. Northern Whig, 5th October 1933
30. Belfast Newsletter, 23rd May 1945
31. Belfast Newsletter 24th July 1945
32. Belfast Newsletter, 17th October 1945
33. Belfast Newsletter, 8th March 1946
34. Belfast Newsletter, 21st January 1949
35. Belfast Newsletter, 21st February 1952
36. Northern Whig, 10th December 1955
37. Belfast Newsletter, 18th August 1962
38. Londonderry Sentinel, 20th October 1965
39. Belfast Telegraph, 6th February 1969
40. Belfast Newsletter, 1st March 1974
41. Belfast Newsletter, 22nd November 1974

Secondary Sources

42. Dictionary of Irish Architects www.dia.ie
43. Jacobson, D S ‘The Motor Industry in Ireland’, Irish Economic and Social History, Vol XII (1985), pp.109-116
44. Larmour, Paul (1991) The Architectural Heritage of Malone and Stranmillis. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1991

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Substantial, two-storey Italianate stuccoed former villa, built 1897 for Frank Kerr Solicitor, to designs by architect William J Moore. Now in use as offices for the Construction Employers Federation, this impeccably maintained building is located on a generous corner site on junction of Malone Road and Myrtlefield Park in South Belfast, surrounded by mature landscaping. The building is located on the SW side of St John’s Church of Ireland (HB26/18/015).
Both the interior and exterior of the main front block retain much original historic fabric and detailing. Externally, details such as 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with single glazing, an open-columned porch with decorative capitals, stone string coursing and corbelled, dentilled eaves survive. Internally there is a fine, decorative timber staircase, much original joinery and particularly fine plaster detailing to ceilings and friezes.
While the NE return has been modernised and extended to the rear, and other alterations have taken place over the years including the alteration of the original gatelodge, this is a building that expresses its significance through retention of its original style, survival of ornamentation and much of the original plan form. Its authenticity, combined with an interesting history determines it to be of special architectural and historic interest.