114 Marlborough Park Central

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical, detached, three-bay, two-storey house, built c.1917, located on the south side of Marlborough Park Central in South Belfast at the East end of the street adjacent to Nos 110 & 112 which are of a similar style. The building is rectangular on plan, without abutments.

Pitched, slightly overhanging, natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and red brick corbelled chimneystacks to each gable, having dentil detailing and cannon-head clay pots (west chimneystack rebuilt). Cast aluminium ogee gutters mounted on painted timber fascia with PVC downpipes. Walling is painted wet-dash. Camber-headed window openings with plain reveals and painted masonry cills, having transomed and mullioned original casement windows.

Principal elevation faces north, and is irregularly arranged, with tripartite casements to left side and ground floor right, and bipartite windows to first floor centre and right; lintel and cill heights are varied. Principal entrance is located to right of centre, set in a segmental opening having floating concrete canopy on chamfered concrete brackets and original timber door with a sixteen-light obscure-glazed cilled upper panel over three vertical bolection moulded panels; it is flanked to right side by a margined leaded sidelight with painted masonry cill.

East gable is blank.

West gable has a bipartite window to ground floor on left side, tripartite window to centre of ground floor and another bipartite to right side. Two bipartite windows to first floor at right side.

The rear (south) elevation has two doors to left side; one on right of pair is an original sheeted door with obscured glazed upper panels (formerly leading to a store), the other door on left is a late twentieth-century replacement with original plain glazed sidelight. There are tripartite windows at each floor to right side only, and a small WC window to right of centre at first floor. Large blank area to left of WC window.

Setting:
The house is located at the East end of Marlborough Park Central, set back from the street within its own grounds, adjacent to Nos 110 & 112, a pair of semi-detached houses of similar style, but otherwise within a mix of houses of different styles and eras. There is a garden to front bounded by a low wall and mature hedge leading out from a vehicle entrance on to a tarmac footpath; the rear garden is bounded by a mature hedge.

Materials
Roof- Natural slate
RWG- Guttering - cast aluminium / Downpipes - PVC
Walls- Painted pebble-dash
Windows- Painted timber casements

Historical information

The area between the Malone and Lisburn Roads was developed by the Windsor Building Company and the Marlborough Park Company during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The third (1904) and fourth (1934) editions of the Ordnance Survey maps show that Marlborough Park North and South were developed first, followed by Central and, lastly, the Cross Avenue. The west end of the Marlborough Park Central appears to have been developed first, with nos.110-114 being among the last houses to be built on the street. The general valuations of 1906-1915 describe the site as "building ground" while the valuations of 1916-1930 indicate that, in 1917, the house was valued at £40 and was occupied by Leslie Johnston. While nos.110-112 are semi-detached and no.114 is detached, the houses are similar in proportion and detailing suggesting a similar period of construction.

The Windsor Building Company and Marlborough Park Company were established by several members of the Workman family in the late 19th century. John and Robert Workman moved from Saltcoats in Ayrshire to Belfast in the early 19th century, whereupon they became deeply involved in the religious life of the town, helping to fund the building of May Street Presbyterian Church, as well as being leading proponents of the industrial expansion of Belfast. John's grandsons, George and Thomas Workman, established many companies throughout the 1880s, most notably the Irish Weaving Company, Workman and Clark Shipbuilders and a series of residential development companies which played a key role in the late Victorian suburban expansion of Belfast, most notably along the Holywood Road in the east and the Malone and Lisburn Roads to the south. In 1892 the brothers established the Windsor Building Company and in 1900 set up the Marlborough Park Company.

The unusual plan of the Marlborough Park area appears to correspond with the shape of a complex of farms located between the Malone and Lisburn Roads. A single entrance is located on each of the main thoroughfares, with the street then branching off into three avenues, Marlborough Park North, Marlborough Park South and Marlborough Park Central. The streets are bisected by a short avenue, Marlborough Park Cross Avenue, to the east. The streets were developed incrementally between the 1890s and 1930s and, as such, are executed in a range of styles representative of the periods in which they were built, including late Victorian terraces, Edwardian domestic architecture and inter-war suburban residences.

The valuation revisions show that in 1934 no.114, along with the majority of the Marlborough Park area, was leased by A.W.Vance, while the rent books of the Marlborough Park Company in 1938 show that the rent was being paid by 'Vance and Browne.' A.W.Vance was a building developer and philanthropist who married the daughter of former Lord Mayor of Belfast, John Browne. Browne was notable for his charitable works in the town, and Vance appears to have become involved in the establishment of homes for disabled people, known at the time as 'Homes for Rest' and later as the Northern Ireland Institute for the Disabled, throughout the city through his father in law.

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/2 Second Edition OS map (1823)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 Third Edition OS map (1904)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 Fourth Edition OS map (1934)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/1 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1897 - 1905)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/P/4 General Valuation of Ireland - Annual Revisions (1906 - 1915)
6. PRONI D2778/13 Papers relating to the Windsor Building Co. Ltd and the Marlborough Park Company (1892 - 1972)

Secondary Sources

1. DOE 'A Design Guide for the Malone Conservation Area' 2000

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An asymmetrical, detached, three-bay, two-storey house, built c.1917, located on the south side of Marlborough Park Central in South Belfast adjacent to Nos 110 & 112 which are of a similar style. In general the surrounding houses are executed in a range of styles representative of the periods in which they were built; late Victorian terraces, Edwardian domestic architecture and inter-war suburban residences. Nos.110-114 at the east end being among the last houses to be built on the street. In contrast to most of its red brick neighbours, the proportions are unusual, characterised by an asymmetrical layout and varied cill and window heights across the front elevation. This house retains the original footprint and has had no extensions added. Built during the First World War, this alone adds to its historic interest as war-time economies halted most construction. The house retains much historic authenticity with little modern intervention and has retained its original casement windows, original entrance door and many original internal features. Its flat asymmetric facade and lack of protrusions on plan in addition to its war time date of construction add to its special interest.