Superintendent's House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A double pile two-storey High Victorian Gothic-revival style Lodge dating from c.1873 to designs by architect John Lanyon and constructed by the local firm John Lowry & Son. Rectangular floor plan with a projecting single-storey lean-to portico to W, a single-storey walled extension to N and a projecting rectangular plan bay window to SE corner. The gate lodge is located close to the main entrance of the Belfast City cemetery (listed under HB26.25.001 A).

Double pile natural slate roof with banded slates and crested ‘cockscomb’ red-clay ridge tiles. Raised sandstone verges with stone finials to apex; sandstone corbel supporting cast iron ogee guttering. Carved gargoyles to north and south gables discharging to uPVC circular section downpipes. Basalt chimney stacks with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. Walling is laid to un-coursed rubble basalt with cut stone Scrabo sandstone dressings and quoins on projecting plinth course. Square-headed window openings with flush lintels, chamfered jambs, splayed sills and relieving arch above windows having 1/1 double hung timber sash windows (unless stated otherwise).

East elevation:
The principal elevation faces E, towards the entrance of the Cemetery and has a single-storey three-sided rectangular bay to SE corner. Square headed door opening to centre with a modern sheeted door partly glazed, opening onto two semi-circular stone steps. A window to centre to FF and another window to GF to N bay.
The projecting three-sided bay has a hipped lead roof dressed around the corner of the building and is built of ashlar sandstone above sill level. Pair of square headed windows to front of bay and a single window to each side.

South elevation:
The S elevation has two gables. The W gable has a single window to GF and one to FF. Rectangular corner bay to E bay GF with a window to FF over. Carved gargoyle to the middle of the two bays and carved stone with the Belfast city coat of arms to GF to E gable. Small rectangular opening at high level to both gables.

West elevation:
The W entrance consists of a projecting four-bay lean-to timber porch to S side and a window to N side at GF level.
The porch is of elaborate timber work incorporating the main door to the building: a round arched panelled door with glazing. Small lantern to porch having a pyramidal roof with sprocketed eaves and metal finial.

North elevation:
The N elevation has two gables and projecting boundary walling enclosing a single storey modern building. The E gable has a window to GF and FF, window to FF to W gable. Carved gargoyle to the middle of the two bays and a chimney stack built off the wall above. Small rectangular opening at high level to both gables.
The walling is laid to un-coursed rubble basalt with sandstone coping stones.

Setting:
The gate lodge is now enclosed by the cemetery walling to N, and a new ashlar Duke sandstone wall and gate piers to SE. Iron railings and gates to the new gateway. Paving stones to W and lawned to all sides. The lodge is located to a site to the NW of the main entrance of the Belfast City cemetery (HB26.25.001 A).

Materials:
Roof natural slate
RWG cast iron guttering/ uPVC downpipes
Walling basalt and Scrabo sandstone
Window timber sash windows

Historical information

In the course of the nineteenth century Belfast expanded at a phenomenal rate. As Belfast’s population rose, there was increasing pressure on its existing burial grounds, exacerbated by outbreaks of cholera and the Great Famine. Both Shankill graveyard and Friar’s Bush graveyard were becoming overcrowded, the while the New Burying Ground, Clifton Street, was also filling up. The opening of a new Presbyterian cemetery at Balmoral only partly alleviated the situation.

Responding to this situation, in the autumn of 1865, Belfast Corporation decided to accept Thomas Sinclair’s offer of 101 acres on the Falls Road for a municipal cemetery. The purchase of the site was completed in December of that year for £12,000 with an annual ground rent of £73 5s. 4d. Of this site, 45 acres would be used as a cemetery, with most of the remainder being given over to what would become Falls Park. On 25 January 1867 the Cemetery Committee of Belfast Corporation awarded the contract to design the new cemetery to William Gay of Bradford.

At an advanced stage in the laying out of the cemetery there arose a dispute between Dr Patrick Dorrian, Catholic bishop of Down and Connor, over the ground reserved for the burial of Catholics. No satisfactory settlement could be reached with regard to the Catholic portion of the Corporation’s new cemetery and as a result a new Catholic cemetery – Milltown – was opened a short distance away on the opposite side of the Falls Road in November 1869. ‘The Belfast Cemetery’, as the name had been agreed on 29 September 1868, opened on 1 August 1869, with the first burials taking place there three days later.

Suitable accommodation for the superintendent of the new municipal cemetery in Belfast had been part of the original plans drawn up in the late 1860s, but it was not until 20 April 1872 that the Cemetery Committee finally agreed to invite an architect to produce plans. It was also agreed that the cost of the superintendent’s house, or gate lodge, should not exceed £900. By July of that year John Lanyon had produced plans for the building which he reckoned could be constructed for around £600. With minor amendments, Lanyon’s plans were approved and in September 1872 the tender of £750 from Messrs John Lowry & Son was accepted with work beginning soon afterwards.

The superintendent’s house was constructed on a site close to the main entrance on the Falls Road. The Cemetery Committee was anxious that additional costs should be avoided and in November 1872 instructed Lanyon that he should not go to extra expense in procuring ‘Scotch cut stone’ if good quality Scrabo stone could be used instead. The building was ready for its internal fittings by the following spring and completed soon afterwards. In December 1873 Lanyon was paid £42 16s. in professional fees. In October 1878 the Cemetery Committee directed that the ‘portico’ (presumably the verandah) of the gate lodge should be enclosed to provide shelter for the public. The structure is first shown on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map.

By 1999 the building had fallen into a state of dilapidation and was no longer inhabited. A major programme of renovation was carried out in 2004-05 by architects Kennedy Fitzgerald on behalf of Belfast City Council. The works included an extension to provide a kitchen and enclosed yard, and the rebuilding of the verandah to incorporate a disabled toilet.

References

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1901 – OS/6/1/60/3
Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1920-39 – OS/6/1/64/6
Belfast Corporation records: Minute Book of the [City] Cemetery Committee, 1867-87 – LA/7/11/AB/2

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
First Survey Record – HB/26/25/001
HB Records – HB/26/25/001J

Published sources
Belfast Newsletter, 23 August 1872
Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (Belfast, 1987)
Robert Scott, A Breath of Fresh Air: The Story of Belfast’s Parks (Belfast, 2000)
Tom Hartley, Written in Stone: The History of Belfast City Cemetery (Belfast, 2006)

Online sources
Natural Stone Database: www.stonedatabase.com
Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie
Website of Kennedy Fitzgerald:
www.kennedyfitzgerald.com/projects/conservation/city-cemetery-gate-lodge

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A fine example of a High Victorian Gothic-revival style Lodge dating from c.1873 to designs by the prominent local architect John Lanyon and constructed by local firm John Lowry & Son. Rectangular floor plan with a projecting single-storey lean-to portico to W, a single-storey walled extension to N and a projecting three-bay window to SE corner. The building has been respectfully restored and retains its layout and architectural details, marking the entrance of the Belfast City Cemetery. The Superintendents's house has group value with the other listed structures within the cemetery; entrance gates and walling HB26.25.001A; the fountains HB26.25.001C and the vaults and memorials, HB26.25.001D-K.