11 COLLEGE GARDENS

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace three-storey over basement double fronted red brick late Victorian town house, built 1877. Architect unknown, but similar in style to adjacent block by William Batt. Part of block of four, including No.12, 13 and 14 College Gardens (HB26.28.018B, C & D), the block is symmetrical at the front elevation with No.11 mirrored by No.14, both at gable ends with narrower properties No.12 & 13 between; various returns and extensions make rear less symmetrical. Near east end of College Gardens, a tree-lined street of similarly scaled townhouses running from Malone Road to Lisburn Road and within Queens Conservation Area; the buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College. Three-storey gabled return built at half-landing level to rear (N), abutted by modest single-storey lean-to outhouses. Substantial two-storey over basement later addition (typically Edwardian, c.1901), described hereafter as ‘annex’, to left (E) of return: red brick with tall segmental arched windows, natural slate roof hipped at N and S ends, and full-height projection to W with gable near return above eaves. Fire exits from N face of latter and gable end of main building on to external metal stair at side elevation. Building currently used as crèche on ground and first floors, with student accommodation above connected to No.12.

Natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles. Replacement red brick chimney centred and inset slightly from gable end of main roof with simple corbelled cap and six circular buff clay pots; similar chimney at opposite side with multiple pots (shared with No.12). Projecting moulded eaves on plain frieze band between projecting moulded string courses; similar projecting moulded timber verge detail.

Materials
ROOF: Natural slate
RWG: Cast iron (S); uPVC (N, return & annex).
WALLS: Red brick walling in Flemish bond (S & E); and English Garden Wall bond to N, return and annex.
WINDOWS: Single glazed double hung single glazed sliding sash with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described.

Front Elevation (S):
Facing south and symmetrical with central entrance porch flanked by single storey projecting bays: that to left (W) squared and with two windows; and that to right (E) canted. Painted render base plinth with moulded and chamfered top and toothed quoins to SE corner; painted stucco bays and porch comprise remainder of ground floor, each with parapet roof (not seen), lead (check on site) flashing above foliated moulded cornice and plain frieze. Predominantly red brick walls above, with projecting moulded string courses as first and second floor cills. Segmental arched openings: single window above entrance at each upper level, flanked by pair of windows aligned with ground floor bays; moulded stucco surrounds, with projecting hoods at first and lugged at second floor. Stop-chamfered head and jamb to ground floor bay windows, with heavy bull-nosed cills set within reveal.
Bays have serrated lower edge to frieze. Clasping pilasters to porch, with same bull-nosed cill detail to leaded and stained glass fixed lights at side cheeks. Square headed entrance screen comprised of timber framed double doors with glazed upper and moulded lower panels; and plain glass over-light and side lights. Doors open onto two steps, with modern red quarry tiles between painted and rendered dwarf walls, curved on plan and matching square end piers, all having painted moulded caps (possibly terracotta).
South elevation to annex: two-storey with ground floor largely enclosed by flat roofed link; single segmental arched window to far right: timber framed, split in two with stained and leaded glass over-light covered by Perspex sheet. Three tall openings to first floor, all segmental arched with over-lights as described above: flush door to right exiting on to fire escape stair; and timber framed casements to wider middle and left openings, both probably replaced with painted timber base panels below central transom. Projecting eaves formed in moulded brick specials (corbels & dentils) and segmental arched openings formed in brick headers. Concrete cills.

Rear Elevation (N):
North elevation overlooks Elmwood Mews; asymmetrical and plainly detailed compared to main building: shallower stone cills; red brick soldier coursed above windows, and projecting painted timber eaves board. Three-storey gabled return, off-centred to right (W); and one window at each level to right of return: six-paned top-hung casement to basement and 6/6 panes to timber sliding sash at ground; and 2/2 panes at first and second floors. Stone steps left of basement window as described in W elevation. Gable end of return: timber verge board to match eaves, with single window centred on ridge at second floor (2/2 panes); translucent glass to sliding sash offset to left and centre-pivoted timber casement at first floor; and two modest lean-to structures with slate roofs at ground floor: single window to each; that to left sliding sash with 2/2 panes and that to right fixed light with Georgian wired lower pane.
Left (E) of return, annex extends full length of yard and Elmwood Mews facade is somewhat formal compared to back of house: metal roller shutter spans almost full width of basement with steel lintel over and blue brick jambs; and three tall windows each to ground and first floor – segmental arched, with timber framed windows and intricate leaded glass over-lights. Wider middle windows split in two. Painted metal horizontal rails to lower half of openings. Concrete cills. UPVC half-round gutter on rise-and-fall brackets; timber verge board to W projection.

East Elevation:
Comprised of four parts: gable end to main building, flat-roofed link; side elevation to return; and annex. Gable: less formal fenestration than front elevation, but detailed similarly, deep projecting eaves returned from front and back elevations at far left and right where verge begins; two segmental arched windows with moulded surrounds each to ground and first floor (centrally placed) and two square-headed openings with concrete lintels at second floor: casement window to left and flash metal-pated door to right that opens onto external escape stair. Flat roofed link contains segmental arched timber framed door and screen. East face of return has one opening each at first and second floor, otherwise blank (need to climb escape stair for more detail). East face of annex is blank.

West elevation:
No.12 abuts west elevation of main building; west face of return detailed plainly, as rear. Informally arranged openings: door and two windows at ground, single window at first (2/2 panes) and two windows at second floor half landing level. Metal framed three-part casement window to left at second floor; 4/1 panes to upper sash at ground floor window nearest to gable; and central pivoting timber casement nearest door. Door opens on to stone steps, with simple metal uprights and handrail terminating in volute on curtail step.
West face of annex has sliding sash window to far left at first and second floors (2/2 panes each); and three round arched stained glass fixed lights: one at first and two at second floor. Painted timber eaves board with uPVC gutter and downpipe; and gabled ‘dormer’ above, offset to right, blank.

Set back from tree-lined street by timber hit-n-miss fencing and low brick wall with hedge behind on south side of College Gardens, building forms end of terrace to block of similar town houses, rectangular on plan and aligned E-W parallel to road. Three semi-mature trees to front garden, otherwise surfaced in resin-bonded coloured safety matting; front accessed by path from No12. Tarmac surfacing to E side of house, with steps to flat-roofed link and external fire escape stair. North boundary mainly comprised of annex; yard paved mainly with concrete flags; sheeted painted timber gate with precast concrete lintel opens on to alley within red brick wall; same brick walling forms boundary to yard at No12 (some terracotta rounded coping stones remain).

Historical information

Background - College Gardens (originally ‘College Gardens Avenue’) is located on land which prior to the early 19th century had been one of the series of strip farms running from what is now the Malone and University Roads to the Bog Meadows. Probably laid out in early 1600s, the integrity of these was broken up by the cutting of the Lisburn Road in 1816-19 and the construction of the Ulster Railway in 1837-39. Around the same time, greater security of tenure from the Donegall estate lead to the gentrification of what remained of these farms with the building (or upgrading of existing structures) to create small country villas and the laying out of small demesnes within the plots formerly farmed. The land to the immediate north and south of College Gardens belonged to such a villa, ‘Vermont’, a pre-1770 house, possibly rebuilt or enlarged c.1815 and enlarged again c.1840s – on this occasion by John Riddell, a Belfast ironmonger. The building of Queen’s College a short distance to the north-east in 1845 sparked the suburbanisation of the area, and in 1865 Vermont itself was sold for the building of another educational establishment, Methodist College. The latter was completed in 1868 and a new private avenue laid out the lower ground to the immediate north, with building plots on the northern side of this. Beginning at the eastern end, present nos.1-6 were constructed in 1871, nos.7-18 in 1877, no.33 and 34 in 1879, 19-22 in 1881, 23-26 in 1882 and 27-32 in 1883.

No.11 This former dwelling house belongs to a block of four (two double-fronted end properties with two single-fronted ones in between) built in 1877. The identity of the architect is not known, but the developer of both this block and those westwards as far as no.32 appears to have been Rev. George Cron, the then minister of the Evangelical Union Church in Wellington Place (his monogram appears to be on the entrance keystone of all properties in this particular block). Rev Cron himself resided in no.11 and remained there until 1898 when he was succeeded by Hugh MacDowell Pollock, a corn merchant originally from Bangor, who served as a Unionist MP in the NI parliament from 1921. In the 1901 census Mr Pollock is recorded as living there with his American-born wife, Annie, their four children, Annie’s mother, Mrs Eliza Marshall, an American house guest, Edith Goldberg, and three domestic servants, with the house itself a ‘first class’ dwelling with 19 rooms in occupation. These rooms probably included those within the large addition to the return, which the contemporary valuation book indicates was completed either in this year or the previous (raising the rateable value from £85 to £104 in the process). The Pollocks, along with one of their sons, Mrs Marshall and three servants were living there at the time of the 1911 census and appear to have stayed on until the time of Mr. Pollock’s death in 1937.

In the 1943 street directory G.R.B. Purce, a surgeon, is listed as the occupant. The property is noted is vacant in 1951 and at some point later in that decade both it and no.12 were acquired by nearby Methodist College to house their preparatory school, Fullerton House. It remained as such until the later 1970s when it was converted to a crèche run by Queen’s University with no.12 becoming student accommodation.

No.11 College Gardens was listed in Sept 1979. H.E.D. Files record that a major scheme of works to nos 11 & 12 was undertaken by Queen's University 2012. Main chimney reconstructed and works to roofs undertaken 1989. Permission also granted in 2006 for replacement roof coverings & windows and repointing.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43D/7 annual valuation revision book, 1862-82
2 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 3, January 1877, 23 March 1878
3 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1880 to 1996
4 PRONI VAL12B/43D/14 annual valuation revision book, 1882-96
5 PRONI OS8/30/3/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1883-84
6 PRONI OS8/30/4/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1896
7 PRONI VAL12B/43A/36 annual valuation revision book, 1897-1905
8 PRONI VAL7B/14/15 valuation of Belfast, c.1900-01
9 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/]
10 PRONI OS8/30/5/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1903
11 PRONI VAL12B/43P/3 valuation book, 1906-15
12 PRONI VAL12B/43P/7 valuation book, 1916-30
13 OS maps, 1958, 1970 (online - http://www.centremapslive.co.uk/)

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’, (unpublished QUB MA thesis), 1967
2 Rowan, A.J. And Brett, C.E.B., Historic Buildings…Queens University of Belfast, (Belfast, UAHS, revised ed. 1980)

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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace three-storey over basement double fronted red brick late Victorian town house, built 1877, with three-storey gabled return. Architect unknown, but similar in style to adjacent block by William Batt. Part of block of four, including No.12, 13 and 14 College Gardens (HB26.28.018B, C & D). Set on tree-lined street of similarly scaled townhouses running from Malone Road to Lisburn Road and within Queens Conservation Area; the buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College. Symmetrical and well proportioned with stucco dressings and ground floor bays to main façade; rear plainly detailed. Used as crèche on ground and first floors, with student accommodation above results in some loss of plan form but a wealth of historic detailing remains intact. It is a good example of late Victorian domestic architecture, significantly enhanced by a substantial two-storey over basement later addition (typically Edwardian, c.1901) that overlooks Elmwood Mews.
Formerly used as Fulerton House, prep school of Methodist College from 1950s - 1970s, together with adjoining No.12 College Gardens, the building also has social and cultural importance and local interest.