22 COLLEGE GARDENS

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace, three-storey with attic (and semi-basement) red brick late Victorian town house, built 1881. Architect unknown. Part of block of four, including No.19, 20 and 21 College Gardens (HB26.28.020A, B &C); the block is largely symmetrical to front with No.19 mirrored by No.22, both at gable ends and No.20 & 21 between. Set midway along 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. Full-height projecting bay to rear abutted by double return at half-landing level, which steps down from four to three stories. Detached outbuilding adjoins rear boundary and appears to be contemporary.

Natural slate roof with red clay crested ridge tiles and gabled dormer to front pitch; dormer has pierced timber bargeboard and pointed finial. Modern roof-light to rear pitch. Two red brick chimneys, both replaced in modern red brick with several circular clay pots: one shared with No21 and one centred on gable end. Projecting moulded eaves to front on scrolled modillions; deep frieze comprised of fluted pilasters between alternating panels of central roundel with moulded rectangular frame and plain panels; base of each pilaster embellished with bestial head moulding. Eaves and frieze detail returned at SW corner to gable end. Rear eaves simpler in alternating angular bricks, however decorative eaves and frieze at front repeated at NW corner; latter forms base to simple rendered verge band and projecting moulded timber barge board.

Materials
ROOF: Natural slate; three-storey flat-roofed return has asphalt membrane.
RWG: Main roof- ogee profile cast metal gutter and circular section RWP; hipped roof -uPVC; flat roof- ditto with cast iron RWP
WALLS: Red brick in Flemish bond with stucco dressings (S & W); and English Garden Wall bond to N and return.
WINDOWS: Timber framed double glazed replacement sliding sash with 1/1 panes (S) and 2/2 panes (N), unless otherwise stated.
Note: Sashes with 2/2 panes have one continuous double glazed unit per sash, with central glazing bar face-fixed to glass and additional spacers inside glazed unit in line with bar (i.e. No through astragal).

Front Elevation (S):
Asymmetrical with entrance to right (E) at ground floor and projecting square bay with two windows to left (W) at ground floor; three windows each at first and second floor, aligned with ground floor openings; and gabled attic dormer centred on eaves with twin round-arched sliding sash windows.
Apart from the attic, all openings are segmental headed and diminish in height from ground to second floor. Windows at ground and first floor have upper sash split horizontally in two. Top half fitted with Edwardian-style stained glass sandwiched between two panes of float glass - the same applies to all stained glass panels throughout the house.
Painted render base plinth with moulded top and vermiculated toothed quoins to SW corner.
Square headed timber framed entrance door comprising two panels with raised fields and bolection moulding; plain glass over-light on simple transom; elaborate concentric arched stucco surround, with egg-and-dart and chevron moulding, pitched keystone and simple pilasters; all painted.
Ground floor bay has similar cornice and frieze to main roof and Renaissance style balustrade, continued at main façade and repeated below continuous projecting cill at second floor windows. Deep moulded stucco surrounds to ground floor windows with corresponding moulded brackets below continuous projecting cill. Same detail at second floor windows with simple cheron moulded stucco in place of brackets. First floor has plain pilasters between cill and impost level where continuous stucco band runs between windows, enriched with classical-style mouldings; above band, ornate floral detail to moulded surrounds and exaggerated pitched keystones.

Rear Elevation (N):
Full-height lean-to projection and double return built at half-landing level to left (E) side and one opening to each basement ground, first and second floor to right. Detailed simpler than front elevation with flat arched openings, soldier coursed brick headers and square-edged painted cills (mainly stone); window reveals are rendered and painted. All windows to main building are as described under 'Materials', except that to basement, which is side hung casement.
Lean-to projection is blank except for chimneystack, now slated over.
North face of hipped-roof return: one window at second floor, centred on hip.
North face of flat-roofed return: single window centred at basement level (casement with faux horns), flanked by bricked up former openings; long fixed light at ground floor with lowered cill, aligned with basement window and smaller casement window to left (E); and two windows at first floor – one small casement window offset to right and to left a large round-arched sliding sash window with 1/1 panes fitted with stained glass. Original brick headers remain to all openings.
Projecting angled brick eaves to returns as per main building; uPVC gutter and RWP.

East Elevation:
Abutted by No19 College Gardens. East face of return surveyed from Elmwood Mews - detailed as rear of main building and largely blank (where seen); brick walling to hipped roof return painted white to first floor level.

West Elevation:
Comprised of gable end to main building, west face of lean-to projection and double return.
Gable: Toothed quoins returned from main façade and decorative eaves returned at N & S ends as described above. Two windows at ground floor: one segmental arched and matching bay windows to main façade; and one flat headed timber casement window. Similar casement window at first floor, aligned with same below and two small round arched windows near to eaves at attic level, with painted rendered reveals.
Lean-to projection has one opening at each half-landing level: to attic, sliding sash with 2/2 panes; second floor, as attic window with margin panes; first floor, sliding sash with 1/1 panes – lower pane has arts and crafts style stained glass; ground floor, sliding sash with 1/1 pane and metal bars fitted to external reveal; and a modern sheeted timber door to basement.
Hipped roof return: one window at second floor, sliding sash with 1/1 panes - wider concrete lintel and adjoining brick infill indicates this opening has been altered; two windows at first floor, sliding sash with 2/2 panes; two inward opening casement windows with lowered cills at ground floor and a casement window with faux horns at basement level.
Flat roofed return: informally arranged windows: to first floor, sliding sash with 2/2 panes and smaller fixed light with stained glass; ground floor, sliding sash with 1/1 panes; and a casement window with faux horns to basement (not aligned). Remaining soldier course headers suggest second basement window (now bricked up).

No22 forms end of terrace to block of similar town houses, rectangular on plan and aligned E-W parallel to College Gardens. Set back from tree-lined street by low red brick walling with chamfered stone coping topped by modern metal railings, with hedge behind. Same walling separates side of house from rear yard, topped by cast iron railings with lily motif. Matching gate. Front door opens onto broad step (replacement), flanked by painted dwarf walls with open balustrade between square end piers. Hedge aligns boundary with front garden of No 23; red brick walling to yard with rounded terracotta cap. Rear boundary to Elmwood Mews marked by similar walling with same cap and sheeted timber door with concrete lintel; matching red brick out-building with wide slide-back door (possibly to garage). Outbuilding appears contemporary with house, with soldier course headers and stone cills to openings on east and south facing elevations on to yard; now boarded up. Square concrete pavers to yard and to paths at front and side of house; latter flanked by planted beds. Tarmacked front garden provides off-street parking, shared with No.21.

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.22 This property belongs to a terrace of four symmetrically arranged single-fronted townhouses built in 1880-81. The identity of the architect is not known, but the developer of everything in College Gardens from no.11 to no.32 appears to have been Rev. George Cron, the then minister of the Evangelical Union Church in Wellington Place.

The 1884 street directory records the occupant of no.22 as John Fulton (‘manufacturer and warehouseman’), followed c.1891 by John Campbell, a Mrs. Gardiner by 1895, Rev. George Cron (the developer of the terrace – see above) in 1899 and Bass Capper by 1900. In the 1901 census Mr. Capper (a linen yarn merchant from Co. Armagh), was occupying no.22 with his wife, Alice, their three children and two domestic servants, with the building itself noted as a ‘first class’ dwelling with 14 rooms in use. The Cappers were still there at the time of the 1911 census (with their youngest child and two servants), but had moved on by 1918, when R. Campbell, a medical doctor is named as the occupant. Mrs. Campbell (possibly the latter’s widow) is recorded as living there in 1924, and Foster Coates, another doctor, in 1932. Dr. Coates appears to have died in the mid to later 1940s, after which his widow divided the house into three flats. In the early 1970s the property was acquired by QUB and became a student residence, and was still being used as such in 1996. After some years of virtual dereliction, the property was converted to flats and an (architect’s) office in c.2013.

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
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace three-storey with attic red brick late Victorian town house, built 1881. Architect unknown. Group value with No.19, 20 and 21 College Gardens (HB26.28.019A, B & C), a largely symmetrical block of four. The buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College. Well proportioned with stucco dressings including Renaissance balustrade and elaborate door surround. Replacement sliding sash windows have been sensitively detailed for the most part, however, there are casement windows to the side and rear which detract from the overall quality. Subdivision of the upper floors has resulted in some loss of plan form. No.22 is important to the integrity the group, and the remainder of terraces within College Gardens, a tree-lined street of similarly scaled late Victorian townhouses running from Malone Road to Lisburn Road and within Queens Conservation Area. Painted rendered walling with open balustrade adjacent to the entrance steps, original outbuilding, walls, gate and railings to the rear and side of the house contribute to the the historic character of this house.