53 MALONE ROAD

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace four-storey two-bay red brick late Victorian town house, built 1886-87 to designs by William Eaton, architect. Located at north end of Malone Road, Belfast and one of terrace of nine similar houses (HB26.28.059A-H inclusive) running between Malone Avenue and Eglantine Avenue. Rectangular on plan as a group on N-S axis with ends gabled; they form one of the most impressive terraces within Malone Road Conservation Area, each having full-height bowed bay with conical slate roof. No.53 sits on corner with Malone Avenue and has three storey gabled return built at half-landing level to rear (W), in turn abutted by single storey flat roofed brown brick extension, c.1980s (of little interest)that fills rear yard. Building currently used as commercial offices.

Natural slate roof (Bangor Blue) with bands of fish-scale slates to bowed bay and red terracotta saw-tooth ridge tiles and finials. Large red brick chimney centred on gable end to main roof with simple corbelled brick cornice and eight circular pots; one red terracotta and the remainder yellow; smaller red brick chimney centred on gable end to return with three octagonal yellow clay pots. Decorative timber bargeboard with pierced motif projects from main gable end. Cast iron gutter supported on scrolled terracotta brackets and projecting eaves course to front (E); bowed bay rises beyond main eaves, highlighted by cornice of classical ornamentation in stuccowork below the gutter. UPVC guttering and downpipes to rear return.

Materials
ROOF: Natural slate (Bangor Blue)
RWG: Cast iron (E) / uPVC return
WALLS: Red brick walling laid to Flemish bond with painted stucco dressings
WINDOWS: Single glazed double hung painted timber sliding sash 1/1 panes to main building; 2/2 panes to return. Some replacements as noted in text below.

Front Elevation:
Front elevation faces east, two bays wide with bowed bay offset to left and entrance to right side. Deep base plinth, projecting moulded cill and string courses and continuous plat band to all floors in painted stucco; painted stucco walling also to bowed bay, except some brick courses between each floor level. Bay windows and segmental arched door have incised decoration in stuccowork above openings with edge roll moulding. Moulded stucco hood and label stops to door surround, above plat band on pink marble colonnettes with moulded stucco caps featuring classical heads and foliage; plain fanlight above square-headed 5-panelled timber door; toothed stucco surround below plat band and decorative terracotta panel above door head. Colonnettes and terracotta panel repeated on first and second floor windows directly above door. Ground floor windows are replaced with modern double glazed plain fixed lights; windows to 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors as described above.

South Elevation:
South elevation on to Malone Avenue comprises three distinct parts: gable end to main building; flank elevation to 3-storey return and brown brick extension. Deep painted stucco plinth continues from front elevation to end of return. Relatively plain gable end compared to main facade. Bargeboard terminates in projecting terracotta eaves course on scrolled brackets as described above to east and west sides. Three windows to ground, first and second floor level in less formal arrangement; one to outer edge at each side and third off-centred to left; and two smaller round arched windows to third floor, next to eaves. Brick, soldier coursed window heads and masonry cills, painted. Ground floor windows to replaced with modern, plain casements having top-hung night vents; the same applies to ground floor windows in return. Double hung single glazed painted timber sliding sashes with 2/2 panes to first and second floor windows in return. Single opening to brown brick extension offset to right side.

West elevation:
West elevation faces on to shared alley. Two bays wide with three-storey gabled return to right (S); two-storey lean-to projection to left (N), shallower in plan; and further single-storey flat-roofed abutment beyond. Detailing generally plain, as per south elevation. 1 /2 panes to third floor window above gabled return with small square window to left. Single glazed sliding sash windows with 2/2 panes at second floor above lean-to matches those at first and second floor within the gabled return. Sliding sash window with margin panes having etched and coloured glass to first floor half-landing; and directly below window replaced with modern door opening on to flat roofed extension. Three flush doors to brown brick extension at ground floor level; metal plated left door opens onto the rear alley; two other doors locked shut at the time of survey.

North Elevation
Main building north elevation abutted by No.51 Malone Road (HB26.28.059H). Flank elevation to return blank.

Setting
Set back from tree-lined street by paved front gardens on low walling on the west side of the Malone Road, building forms end of terrace to eight other similar town houses. Located directly opposite Fisherwick Presbyterian Church ( (HB26.17.014) and from this aspect, at corner of Chlorine Gardens, it is most impressive.

Historical information

Nos.37-53 Malone Road were constructed in 1886-88 to a design by the then Botanic Avenue-based architect, William Eaton, on what had been the grounds of Eglantine Hill, a pre-1832 house bounded by the Malone and Lisburn Roads in the east and west what is now Malone and Eglantine Avenues to the north and south. The terrace, originally named ‘Windsor Gardens’, was built for James Johnston, possibly the insurance agent of that name listed in contemporary directories as operating out of Waring Street. The whole grouping appears to have been completed by mid-1888, and all of the properties are recorded as occupied in the earliest available street directory of 1890.

No.53 – The first occupant of this building seems to have been A.M. Tippetts, who is noted in the 1890 directory as ‘deputy sur[geon] general, medical staff’. He was followed c.1894 by William McCormick, a ‘house and land agent and accountant’. In the 1901 census the property is noted as 1st class dwelling containing 15 rooms occupied, (on the night of the census), by Mr. McCormick, his wife, Margaret, their five young children and two domestic servants, Lizzie and Mary McMahon. All of the family were still living there at the time of the 1911 census, but with a single domestic servant, Agnes McPhillips. The McCormick family vacated the property in the early 1920s, and the directories note the next occupant as Captain H.J. Gaussen. After a period of vacancy in the late 1920 / early 1930s the property was divided into flats, with four occupants recorded in 1935 and five in 1940, and four again in 1945 and thereafter until the mid 1960s when the building became the Malone branch of the Belfast Banking Co. The latter was taken over by the Northern Bank in 1970 who appear to have occupied the ground floor only, with the upper levels leased out as offices and a flat by at least 1974. It remained a branch of the Northern Bank until at least 1996.

The extension to the rear appears to have been added c.1980. The building was listed in November 1986.

References – Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL12B/43D/14 annual valuation revision book, 1882-97
2 PRONI OS8/30/3/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1883-84
3 ‘Belfast Telegraph’, 5 August 1886, 15 September 1887
4 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1887 to 1996
5 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 23 April 1887
6 PRONI OS8/30/4/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1896
7 PRONI VAL7B/14/15 valuation of Belfast, 1900
8 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/]
9 PRONI OS8/30/5/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1903
10 PRONI VAL12B/43K/4 valuation book, 1906-15

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, (UAHS, 1968)

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
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace four-storey red brick late Victorian town house, built 1886-87 by William Eaton, architect. One of a terrace of nine similar houses comprising No.37-51 Malone Road, Belfast (HB26.28.059A-K inclusive); as a group they form one of the most impressive terraces within the Malone Road Conservation Area. The Malone Road fenestration is particularly striking due to the rhythm created by each having a full-height bowed bay with conical slate roof and a wealth of ornate detailing. Despite a brown brick extension (c1980) and some replacement windows that detract from its quality, No. 53 retains its original return, complete with chimney. Now converted for commercial use, the internal layout and domestic scale remain largely intact with a substantial amount of fine historic detailing that adds significantly to its character.