30 Windsor Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

No. 30 Windsor Park is a substantial semi-detached two storey double fronted house with full attic, built c1894 to designs by William Batt, architect. Facing south on Windsor Park, a tree lined street running E-W between Lisburn and Malone Roads, two main arterial routes south of Belfast city centre. Group value with terrace at No.22-28; adjoining No.32; and detached house at No34 (HB26 28 073, HB26 28 074B and HB26 28 075 respectively); contemporary. Together they make a striking contribution to the Derryvolgie and Windsor Conservation Area. The building is a mirror image of its neighbour no. 32 to the east (right-hand side); the whole being read as a comprehensive and distinctive design. Red brick, with decorative sandstone, terracotta and brick detailing. Slate roof; duo-pitched with platform ridge and gabled projections to front and rear at west side. Four brick chimneys: two along party wall with No.32 and two next to gabled projections; all with several clay pots. Square on plan, with three-storey return built at half-landing level to rear and single-storey appendages. External fabric, with exception of minor modifications to rear, is all largely as original.

MATERIALS:
ROOF: Natural slate with red clay ridge tiles
RWG: All replaced: ogee profiled metal gutter & square section RWP (S & W); mix of metal & uPVC (N & return)
WALL: Red brick in English Garden Wall bond
WINDOW: Single glazed painted timber sliding sash with 1/1 panes, unless otherwise described

South (front) elevation facing onto Windsor Park
Asymmetrical front facade. At ground floor, central timber panelled door with semi-circular fanlight over, grey marble columns on brick plinths either side with moulded capitals comprising scrolls and grapes, with, to the left side a male head and to the right, a female head. Semi-circular arched opening with keystone in sandstone and some terracotta detailing. Single storey canted bay to west (left of door), three windows. Decorative brick corbelled parapet, lead roof. Three-storey square bay to west (right of door) has two windows. At first floor, windows are paired either side of single central window. To the east, the attic floor is expressed with a large gable with decorative strap work and finial, in line with canted bay below, with two windows at eaves. To the west, the square bay tapers below the eaves cornice to form a square dormer with hipped roof and finial. One window. The facade is heavily enriched with moulded and decorative string courses, chamfered brick reveals to all the openings, sandstone window heads and decorative brick window aprons. Of particular note is the heavy eaves cornice, and beneath, a continuous line of square terracotta plaques of daisy-like flowers.

West (side) elevation facing onto driveway to rear
Elevation is plain, with one window at the southern end (left hand side) lighting the ground floor. Decorative string courses and eaves detailing, all as front.
West face of three-storey return: one window each at first and second floor half-landings, with plain sandstone lintels and projecting stone cills. Single-storey gabled appendage obscures ground floor – built in similar red brick in English Garden Wall bond with matching plinth and chamfered cap, painted timber eaves board and uPVC half-round gutter. Whilst its appearance is modern, the brickwork detailing suggests this structure is contemporary with the main house. Two equally sized windows that have timber framed double-glazed sliding sashes and concrete cills; opening nearest to house appears to have been a door originally.

North (rear) elevation
Rear wall of main building is abutted in the centre by three storey gabled return. The part to the west side of the return (right-hand side) has one window each to ground and second floors surmounted with a large gabled attic with a pair of windows (similar to front elevation). To the east side of the return (left-hand side), the rear wall extends up past the eaves to form a rectangular attic dormer, adjoined to same at No32, each side lit with one window; and one window each to lower floors – segmental arched at ground and metal framed with tripartite casement (single glazed).
The return has one window to second floor centred on gable and two at first floor. Ground floor abutted by small single storey gabled brick ‘outhouse’, largely obscured by planting and adjoined by original red brick yard walling to east. Further gabled appendage, as described in West Elevation, gabled with off-centred ridge and wide glazed double doors opening on to curved steps to lawn. Brick headers above right side suggests opening widened to fit double doors.

East elevation - main building abutted by No30 Windsor Park
East face of return detailed as west face, with one window at first floor (with reeded glass to lower sash) two at ground floor and a door. Ground floor windows replaced as painted timber double glazed sliding sashes with 1/1 panes. Four-panelled door with bollection moulding, glazed upper panels and authentic cast iron knocker and handle.
Single storey ‘outhouse’ has uPVC window with concrete cill. All walls within yard painted white at ground floor level.

Set back from tree-lined street with mature hedging and trees to front garden; parking area to front in modern brick pavers. Stone curved and bull-nosed steps to front entrance, likely original. Rear garden mainly grassed with path, planting and mature trees to east; red brick boundary wall to north; and timber hit-n-miss fencing with further planted beds and trees to west. Authentic red brick walling and matching coal store encloses yard to east of return and same walling with rounded sandstone coping separates garden from bin store to W.

Historical information

Windsor Park (originally ‘Windsor Park Avenue’) was laid out in c.1873, its line following that of previously taken by a path that ran through a large nursery belonging to ‘Laurel Bank’ (later renamed ‘Bellevue’), a house that stood to the east close to Malone Road. Laurel Bank was built c.1835 within one of the long-established strip farms that originally stretched from the high ground of the Malone Ridge westwards to the Bog Meadows, many of which were converted into small semi-rural demesnes in the mid 19th century, and in turn broken up by the more intensive suburban expansion which gradually spread southwards along the Malone Ridge in the late Victorian era. A large number of these later 1800s streets were created along the boundaries of these former farms / demesnes, but in the case of Windsor Park it is northern and southern boundaries of the building plots either side of the street that mark the respective limits of the older property.

The earliest of the houses to be developed along the new thoroughfare was No.33 in 1873, with nos.42-44 following in 1874, and 11-13 a year later (all since demolished). Much of the southern side of the street was developed within the next two decades, but the land to the north was retained as a nursery into the mid-1890s when it too began to be populated with a mixture of large detached, semi-detached and terraced dwellings.

No.30 Windsor Park This house – ‘Colonsa’ - along with attached dwelling and the similar freestanding house to the immediate east (‘Mingala’ and ‘St. Margaret’s’- nos.32 and 34), was built in 1893-94 to designs by William Batt for James Hetherington, a linen manufacturer of the ‘Broadway Damask Company’, who himself lived in ‘Canmore’ (since demolished) on the opposite side of the Windsor Park. The contractor was Messrs. J. and W. Stewart of Belfast, with much of the building materials for this ‘superior villa’, including the ‘terracotta panels in frieze and upper keystones’, supplied by the Annadale Brick Company.

The earliest available street directory, that for 1895, lists James Davidson (‘tea planter’) as the occupant. In the 1901 census Mr. Davidson (?possibly a relation of Samuel Cleland Davidson, the engineer, inventor and founder of Belfast’s Sirocco Works) was living there with his wife, Alice Maude Mary, three grown-up children, a niece and three domestic servants, with house noted as a 1st class dwelling with 13 rooms in use. By 1911 the household had reduced to Mr. Davidson and one of his daughters, and two servants.

By 1918 James M. Lowenthall was in residence. He was followed c.1921 by E.S. Murphy a lawyer and later High Court judge, who remained there until c.1946, with James T. Bryson is recorded as the occupant in 1951. At some point around 1955 Rev. M. Roycroft became resident, remaining until the early 1970s when he was succeeded by Rev. W.H. Lendrum who remained until c.1983 (suggesting, perhaps, that the property was acting as a rectory or manse during this period). By 1987 Charles Douglas is recorded as living there, with Alan J. Douglas listed as the occupant in 1995.

References – Primary sources
1 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 4 March 1893 [Tender notice by William Batt]
1 ‘Irish Builder’, 1 October, 1 December 1893
2 ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory’, (Belfast News-Letter, Belfast), various dates from 1893 to 1996
3 PRONI VAL12B/43D/14, 1882-96
4 PRONI OS8/30/4/53 OS town plan of Belfast, 1896
5 PRONI VAL12B/43DA/36, 1897-1905
6 PRONI VAL7B/14/15 valuation of Belfast, 1900
7 Census of Ireland, 1901, 1911 [online]
8 PRONI OS8/30/5/49 OS town plan of Belfast, 1903
9 PRONI VAL12B/43P/3, 1906-15
10 PRONI VAL12B/43P/7, 1916-30
11 OS maps various sheets at 1:1250/2500 scale, 1920-85 [online]

Secondary sources
1 Carleton, S.T., ‘The growth of South Belfast’, (unpublished QUB MA thesis), 1967
2 Larmour, Paul, ‘The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis’, (UAHS, 1991), p.186

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
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

No. 30 Windsor Park, originally named ‘Colonsa’, is a substantial semi-detached two-storey double fronted house with full attic, built c1894 to designs by William Batt, architect. Facing south on Windsor Park, a tree lined street running E-W between Lisburn and Malone Roads, it has group value with terrace at No.22-28; adjoining No.32; and detached house at No34 (HB26 28 073 & HB26 28 074B and HB26 28 075 respectively); contemporary and with similar stylistic devices. Together they make a striking contribution to the Derryvolgie and Windsor Conservation Area, eclectic in style and confident in execution. The building is a mirror image of its neighbour no. 32 ‘Mingala’ the whole being read as a comprehensive and distinctive design. Built in red brick with sandstone dressings, of particular note is the heavy eaves cornice, and beneath, a continuous line of square terracotta plaques of daisy-like flowers. Original fabric, plan form and interior detailing substantially intact. Authentic yard walling and coal store to rear and curved stone entrance steps to front further augment its character and surrounding mature trees and landscaping significantly enhance the setting of this impressive pair.