32 Windsor Park

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

No. 32 Windsor Park is a substantial semi-detached two storey three bay 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.30; and detached house at No34 (HB26 28 073 & HB26 28 074A and HB26 28 075 respectively) - all contemporary. Together they make a striking contribution to the Derryvolgie and Windsor Conservation Area. The building is a mirror image of its neighbour No. 30 to the west (left-hand side); the whole being read as a comprehensive and distinctive design. Red brick, with decorative sandstone, terracotta and brick detailing. Slate roof with platform ridge. Four brick chimneys with pots, two shared with No30. Almost square on plan, with lower rear return. External fabric, with exception of minor modifications to rear (including glazing over former rear passage way and small extension to facilitate access to upper floor flat), including painted timber single glazed 1/1 sliding sash windows, is all largely as original.

MATERIALS:
ROOF: Natural slate
RWG: Cast iron ogee gutter
WALL: Red brick in English Garden Wall bond
WINDOW: Single glazed 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 female head and to the right, a male head. Semi-circular arched opening with keystone. All in terracotta and sandstone. Single storey canted bay to east (right of door), three windows. Decorative brick corbelled parapet, lead roof. Three storey square bay to west (left of door), 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 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 to all the openings, terracotta window heads and decorative 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.

North (rear) elevation
Rear wall of main building is abutted in the centre by three storey gabled return. The part to the east side of the return (left-hand side) is expressed as a two storey bay surmounted - matching the front elevation - with a large gabled attic with a pair of windows. One window each to ground and second floors. To the west side of the return (right-hand side), the rear wall extends up past the eaves to form a rectangular attic dormer, adjoined to same at No30, each side lit with one window. Two windows to first floor. The original side alley has been enclosed and glazed over with a modern extension, thus obscuring the ground floor at this point. (The original ground floor window has been altered to form a door into a small outdoor space between the original house and the extension). Abutting the end of the return is a small single storey brick ‘outhouse’. The return itself has one window to each floor on its north (rear) and east (side) faces. A small single storey brick lean-to abuts the east (left-hand side) of the return, adjoining the rear wall of the house. Whilst its appearance is modern, the brickwork detailing, including corbelled plinth, suggests this structure is contemporary with the main house. There is no decoration to the rear.

Set back from tree-lined street with mature hedging and trees to front garden. Stone curved and bull-nosed steps to front entrance, likely original. Rear garden mainly grassed with planting and trees.

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.32 Windsor Park This house – ‘Mingala’ - along with attached dwelling and the similar freestanding house to the immediate east (‘Colonsa’ and ‘St. Margaret’s’- nos.30 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 Robert Agnew (‘local government inspector’) as the occupant. In the 1901 census Mr. Agnew was living there with his grown-up daughter, Catherine, and two domestic servants, with the house noted as a 1st class dwelling with 13 rooms in use. John Corbett of ‘Brown, Corbett & Co.’ was residing there by 1907, followed by Rev. David Taylor (‘Commissioner of National Education, Presbyterian minister, hon. Sec., Presbyterian Orphan Society’) in 1910. In the 1911 census Rev. Taylor is recorded as occupying the house with his wife, Dora, their three grown-up children and two domestic servants.

The Taylors vacated the property c.1920 and William Mitchell, a seed merchant, is noted as householder in 1924. He remained until the later 1930s and by 1943 James T. Bryson was in residence. Mr. Bryson was still there in 1951 but at some point later in that decade the property was split into two flats, occupied by Mrs. Susan McShane (ground floor) and W.R. Morrow respectively in 1960. Miss Valerie Smyth had taken over the ground floor flat by 1965, followed by A.V. Cramsie c.1972, D.G.M. Clarke before 1980 and Valerie Burns by 1990. The upper flat meanwhile had passed to H.R. Hicks by 1970, followed by J. Reid c.1977 and Cormac Reilly by 1990, with Mr. Reilly remaining there until at least 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
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

No. 32 Windsor Park, originally named ‘Mingala’, 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 sylistic 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. 30 ‘Colonsa’ 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. Despite subdivision to form two apartments, the original fabric and interior detailing at ground floor level are substantially intact. Authentic curved stone entrance steps further augment its character and surrounding mature trees and landscaping significantly enhance the setting of this impressive pair.