Caretaker's House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay two-storey mid-terrace red-brick former house, now office; built 1898 to designs by William Batt and located to the west side of Brookmount Street off the Shankill Road in West Belfast. Rectangular on plan with single-storey canted bay window to front and return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and red-brick chimneystacks. Plastic rainwater goods on brick eaves. Walling is English garden wall-bonded red-brick; decorative brick drip course above ground floor windows at right bay; painted concrete lintel above windows to canted bay. Windows are twentieth-century timber casements in segmental-headed reveals to first floor with red-brick voussoirs, all with projecting painted sills; canted bay window has slate roof and continuous sill course.

The principal elevation faces southeast and is irregularly arranged. Set on a slight slope, right bay openings are slightly higher, with two windows at each floor. Left bay has two windows to first floor over canted bay. To left of centre is a replacement uPVC entrance door in a plain reveal with infilled transom light over. Door is surmounted by cogged brick hood mould and imposts, with a shallow raised keyblock.

The southwest elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The northwest (rear) elevation was not viewed (see surveyor’s comments).

The northeast elevation is abutted by the adjoining building (HB026/34/004A).

Setting:

Situated to the west side of Brookmount Street, abutting the Orange Hall (HB26/34/004A) to northeast and forming part of a terrace of two-storey red-brick houses (now vacant). Set back from the street with tiled yard to front enclosed by low red-brick wall with concrete coping topped with metal railings; pathway to entrance door laid with terracotta and yellow square tiles. Enclosed yard to rear (not accessed).

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: English garden wall-bonded red-brick
Windows: Replacement timber casements
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

The West Belfast Orange and Unionist Hall was built in 1897-8 to designs by William Batt on what was formerly a vacant plot on the outskirts of the burgeoning city. The hall is first shown on the third edition OS map of 1902 and was built with caretaker’s accommodation to the rear, described as a ‘commodious house’ in contemporary newspaper reports (Belfast Newsletter).

The closing years of the nineteenth century, and the attempted introduction of Home Rule, brought about a period of enormous growth for the Orange Institution with ‘record numbers’ of new Orange Halls being opened (Belfast Newsletter 31st December 1897). An earlier hall in Agnes Street had been built when West Belfast was still relatively undeveloped but had become inadequate as the city had entered the period of its most rapid expansion. The old hall had become surrounded by houses which obstructed entry and exit into the building and the rent and taxes were very heavy (Belfast Newsletter). The decision was taken to erect a new hall in October 1890, a lease was obtained on the present plot and designs were produced by William Batt, architect of a number of orange halls, including those in Clifton Street and Ballynafeigh. However, construction was delayed by opposition to Home Rule which absorbed funds and energies that would otherwise have been directed towards the new hall (Belfast Newsletter). After the second Home Rule Bill was defeated in 1893, fundraising began in earnest and the foundation stone was laid on 19th April 1897 by Alderman McConnell. McConnell was a well-known supporter of the community in West Belfast and had been instrumental in acquiring the site as well as contributing significantly towards the building fund. The contractors were Campbell & Lowry of Cliftonpark Avenue and the cost was to be £2,500 of which £800 had been promised at the time of laying the foundation stone (Belfast Newsletter).

The opening ceremony took place on 22nd April 1898 when the wife of Alderman McConnell declared the building open. The building consisted of an entrance vestibule, lodge, ante-rooms, reading, arch and box rooms. Upstairs was the large hall with a gallery off which were a number of ‘ladies’ and gentlemens’ retiring rooms’. The hall itself was decorated for the opening ceremony with ‘an artistic arrangement of Chinese lanterns, garlands of roses, Indian palms, Japanese sunshades and ferns’. The hall was to be a focus, not only of political work but of social and religious outreach, there being a particular concern about the ‘vice of intemperance’ and the proliferation of public houses in the Shankill Road area. A debt of £8-900 remained on the building when it opened which was cleared by subsequent fundraising efforts (Belfast Newsletter).

The hall remains the home of the No 9 District Orange Lodge which celebrated its 110 year anniversary in 2008. Improvement works to the building were recently carried out by Belfast City Council which included the fitting of new bespoke galvanized railings at the entrance (www.belfastcity.gov.uk).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 Third Edition OS Map (1901)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 Fourth Edition OS Map (1920-31)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/60/5 Fifth Edition OS Map (1920-38)
4. Belfast Newsletter 31st December 1897
5. Belfast Newsletter 23rd April 1898
6. Irish Builder 1st August 1891

Secondary Sources

1. www.belfastcity.gov.uk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-bay two-storey mid-terrace red-brick former house, now office built 1898 to designs by William Batt. Plainly detailed with some alterations and refurbishments, including replacement fenestration and entrance door. The building is of interest primarily due to its relationship with the neighbouring Orange Hall (HB26/34/004A) which informs the history of use and its social context. The history of both also reflects the development of Belfast in the late Victorian era.