278 Tennent Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical, two-bay two-storey-with-attic terraced brick house with gabled dormer and canted-bay windows, constructed between 1907-09 and located to the west side of Tennent Street, in the Shankill area of Belfast. Facing east and rectilinear on plan with a two-storey, gabled return with a single-storey lean-to structure to the west and internal yard also to rear.

Pitched, red tile roof with roll-moulded red clay ridge tiles; single brick chimney with heavy bands; tall clay pots with rosette motif on each. Wall-head dormer to right-side (complete dormer formed with adjoining terrace HB26/36/001C) with attic window, half-hipped roof as above decorative timber bargeboard. Central replacement skylight to rear roof. uPVC rainwater goods; decorative box hopper and cast iron downpipe to main elevation. Walling is Flemish bonded brick; English Garden Wall bonded to rear; roughcast render to first floor levels. Decorative terracotta vents to main façade and rear. uPVC replacement windows (main elevation of rear not viewed); offset brick sills and flat arch heads.

Principal elevation is two openings wide at ground floor, uPVC front door with moulded brick, camber-arch surround with egg-and-dart motif. Surmounted by deeply projecting, flat-roofed timber canopy. Fully glazed canted bay-window to right over brick plinth; red-tile roof with decorative lead flashing, surmounted by stepped brick moulding. Central window to first floor level with small canopy roughcast over.

The south elevation is abutted by adjoining terrace (HB26/36/001A).

Rear (west) elevation abutted by two-storey pitched-roof return to right; south cheek is blank; west gable has central window to first floor. Single-storey rear boundary wall abuts to west gable of return; extends to west, then north, sloping at a downward angle, continues horizontally and abuts to the return of the neighbouring terrace to the north; doorway to yard with sheeted and braced door. Original form of lean-to slated roof is retained between gable of return and yard wall. (Left cheek of return and ground floor of main rear elevation not viewed). Principal rear elevation has central window to first floor; roughcast to first floor; attic window to left-side above return.

The north elevation is abutted by adjoining terrace (HB26/36/001C).

Setting

Located on the western side of Tennent Street, between Crumlin and Shankill Roads. Small garden with a combination of concrete flags and tiles; replacement half-height brick wall and cast-iron gate to the east along Tennent Street; long, narrow garden plot at rear, running west to boundary wall. A paved walkway extends along rear of all properties in terrace, between garden plots and rear of buildings but has been sealed with locked gates to the south. Mixed use business park and apartment complex to west, on site of former Edenderry Spinning Mill. Crumlin Road Presbyterian Church (HB26/36/009) located to the north-east on the corner of Crumlin Road and Tennent Street.

Roof Clay tiles
RWG uPVC, cast iron
Walling Brick/ roughcast
Windows uPVC

Historical information

Constructed as a part of Edenderry Terrace, the building first appears on the fourth edition OS map (1920-31) on a previously undeveloped site, which formed part of Edenderry flax spinning mill complex. Prior to construction the area had developed rapidly during the mid 19th century as a consequence of the thriving linen industry and the expanding industrial workforce. Erected between 1907-09 the building forms part of a residential terrace, which was built in stages over this period of time, and comprises houses of similar design (HB File). This is confirmed by the Annual Revisions (1906-15) in which the house and yard were added in 1909 at a value of £14.The house is first listed as No.9 ‘Edenderry Gardens’ in the 1910 Street Directory, first occupied by Mr. James Blair. In the first General Revaluations (1935) the value increased to £20 and was occupied by John Kelso, followed by R. Savage.

Prior to the building and sanitation regulations of the late 19th century, houses were often shared by a number of families, with no drainage, water supply or rear access, meaning waste from the privy and ash pit was carried through the scullery (Wiener). Constructed by the Edenderry Spinning Company, this house stands as a representative of the design ethos associated with early 20th century terrace housing; intended for occupation by one family with the provision of a rear yard accessible by a passage at the front, a number of sizable windows on the main elevation and the modern amenities of the time.

The house and terrace were built to the designs of the Belfast based architectural partnership, Robert Hill and Edwin Kennedy (DIA). Constructed toward the end of the city’s second great building phase the house demonstrates detailing from the Arts and Crafts movement, including dormers, bay windows, roughcast and irregular rooflines (HB File; Larmour).

The building remained under ownership of Edenderry Spinning Company until at least 1972 (second General Revaluations (1956-72). The Spinning Company continued to operate on the site to the rear of the property until 1988 and the area has since become an industrial park (Street Directories).

The HB File notes some late 20th century repairs and alterations..

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/1 First Edition Os Map (1832-33)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/2 Second Edition OS Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 Third Edition OS Map (1901)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 Fourth Edition OS Map (1920-31)
5. PRONI OS/6/1/60/5 Fifth Edition OS Map (1920-38)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/M/3 - Annual Revisions (1906-15)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/M/6- Annual Revisions (1916-30)
8. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/16- First General Revaluation (1935)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/35- Second General Revaluation (1956-72)
10. Belfast and Ulster Street Directories (1902-1990)
11. Census of Ireland (1911)
12. HB File (HB26/36/001B)

Secondary Sources

1. Larmour, P “Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide” Friars Bush Press, Belfast (1987)
2. Wiener, R “The Rape and Plunder of the Shankill” Farset Co-operative Press Ltd, Belfast, 1978 (2nd ed 1980).
3. www.dia.ie - Dictionary of Irish Architects online

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Three-storey, single-bay terraced house of brick construction, dating from 1907-09. Designed by the architectural firm Hill and Kennedy, the building forms part of a group with the other houses in the terrace (HB26/36/001A-J), built by the Edenderry Spinning Company, which was located to the west of the site. The group as a whole has suffered from inappropriate incremental changes. Although of significance in that they demonstrate key elements pertaining to the Arts and Crafts movement at the time with varied detailing and roofline, their interest has been seriously compromised by loss of historic fabric and detailing and they are no longer of special architectural or historic interest.