284 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 and a single-storey lean-to structure to the rear. Internal yard and single storey conservatory (of no interest) also to rear.

Pitched, red tile roof with roll-moulded red clay ridge tiles; single brick chimney with heavy bands and moulded detail on principal face; tall clay pots with rosette motif on each. Central modern skylight to rear roof. Half-round cast iron rainwater goods mounted on plain timber fascia to eaves; some uPVC replacements to front and rear; dated box hopper to main elevation inscribed ‘1907’. Walling is Flemish bonded brick; English Garden Wall bonded to rear; roughcast render to first floor level on front and rear. Decorative terracotta vents to main façade and rear (some roughcast over). Vertically sliding timber sash windows to first and second floor of stairwell; remainder are uPVC replacements. Offset brick sills and flat arch heads to rear.

Principal elevation is two openings wide at ground floor, containing original timber sheeted front door with replacement glass inserts and glazing bars; various door furniture including number ‘6’ (indicating previous address No.6 Edenderry Gardens). Moulded brick segmental-arch surrounds and flat-roofed timber canopy, with lead capping and angled metal bracket supports. Fully glazed canted bay-window to right over brick plinth and offset sills; red-tile roof rising to smaller flat-roofed canted bay-window to first floor. Central, gabled-dormer uPVC casement window to attic; Tudor-style timber boards to gable front and eaves.

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

Rear (west) elevation abutted by two-storey return having pitched roof also of red-tiles; walling is brick, English Garden Wall bonded; south cheek is blank. West gable end has plain timber fascia board, uPVC window on first floor; brick and slated, lean-to, single-storey structure on ground floor (previously a coal-shed). Modern single-storey conservatory abutted to gable end. North cheek abutted by single-storey yard wall; enlarged window opening and replacement door at ground floor and original timber sash window to first floor. Main elevation of rear has ground floor and first floor windows to left and original timber sash window above roof of return to the right. All windows surmounted by flat arches; concrete sills ground floor.

Timber sheeted and braced door through boundary wall to internal yard. Adjoining listed building (HB26/36/001F) bounds yard with blank two-storey wall to the north.

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

Setting
Located on the western side of Tennent Street, between Crumlin and Shankill Roads. Small garden with dwarf brick wall and cast-iron railings and 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 Cast iron and uPVC
Walling Brick/ roughcast
Windows Sliding sash/ 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 first recorded occupants are Walter Campbell and Sarah Jones in 1911 (1911 Census).

The house is first listed as No.6 ‘Edenderry Gardens’ in the 1910 Street Directory but in the following decades it became renumbered as part of Tennent Street. In the first General Revaluations (1935) the value increased to £20 and was occupied by R.M Steven and then A. Mollan.

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 an example of the design ethos behind 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 (HB26/36/001E)

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.