Rhubarb Cottage

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Picturesque three-bay single storey painted brick former gate lodge, dating from 1876. Located on a slightly elevated site on the north side of the Ballysillan Road and orientated east-west. Built as the gate lodge for Clearstream Cottage, now demolished, to designs by Young and Mackenzie, architects.

Hipped roof to existing dwelling with lead rolled ridges and fish-scale slates to all slopes except rear return which has plain slates. Flat-roofed sections are felted. Half-round gutters and circular downpipes in uPVC. Centrally placed paired chimney stack, set on the diagonal, rises from rendered plinth. Two tall clay pots.

Principal elevation faces east. Walls painted brick in English Garden Wall bond. Central projecting gabled porch with timber painted panelled entrance door having plain fanlight over. Timber ornamental bargeboards with carved scrolls and applied motifs, small timber finial. Either side of porch is segmental arched opening containing tripartite casement window with panes divided into four, horizontally. Projecting painted cill.

South elevation has painted brick walls. 3/3 panes to top-hung timber window in the centre. Flat-roofed extension to west end with rendered walls to cill level and glass inserted to top part of wall. Central timber sheeted half-door, painted.

West elevation has flat-roofed extension to south with fixed glass to upper wall, rendered beneath. Small flat-roofed section with painted brick walls and small timber casement window linking to rear gabled return with paired casement window with panes divided into three horizontally. Window set in segmental arched opening centrally placed in gable wall. Plain timber barge-board with scrolled ends and small timber finial. Lean-to glass house to north end.

North elevation has lean-to glass house set into corner between rear return and main block. Walls to main block, painted brick with centrally placed modern timber cantilevered bay window with top-hung casement to middle section. Glazed pitched roof to window.

Materials:
Roof : Natural slate and felt
RWG : uPVC
Walling : Brick and render, painted
Windows : Timber casement.

Setting:
Located on the north side of the Ballysillan Road on a slightly elevated site behind a stone wall with stone set upright as coping. Small timber pedestrian gate gives access to garden area and path winds from gate to entrance door. Built as gate lodge for Clearstream Cottage, now demolished.

Historical information

No. 36 Ballysillan Road, a single-storey dwelling also known as Rhubarb Cottage, was constructed in 1876 in the townland of Ballysillan Lower. The house was constructed as the gate lodge to Clearstream Cottage which dated from the 1830s (now demolished). Clearstream appeared on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832-33) which depicted the dwelling as a rectangular-shaped building located next to an underground stream (providing its name). Matier’s Belfast Directory (1835-36) records that Clearstream was occupied by Lieutenant E. C. Miller in the 1830s. Miller was employed as a government emigration agent with offices at Custom House in Belfast. In the 1840s the lodge was occupied by a Mr. J. Blair Esq who was described in Martin’s Belfast Directory (1842-43) as a member of the gentry or nobility. The Blair family held Clearstream for the following three decades but appear to have leased the property out to other tenants. In 1852 a Mr. Richard Bell briefly occupied the lodge (Ulster Town Directories).

The current building is the second gate lodge to be constructed on the site. The first lodge was not depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1857) but had been constructed by 1859 when it was included in the contemporary Griffith’s Valuation of property. In that year the valuer noted that the original gate lodge was valued at £1 and 10 shillings and was occupied by a Mr. James Williamson. Dean records that the current lodge was constructed in 1876 to designs by Young & Mackenzie, a local architectural partnership that was formed in c. 1867 between Robert Young and John Mackenzie. The Dictionary of Irish Architects described Young & Mackenzie as ‘the most successful architectural practice in Belfast.’ The current gate lodge was constructed at a cost of £100 and was also inhabited by James Williamson. The Blair family vacated Clearstream Cottage in 1876 when Robert McBride, a local linen manufacturer took possession of the property. McBride was the founder of Robert McBride & Co., a linen factory that was situated on Ormeau Avenue, and continued to reside at Clearstream until 1882. Williamson vacated the gate lodge in 1882 when a Mr. John Ramsay took possession (UTD).

The gate lodge fell vacant in 1891 when William Cairns, a Linen Weaving Factory Manager, purchased Clearstream. By 1901 the lodge had been occupied by Thomas Gribben, a local farm labourer, but by 1911 it was occupied by Thomas Williamson who was employed as Cairn’s gardener. In that year the census building return described the gate lodge as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of four rooms. The Cairns family continued to reside at Clearstream until the 1960s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the gate lodge was occupied by a Mr. Henry White and had been increased in value to £6. Clearstream was demolished in 1965 but the gate lodge continued to be occupied as a private dwelling. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) No. 36 Ballysillan Road was leased by the Cairns family to a Mr. G. White and had a rateable value of £7.

Dean, writing in 1993, described the former gate lodge as ‘surprisingly late in date’ and ‘a rare survival in the city’s urban spread’ (Dean, p. 8). No. 36 Ballysillan Road was listed in 1978. The building, which is also known as ‘Rhubarb Cottage’ continues to be occupied as a private dwelling but is also utilised the headquarters of the Deborda Institute, a Northern Ireland-based international organisation which ‘aims to promote the use of inclusive voting procedures on all contentious questions of social choice.’ The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent a renovation in 1992 that included the reslating of its roof, the replacement of its timber fascias and the construction of the timber conservatory to the south side of the lodge (Deborda website; NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/60/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832-33)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/60/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/60/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/60/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-31)
5. PRONI OS/6/1/60/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1920-38)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/21B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/8A-F – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/M/1-7 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/22 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/31 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Matier’s Belfast Directory (1835-36)
12. Martin’s Belfast Directory (1842-43)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB26/39/001 (1986)
16. First Survey Image – HB26/39/001 (No Date)
17. NIEA HB Records – HB26/39/001

Secondary Sources
1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Online Resources
1. The Deborda Institute website - http://www.deborda.org/contact/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

This former gate lodge, known as 'Rhubarb Cottage' is a well-proportioned and detailed, three-bay single storey building, dating from 1876 and designed by Belfast architects Young and Mackenzie. It was built as the second gate lodge for Clearstream Cottage, which has since been demolished. Located on a slightly elevated site on the north side of the Ballysillan Road and rotated so that the simple plan form is orientated on an east-west axis. This sets the building apart amongst the surrounding houses. Despite the flat roofed extension to the rear, the distinctive fish-scale roof slates, overhanging eaves, decorative barge boards and paired chimney stacks placed diagonally dominate the single storey structure and largely define its character. Set behind random rubble stone walls and square pillars with stone set upright as coping, the historic character of the gate-lodge is further enhanced.