348 Antrim Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced two-bay two-storey with attic red brick former house, built c.1877, with full-height bay window and replacement two-storey red brick return, built c.1990, now in use as five flats. Rectilinear on plan as one of a terrace of seven similar houses on the west side of Antrim Road with enclosed front garden and rear yard.

Pitched artificial slate roof with synthetic ridge tiles, lead valleys and uPVC rainwater goods to timber box fascia having decorative timber brackets. Profiled and corbelled red brick chimney stack with clay pots to north party wall. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with cement pointing, moulded red brick string courses and painted flush sandstone ashlar dressings. Rock-faced uncoursed squared sandstone plinth course with chamfered ashlar sandstone trim. Square-headed window openings with uPVC windows, painted sandstone ashlar cills and flush lintels, with the latter having bowtel mouldings.

Two-bay east front elevation with canted bay window to left rising to attic level as rectangular half-timbered gabled oriel window. UPVC window to oriel. Decorative timber brackets, moulded and curved to support projecting eaves, with timber sheeting to the underside, and timber bargeboard. Shouldered principal entrance to the right with painted sandstone ashlar lintel having foliate and floral carvings. Replacement timber panelled door and plain fanlight with door opening onto three replacement nosed concrete steps and original flagstone paved footpath.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.346 (HB26/44/028B).

Pebbledash rendered west rear elevation has a two-storey redbrick return to the left and a three-storey stair return to the right, built c.1990, with uPVC windows throughout.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.350 (HB26/44/028D).

Roof Artificial slate
RWG UPVC
Walling Redbrick
Windows UPVC

Setting:
Part of a terrace of four similar houses and set on the west side of Antrim Road, set back from the road with gravel front garden enclosed by replacement concrete plinth wall and steel railing. Steel pedestrian gate hung on replacement red brick pillars. Replacement tall red brick wall encloses rear yard with bitmac shared alleyway opening onto Hopefield Avenue.

Historical information

No's 344-354 Antrim Road, a terrace of six three-storey red-brick buildings located along the west side of the Antrim Road, were constructed in two phases with the first four buildings being constructed in 1877. The Antrim Road was originally laid out in 1830. The second edition Ordnance Survey map (1858) records that the land to the north of the Belfast Waterworks and the Limestone Road remained predominantly rural in character by the 1850s. With the increase in Belfast’s population and the development of the shipbuilding, rope-making and textiles industries in the town, by the mid-19th century a number of gentlemen’s mansions and wealthy merchant’s houses had been constructed in the townland of Skegoneill which swiftly became one of the most affluent areas in Belfast. No's 344-354 Antrim Road were constructed on the grounds of Hopefield House, a two-storey six-bay mansion that was occupied by the Sinclair family. The majority of the grounds were built over during the 1870s (no's 416-428 Antrim Road were also constructed on this parcel of land in 1872 – see HB26/44/029A-G).

No's 344-350 Antrim Road was known as ‘Clonsilla’. The four dwellings were constructed for Andrew Wright, a local pawn broker and clerk at the Belfast Loan Office (no's 49-51 Ann Street) who resided at No. 3 Cranston Place (UTD; PRONI Wills). The terrace was designed by Young & Mackenzie, an architectural partnership that had been formed between Robert Young and John Mackenzie in c. 1867. The Dictionary of Irish Architects noted that the firm were ‘the leading architects for the Presbyterian Church in the North-East and had also received some of the most important commercial commissions in the city.’ The firm also designed a large number of contemporary terraces throughout Belfast during the Victorian period (DIA). No's 352-354 Antrim Road were erected in 1899 in a similar style to the adjoining earlier buildings. The terrace were depicted on the third edition Ordnance Survey map (1901-02) which shows that the entire area had been developed with terraced streets by the turn of the 20th century.

The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of No. 348 Antrim Road at £37 in 1877. The first recorded occupant of the building was a Major Thomas Bryson but by 1901 the property was occupied by a Mr. John Riordan. The Census of Ireland records that the tenant in 1911 was Richard Stephen Grainger, an official Assignee in the Belfast Local Bankruptcy Court. In that year the census building return described No. 348 Antrim Road as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms and possessed a coal house as its sole outbuilding. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that the value of No. 348 Antrim Road had been increased to £46 whilst ownership of the entire terrace had passed to a Mr. Francis Curley by the 1930s. No. 348 Antrim Road was occupied by the Condy family between the 1930s and 1950s when ownership of the house passed to a Mr. H. Crawford. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956 72) the building continued to be occupied as a private dwelling and had been increased in value to £47.

No's 344-354 Antrim Road were listed in 1987. The NIEA HB Records note that no's 346-348 Antrim Road were converted into a number of self-contained apartments by 1990 (NIEA HB Records).

Resources

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1938)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/7-25B – Annual Revisions (1863-1905)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/F/4-7 – Annual Revisions (1905-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/3- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-56)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/1 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1943)
10. PRONI Wills Catalogue (26 May 1884)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB26/44/028 (No Date)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB26/44/028C

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Mid terrace two-bay two-storey with attic red brick former house, built c.1877 to designs by Young and Mackenzie. Half timbered gable rising from canted bay to front and replacement two-storey red brick return. The former house appears to have been extensively refurbished c.1990 and subdivided into five apartments, when the replacement return was built. Some alterations detract from the building, namely the demolition of the original outhouses, replacement uPVC windows, dry-dash render and new return to the rear and fibre cement roof slates. However, the retained sandstone dressings and Tudoresque half-timbered gable and original brick work dictate the character of the building at the front and some historic detail survives inside. It is one of a terrace of four similar houses (HB 26.44.028 A, B and D), originally named Clonsilla, with each having slight variations and a further two terraced dwellings attached at the N end (HB 26.44.028 E and F) that collectively form a coherent and distinctive row on the Antrim Road.