352 Antrim Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced three-bay two-storey with attic-storey redbrick former house, built c.1899, with full-height bay window and two-storey return. Irregular shaped on plan as one of a terrace of similar houses on the west side of Antrim Road with enclosed front garden and rear yard.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll moulded terracotta ridge tiles and exposed timber rafter tails. Lead valleys and cast-iron rainwater goods. Profiled and corbelled red brick chimney stack with clay pots to south party wall. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with original pointing, moulded red brick and sandstone string courses and flush sandstone ashlar dressings. Rock-faced uncoursed squared sandstone plinth course with chamfered red brick trim. Square-headed window openings with original single-pane timber sash windows having slender ogee horns, sandstone ashlar sills and flush sandstone ashlar lintels with bowtel mouldings.

Three-bay east front elevation with canted bay window to right rising to just below attic level, then stepped back to form a gabled dormer with sandstone dressings that include intricate scrolled brackets with foliate carvings. Paired window opening to gabled dormer with pointed-headed blind panels over with geometric brickwork. To the left bay is a wall-head dormer window with a hipped roof, terracotta finial, exposed rafter feet and paired square-headed window openings with 2/1 panes to timber sash windows. At eaves level is a diminutive pair of openings with a single sill. Central shouldered principal entrance with sandstone ashlar lintel having foliate and floral carvings. Original timber panelled door with six panels, bolection mouldings and plain fanlight. Door opens onto two sandstone steps enclosed by sandstone plinth walls and an original flagstone paved footpath.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.350 (HB26/44/028D).

West rear elevation has a two-storey red brick return abutted by a red brick chimney stack to the northwest corner. Single-pane timber sash windows to the upper floors, boarded up windows to the ground floor.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.354 (HB26/44/028F).

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick
Windows Original timber sash

Setting:
Part of a terrace of similar houses and set on the west side of Antrim Road, set back from the footpath with gravel front garden enclosed by tooled sandstone plinth wall and iron railing with matching pedestrian gate. Clay tiled paved rear yard enclosed by tall redbrick walls and an L-plan range of redbrick outhouses having lean-to natural slate roofs and sheeted timber doors.

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. No's 352-354 Antrim Road were erected in 1899. 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, that form the first four dwelings in the terrace, was known as ‘Clonsilla’. These 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). They 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). The terrace was 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.

No's 352-354 Antrim Road were erected in 1899 in a similar style to the adjoining earlier four buildings but both houses lacked the third-storey Tudor-style projecting bay that characterised the adjoining terrace. The architect of the two later buildings is not known. The Annual Revisions noted that the pair were owned by Mr. William McConnell, a local commission agent, and that No. 352 Antrim Road was originally valued at £45 and known as ‘Dun Conal.’ The Annual Revisions and Ulster Town Directories suggest that No. 352 lay vacant from 1899 until c. 1907. The house was occupied in 1910 by the Rev. Robert Walker who was rector of St. Barnabas Church in Duncairn Gardens. The 1911 census building return described No. 352 Antrim Road as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 16 rooms and possessed a wash house and coal house amongst its out offices. In the 1920s the house was occupied by William W. Campbell, a commercial traveller, who continued to reside there until c. 1940. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) slightly decreased the value of No. 352 Antrim Road to £44 at which it remained by the 1970s. Under the Second Revaluation (1956-72) ownership of the building had passed to a Mr. William Campbell who leased the house to a Mr. R. Haywood, whose name features on an Ulster Historical Society blue plaque mounted above the entrance due to his success as a writer,actor and singer.
No's 344-354 Antrim Road were listed in 1987.

The NIEA HB Records note that No. 352 Antrim Road was converted into office premises in 1999. In that year the building underwent a renovation that included the repointing of its red-brick chimney stacks, the restoration of its roof, the installation of cast iron rainwater goods and the refurbishment of its original sliding sash window frames (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 – HB26/44/028E

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Terraced three-bay two-storey with attic red brick double fronted former house, built c.1899, with full-height canted bay. The name of the architect is unknown, although this mid-terrace house was originally named 'Dun Conal' and it has more elaborate sandstone and brick detailing than its neighbours, including a gabled wall-head dormer. The building retains all original fabric to the exterior, including rear outhouses, stone steps and walling to the front and much original fabric to the interior, that makes a marked contribution to both its own historical value and to the architectural quality of the entire terrace. In the mid-twentieth century, Dun Conal was home to Richard Hayward, writer actor and singer and his name is inscribed on an Ulster Historical Society blue plaque that is mounted above the entrance. Combined with the adjoining row of four houses, known as 'Clonsilla', to the South (HB 26.44.28 A-D inclusive) and with the end of terrace property to the N, formerly named 'Dunmara' (HB 26.44.28 F), each having slight variations, they form a coherent and distinctive row on the Antrim Road.