354 Antrim Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace single-bay two-storey with attic red brick former house, built c.1899, with three-bay north side elevation and two-storey return. Irregular on plan terminating the north end of a terrace of seven similar houses on the west side of Antrim Road with enclosed front garden and rear yard.

Half-hipped natural slate roof with roll moulded terracotta ridge tiles and exposed timber rafter tails. Lead valleys and cast-iron rainwater goods with some decorative timber bargeboards supported on decorative paired timber brackets. Profiled and corbelled red brick chimneystack with clay pots to south party wall. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with original pointing, moulded red brick and sandstone string courses and flush sandstone ashlar dressings. Redbrick plinth course with chamfered redbrick trim. Square-headed window openings with original single-pane timber sash windows having ogee horns, painted sandstone ashlar sills and flush painted sandstone ashlar lintels with bowtel mouldings.

Single-bay east front elevation has paired windows at each level including a wall-head dormer to the attic with hipped slate roof.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.352 (HB26/44/028E).

West rear elevation has a shallow lean-to section in turn abutted by a two-storey redbrick return. Single-pane timber sash windows to the upper floors, 2/2 panes to the ground floor and a steel sheeted door to the return.

Stepped secondary north side elevation has a two-storey canted bay to the right with the principal entrance to the re-entrant angle to the left. Wall-head dormer over the bay window, as per front elevation. Trefoil-headed door opening formed in painted sandstone surround with bowtel and foliate carvings and ogee-moulded stop-chamfer stones at sill level. Original six-panelled timber with bolection mouldings, orignal Art Nouveau brass door furniture and replacement leaded trefoil fanlight. The north cheek of the entrance bay has square-headed window openings at ground and first floors with leaded coloured fixed glazing (replacement to the ground floor, original to the first floor).

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

Setting:
Terminating the north end of a terrace of six similar houses and set on the west side of Antrim Road, set back from the road with gravel front garden enclosed by hedging and replacement iron pedestrian gates hung on replacement red brick pillars. Clay tiled paved rear yard enclosed by tall red brick walls.

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 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. 354 Antrim Road was originally valued at £49 and known as ‘Dunmara.’ The house was utilised by McConnell as his private dwelling and continued to be occupied by his family until the 1950s. The 1911 census records that McConnell’s widow (Mary McConnell) operated a boarding house from the premises whilst the census building return described No. 354 as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a wash house and coal house as its sole out offices. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the rateable value of No. 354 Antrim Road was slightly decreased to £47. Ownership of the house had passed to a Mr. H. Crawford by the 1950s and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the building was further decreased to £46.

No's 344-354 Antrim Road were listed in 1987. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 354 Antrim Road was converted from a private dwelling into an orthodontist surgery in 1999. In that year the building underwent an extensive renovation which included the restoration of its roof, the installation of cast iron rainwater goods, the repointing of its brickwork and the replacement of its original front doors (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 – HB26/44/028F

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
I. Quality and survival of Interior
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End of terrace single-bay two-storey with attic red-brick former house, built c.1899, with three-bay north side elevation and two-storey return, currently used as an orthodontist surgery. The name of the architect is unknown, although this house was originally named 'Dunmara' and it has interesting sandstone detailing, including an elaborate door surround set back from the principal elevation, which has been painted. The house differs somewhat from the remainder of the terrace in that it is fenestrated mainly to the side (N) entrance and the double-height canted bay also faces N; as such it is a a fitting bookend to this fine late nineteenth-century terrace. The original outhouses have been demolished and replaced with a new single storey extension. Nonetheless, the two-storey rear return is intact together with a good portion of the historic detail inside and it therefore remains is a good example of suburban housing in Belfast. Combined with the neighbouring row of four houses, originally known as 'Clonsilla', (HB 26.44.28 A-D inclusive) and with the property immediately adjoining, formerly named 'Dun Conal' (HB 26.44.28 E), that was built at the same time as Dunmara, they form a coherent and distinctive row on the Antrim Road.