Fortwilliam Fold

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached multi-bay two-storey red brick and stuccoed Italianate built c.1869, to the designs of Boyd & Bat as a house. Full-height bow window to main frontage, three-stage entrance tower and two-storey return. Irregular on plan, the house faces south and is set within its own grounds on a slightly elevated site to the north side of Fortwilliam Park.

Hipped natural slate roofs with lead ridges and valleys. Corbelled red brick chimney stacks with terracotta pots. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on bracketed heavy eaves and replacement steel downpipes. Red brick walling set in Flemish bond with projecting moulded render plinth, stucco quoins which have indented panels up to the level of the stucco plat band between floors. Indented panel detail repeated in stucco architraves with decorative keystones to round-headed window openings on ground floor level and segmental-headed windows to the first floor. Original single-pane timber sash windows with horns and moulded stucco sills on corbels. Some historic glass is retained to first floor windows only.

Principal Elevation
The principal elevation faces South and has an advanced full-height bow with semi-conical roof and curved-arched windows arranged in groups of three to each level. Immediately to the east of this bow is a three-storey tower described below as part of the E Elevation. To the west of the bow, windows are arranged in pairs to each level.

West Elevation
The West Elevation is six bays wide in total. The first three bays meet the main frontage to the S and enjoy the same stucco detailing and Italianate exuberance at the windows and eaves. A single-storey projecting bay at ground floor level is surmounted by a moulded heavy cornice and pierced stucco balustrade. This projection has paired windows to the front and slender round-headed window openings to the cheeks. Although unconfirmed, it would appear that the original house may have stopped just beyond this projection, at the point where the eaves step down and the moulded plinth and plat band are discontinued. Alternatively, the three bay wide, two-storey red brick return to the N could have been used as servants quarters. The shallower eaves and smaller segmental arched window openings with plain stop-chamfered architraves to this portion of the building are generally more modest and subservient in appearance.

North Elevation
The rear of the property face N and is abutted by a three-storey rendered stairway projection to the centre which then steps down to a two-storey block to the east and a later three-storey brown brick return to the west, built c.1985.

East Elevation
The E elevation is abutted by a three-storey tower to the centre, the entrance to which faces S. The tower has a pyramidal natural slate roof with decorative brackets and panelled frieze. Panelled stucco quoins to the lower level, plain quoins to the middle stage and clasping Doric pilasters to the upper stage. Slender round-headed tripartite window openings with decorative panelled architraves, keystones and moulded sills on corbels adorn the north, east and west elevations on the upper stage and only the east elevation on the remaining two levels. To the north and south faces there are round-headed door openings, each flanked by panelled stucco pilasters and stiff-leaf capitals with a moulded architrave and keystone to the glazed fanlights. Replacement timber panelled door to the south entrance, original timber panelled door with the upper panels glazed to the north entrance (no longer in use). A bulls eye, or oeil-de-boeuf window sits directly above the S entrance door at first floor level; this opening is bricked up and has a panelled stucco architrave with a keystone at the top and block stones at each of the remaining three axis. The plat band between ground and first floor and the projecting fascia at eaves level are continued around the three exposed faces of the tower which unifies the overall composition.
Paired windows to either side of the tower (detailed as per above) and a steel fire escape to the N. The entrance opens onto concrete paved platform enclosed by low rendered wall and flight of concrete steps to the parking area to the E.

Roof : Natural slate
RWG : Cast-iron / steel
Walling : Redbrick / stucco
Windows: Single-pane timber sash

Setting
Located on a slightly elevated site with mature landscaping and trees, the property sits on the N side of Fortwilliam Park. It is set back from the road and enclosed by a low plinth wall topped with stone coping and iron railings which sweep between square pillars at the boundary to octagonal masonry pillars which support replacement steel gates. Bitmac parking area to the W opens onto the road via a bitmac driveway. The rear returns are connected to a large three-storey block which is L-shaped in plan, built c.1960.

Historical information

No. 30 Fortwilliam Park, a two-storey (with three-storey tower) red brick Italianate house, was constructed in 1869. The gentlemen’s residence was constructed on one of the parks formed from the breaking up of the Fortwilliam Estate in the mid-19th century. Fortwilliam Park was laid out in c. 1864 and Larmour states that many grand mansions were erected on the former estate in the 1860s and 1870s, although only a few now survive (including No. 30 Fortwilliam Park and Dominican Convent).

The Irish Builder records that No. 30 Fortwilliam Park was constructed in 1869 to designs by Boyd & Batt, an architectural partnership that was formed between John Boyd and William Batt in c. 1862. Their practise, which was based in both Londonderry and Belfast, was known for carrying out a mixture of commercial, ecclesiastical and domestic contracts. The Irish Builder notes that Boyd & Batt designed the house on Fortwilliam Park for Hugh White, a local wine and spirit merchant who held business premises on Winecellar Entry at White’s Tavern (see HB26/50/286). The construction of White’s villa cost £2,600 (Irish Builder, p. 71; DIA).

In 1870 the Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of No. 30 Fortwilliam Park, then known as ‘Rosaville,’ at £90. The valuer noted that the site was leased to White by William Valentine (of Fortwilliam House). The Annual Revisions also included a sketched plan of the structure that closely follows the ground plan of the current building, depicting the three-storey Italianate tower and the rounded bay extension to its south elevation. The sketch shows that the building originally possessed extensive outbuildings to its rear but these were replaced in the 1980s by a modern three-storey extension. Hugh White continued to reside at Rosaville until his death in 1882 when the villa passed to his widow Mary Jane White (PRONI Wills).

By 1893 Rosaville was occupied by Edward McKean who was employed as a commissioner of the Central Chinese Customs Service. The 1901 census described McKean’s property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 16 rooms and possessed a stable, coach house, a cow house and a fowl house amongst its rear outbuildings. Edward McKean had purchased Rosaville outright by the 1930s when he leased the house out to other occupants. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the house remained at £90 but by the end of the Second Revaluation the property was occupied by a Mr. F. Hanna and had been slightly increased in value to £97.

The First Survey records that the three-storey extension was added to the rear of Rosaville by 1985. This extension was constructed to provide additional residential accommodation following the conversion of the mansion into Fortwilliam Fold in the 1990s. No. 30 Fortwilliam Park was listed in 1987. The NIEA HB Records note that the Italianate mansion was reroofed in c. 1988 (NIEA HB Records). During the Second Survey the building continued to be utilised as a residential Fold for senior citizens and consisted of 37 self-contained apartments (Fortwilliam Fold website).

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/5/8A-F – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/H/1-7 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/11- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-72)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/14 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Irish Builder (15 Mar 1869)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1943)
11. PRONI Wills Catalogue (16 Apr 1882)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB26/46/006 (1985)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB26/46/006

Secondary Sources
1. ‘The Cave Hill Campaigner’ Belfast: Cave Hill Conservation Campaign, 2004.
2. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Fortwilliam Fold website - http://www.foldgroup.co.uk/housing/view/830/fortwilliam-fold

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Formerly known as Rosaville, this detached multi-bay two-storey red brick and stucco Italianate mansion, with three-stage tower, was built c.1869, to the designs of Boyd & Batt. The first occupant was Hugh White, who was a local wine and spirit merchant and owner of White's Tavern on Winecellar Entry (HB 26/50/286). Although the property is no longer used as a single private dwelling, the external appearance has been retained and the exuberant stucco detailing together with its elevated position create a sense of grandeur. This serves to demonstrate the stature and ambition of the original occupants. Despite the large modern block connected at the rear, the building is among one of the most impressive houses in Fortwilliam Park and is of interest together with the other surviving gentlemen's residences formed by the breaking up of the Fortwilliam Estate in the mid 19th century.