Former Caretaker's House, 29 Seabourne Parade, Belfast, Co Antrim BT15 3NB

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey three-bay Neo-Georgian house with rustic red brick and reconstituted stone dressings, built in 1932-34 by local builders J & R. W. Taggart to designs by R. S. Wilshere. Rectangular plan form facing West onto the junction of Seabourne Parade and Seaview Drive. Situated to SW of Seaview Primary School (HB26.46.025A) the building, formerly a caretakers lodge for the school, is now a private residence located just inside the SW boundary of the school's playground, with its ground floor raised to street level being set back from terrace housing to S behind painted metal railings and a gravelled front garden.

Hipped natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and mitred hips; soldier eaves course having square section metal guttering discharging to circular section cast iron downpipes; square section chimney with four terracotta pots to centre of roof, having a reconstituted stone cap set on soldier course brickwork. Walling is generally English Garden Wall bond rustic red brick with cement pointing, reconstituted stone cills, rowlock course brick window heads and reconstituted stone bands to GF plinth course. Windows are generally square-headed openings with replacement uPVC side opening casements each with two horizontal glazing bars (unless otherwise stated). GF windows have additional red clay tile drip moulds above rowlock brick heads.

Principal elevation
Front elevation faces W and is symmetrical with a central angulated doorcase at GF being flanked by narrow square-headed windows; three similar sized windows to FF. Circular section cast iron downpipes to NW and SW ends. Plinth has two projecting painted reconstituted stone bands with soldier course brickwork between; painted brick architrave to doorcase having replacement square-headed uPVC door with glazed upper section, opening onto a single concrete step. Art Deco pedestrian gate beyond gable to SW, with flat metal geometric detailing, giving access to steps and walled area to S (blocked doorway was former caretakers entrance to school).

South elevation
Southern elevation has two bays of slightly wider windows than front W elevation. Square-headed doorway to SW with painted timber panelled door with glazed upper section.

East elevation
Two bay east elevation consists of a raised GF and taller two-part casement windows having three horizontal glazing bars. Plinth has two reconstituted stone bands with soldier course brickwork between; upper band forming continuous cill course to GF windows. Prominent chimney to centre of roof and cast iron downpipes to both SE and NE of facade. Red brick walling with reconstituted stone coping and blocked doorway extends from SE enclosing steps to S side. Tarmac school playground extends to walling of E and N elevations.

North elevation
Raised GF has two bays with wider windows than front W elevation, similar to S elevation. Flight of steps from NW of playground lead up to public footpath.

Setting
Located to the E of the junction between Seabourne Parade and Seaview Drive the former caretakers lodge for Seaview Primary School (HB26.46.025A) is situated within the SW corner of the school's playground. The building is set back from the red brick terrace houses along Seabourne Parade to E having a modest gavelled front garden enclosed by red brick dwarf walling topped by reconstituted stone coping and plain vertical metal railings; pedestrian gate to centre. To the NW a pair of red brick piers with reconstituted stone caps and a similar style gate give access to concrete steps leading to lower school playground at N and E. To SW an Art Deco painted metal gate with flat metal geometric detailing gives access to enclosed yard and steps leading to walled area at rear, with blocked doorway formerly leading to school playground.

Materials:

Roof: natural slate
RWGs: cast iron
Walling: rustic red brick
Windows: replacement uPVC casement

Historical information

No. 29 Seabourne Parade, a red-brick Neo-Georgian two-storey three-bay house, was constructed in 1932-34 as the caretaker’s house to the adjoining Seaview Primary School, (HB26/46/025A). Following the establishment of the Belfast Education Committee (formed after the Partition of Ireland by the 1923 Education Act) a large number of new modern public elementary schools were established throughout Belfast replacing the inadequate church and national schools that previously predominated. In 1932 the Belfast Education Committee applied for a loan of £19,323 to meet the cost of erecting a new public elementary school on the site of the former Seaview House. Following the demolition of the house in the early-20th century, housing was developed on the site of its former grounds from 1927-28. This housing project was known as the Seaview Villa Colony. The fourth edition Ordnance Survey map (1931) records that the current lattice of terraced streets and houses had been largely completed by the early 1930s. The development of a new housing district and the growth of the local population necessitated the construction of a new public elementary school which was designed by the committee’s architect Reginald Sharman Wilshere.

A Belfast-based English planner, Wilshere (1888-1961) was appointed architect to the Belfast Corporation Education Committee in 1926 and designed 26 new schools in the city before the outbreak of the Second World War. The Irish Builder wrote that ‘Wilshere’s own idea ... Is that if the children of a district have no beauty in their daily surroundings, they need beauty all the more in their schools.’ In 1932 the Belfast Newsletter included a quote by Wilshere who stated that ‘every one of [my schools] has something distinctive about it architecturally, though all follow the same line in planning, and in that respect are in conformity with the best modern practice.’ Wilshire’s typical technique was to construct large schools along quadrangles with corridors open to the air and Larmour states that ‘these were the first modern schools to be built anywhere in Ireland. In regards appearance they range from the Neo-Georgian to the outright modernistic’ (Irish Builder, pp 1089-1091; Larmour, p.84).

The First Survey of the school records that Seaview Public Elementary School was designed by Wilshere in February 1932. The school at Seaview is a typical Wilshere design which was described in the Listing File in the following terms: An extensive two-storey building in rustic brick with reconstituted stone dressings with hipped slated roofs behind parapets. Designed by a modern style that shows Dutch influence (Wilshere was influenced by the work of Dutch modernist architect Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974). It exhibits such characteristic features as long horizontal strips of windows, corner glazing, broad round-arched openings and chevron motifs in metal window grills and wooden door panelling. The various sets of gates display Art Deco patterning in flat ironwork. The school is a stylist display of modern brickwork and makes a fine architectural centrepiece for the housing estate in which it is set.’ Wilshere often designed gate lodges or caretaker’s houses which accompanied his schools. In contrast to Seaview Primary School, the adjoining caretaker’s house was designed in a simple Neo-Georgian style popular in Ulster during the interwar period. The Listing File for Seaview described the dwelling as ‘a symmetrical two-storey building with small windows, a steep hipped roof and a central brick chimney’ (Listing File).

The school and caretaker’s house were constructed by J. & R. W. Taggart, a local building firm. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) set the total rateable value of the site at £480 (the school and caretaker’s house remained jointly valued throughout the valuation sources). The Belfast Street Directories notes that a Mr. Joseph Hill occupied the caretaker’s house in 1943. The value of the site stood at £1,536 by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72). Seaview Primary School (and its caretaker’s house) was listed in 1994. The NIEA HB Records note that the former caretaker’s house is currently utilised as a private dwelling and that the windows of the house were replaced in 2005 (NIEA HB Records).

Resources

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1938)
4. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/12- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-72)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/13 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. PRONI ED/13/1/1128 – Application by the Belfast Education Authority (1932)
7. Belfast Newsletter (25 Apr 1932; 13 Aug 1932)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1918-1943)
9. First Survey Record – HB26/46/025 (1991)
10. Listing File – HB26/46/025
11. NIEA HB Records – HB26/46/025

Secondary Sources
1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987.

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Z. Rarity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two storey three-bay Neo-Georgian house in rustic red brick and reconstituted stone dressings, built between1932-34 by local builders J & R. W. Taggart to designs by R. S. Wilshere, architect to the Belfast Education Committee. Rectangular plan form facing West onto the junction of Seabourne Parade and Seaview Drive, the building has a prominent central chimney to high pitched hipped roof creating a striking external appearance. The exterior retains much of its original character, style and proportions; internal layout remains largely unchanged. Situated to SW of Seaview Primary School (HB26.46.025A) with which it has group value, formerly being a caretaker’s lodge for the school, and is now a private residence located just inside the SW boundary of the school's playground. Overall, a locally important building by an accomplished architect, in a style popular during the inter-war period. There are few surviving caretaker's residences to these important inter-war modernist schools.