Alexandra Park Lodge and gate screens

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached two-bay one and a half storey Gothic Revival gate lodge, built in 1887 by Mr. Hugh Todd to the designs of Josiah Corbett Bretland. T-shaped plan having projecting gable to north-east with single-storey projecting entrance porch to north and enclosed courtyard to south-west. Located to the north-west of Alexander Gardens, parallel to Castleton Gardens and adjacent to sandstone Gothic Revival gateway, built in 1887.

Steeply pitched natural slate roof having angled clay ridge tiles, raised verges with flat stone copings, kneelers and moulded eaves course. Dormer to north-east. Ogee moulded cast-iron rain water goods discharging to square-section down-pipes with decorative brackets. Projecting two-stage chimney stacks to south-east and south-west in rusticated stonework with dressed margins; chamfered stone coping and octagonal terracotta chimney pots with decorative capping. Shouldered arched openings with chamfered ashlar surround and splayed integral sill; one over one timber sliding sash windows throughout, unless otherwise stated.

Front elevation faces north-east and comprises of one and a half storey gabled bay with single-storey canted bay having hipped slate roof with saw-tooth decorative ogee-moulded gutter.
Dormer to north. Single-storey entrance porch adjoining gabled bay to north having mono-pitch slate roof. Building is constructed with squared and snecked rusticated sandstone walling having dressed margins with projecting chamfered plinth course and ashlar sandstone dressings. Pair of windows to first floor with pointed relief arch over. Diagonal sheeted timber entrance door with stone threshold and stone flagged step approach.

South-east elevation comprises of gable end with projecting chimney stack to east and stone wall to west with flat stone coping enclosing courtyard. Pair of windows to ground and first floor of gable.

South-west elevation has narrowly projecting chimney stack supported on ashlar cornice at first floor level. Ground floor windows having segment-headed relief arch over. Stepped wall to enclosed courtyard with diagonal timber sheeted door to courtyard.

North-west elevation comprises of gable-ended bay with single-storey entrance porch adjoining. Pair of ground floor windows to gable having pointed relief-arch over. Window to entrance porch.

Building is located to the north-west of Alexandra Park, adjacent to the Gothic Revival gateway entrance at Castleton Gardens and is approached via pathway leading to entrance door. Timber sheeted fencing encloses private garden to north-east and south-east with mature trees and hedge to south-east. Metal railings form boundary with Castleton Gardens to north-west with lawns and gravel laneway and paths to rear (south-west).

Gateway at Castleton Gardens comprises of four no. square-plan piers forming the pedestrian and vehiclular entrance to Alexandra Park from Castleton Gardens. Gateway at the corner of Alexandra Avenue and Parkside Gardens to the south of the park comprises of two no. square-plan piers. The piers are three-stage in rusticated pink sandstone having ashlar limestone dressings and cap. Projecting plinth having ovolo moulding. Limestone colonettes with scuplted capitals. Pointed-arch gables with decorative insets to three-stage skewed coping. Fleur-de-lis finial to south-west pier at gateway on Castleton Gdns. Decorative metal gates between piers to both gateways. Metal railings extending to north-east along Alexander Park and stone wall extending to south-west.

Roof: Natural slate
RWG: Cast-iron
Walling: Rusticated sandstone with ashlar dressings
Windows: One over one timber sliding sash

Historical information

The entrance to Alexandra Park, consisting of a one-and-a-half-storey Gothic Revival gate lodge and four square sandstone gate piers (in similar Gothic Revival style), dates from 1887-88. Ormeau Park, Belfast’s first public park, had been established in 1871 under the Public Parks Act (1869) which required that towns of a certain size should establish public parks for the recreational use of its working classes. The laying out of Ormeau Park, as well as the smaller suburban Woodvale and Alexandra Parks, represented an important development in the social history of the city and demonstrates how the Corporation provided amenities for the health and benefit of Belfast’s working classes. Scott states that by 1882 there was a growing movement demanding the creation of a public park for the north of Belfast. Several parcels of land at Skegoneill, Ashfield, Crumlin Road, Shankill and Old Park were offered to Belfast Corporation but the current site at Castleton (originally consisting of seven acres) was granted to the Corporation by Sir. John Preston on 10th July 1885 at a cost of £981. Additional land was acquired from the York Street Flax Spinning Co. and the Jennymount Flax Spinning Co. on the provision that the course of the park’s stream not be diverted as it provided water to the firm’s mills. It was decided to name the new park the Princess Park, following the visit to Belfast by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1885. However, the name was changed to Alexandra Park later that year (Scott).

Alexandra Park was laid out to designs by a Mr. Fisher whose original plans were amended and then approved by Belfast’s city surveyor Josiah Corbett Bretland (1846-1921). Although Fisher was responsible for the layout of the park and its gardens, it is likely that the sandstone Gothic Revival gate piers at Alexandra Park were designed by Bretland (the gateway is identical to the entrance to Woodvale Park which Bretland designed in 1887). Bretland was an English architect who moved to Belfast in the 1867 to become assistant to the previous city surveyor whom he succeeded in 1884. The Dictionary of Irish Architects note that ‘as city surveyor he was involved in major improvements to the city at a time of rapid expansion.’ (Larmour, p. 52; DIA). The minute book of the Belfast Park’s Committee records that tenders for the supply and fixing of the gates and gate piers at the new park were submitted in February 1886 with George Rankin’s tender of £93 being accepted. In the following month Messers Riddell & Co. were contracted to supply the railings around the park at a cost of £120. Dean described the gateway, which was completed in time for the park’s opening, as ‘four superb Gothic Revival square piers in pink sandstone dressed with smooth limestone. Engaged colonettes, each having a variety of exquisitely sculpted capitals of foliage, roses, convolvulus, ferns, berries, nuts, fruit and things; culminating in buff sandstone poppy finials over cappings with lancet gablets’ (Dean, p. 1).

Bretland submitted plans for the design of an entrance lodge to the Park’s Committee on 4th May 1887, a few days before Alexandra Park was officially opened on 7th May. Less that a fortnight after it was opened, Alexandra Park was closed as a result of damage caused to the park’s property by vandals. The gate lodge was constructed by a Mr. Hugh Todd at a cost of £528 between July 1887 and February 1888 when it was ready for occupation by the superintendent of the park (Minutes). Dean described the gate lodge as ‘one-and-a-half-storey, T-shaped on plan in uncoursed squared quarry-faced limestone. All openings have dressed stone shouldered arches. Single storey canted bay and lean-to hall, below a dinky dormer in a steeply-pitched roof behind skewtable gables’ (Dean, p. 1). The gate lodge was recorded on a detailed ordnance survey map of the area (dated 1904) which depicted it along its current T-shaped layout.

The gateway and lodge at Alexandra Park were listed in 1988. The NIEA HB Records note that the roof of the building was replaced in natural slate in 1989 although the building was gutted by fire and had fallen into an advanced state of disrepair by 1994 when Dean described it as an empty shell. The derelict former gate lodge underwent an extensive restoration by Hearth Housing in 1997-98 which involved the repair of its chimneys, the installation of new cast iron rainwater goods, the installation of new sliding sash windows and the reconstruction of the interior and addition of a new staircase (NIEA HB Records; Hearth Housing website).

References

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 D2344/22 – Ordnance Survey Map Alexandra Park (1904)
6. PRONI LA/7/11/AA/1 – Minute Book of the Parks Committee (1872-1893)
7. Belfast Street Directories (1880-1943)
8. First Survey Record – HB26/47/005 (No Date)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB26/47/005

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Register of parks, gardens and demesnes of special historic interest’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
2. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
3. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1987.
4. Scott, R., ‘A breath of fresh air: The story of Belfast’s parks’ Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Hearth Housing website - http://www.hearth-housing.org.uk/Alexandra.html

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A well-proportioned and detailed gate-lodge built in 1887 to the designs of the English born architect, Josiah Corbett Bretland. Erected as the entrance to Alexandra Park, the lodge and park have their original ornate gate screens at Castleton Gardens and Alexandra Ave. The building retains much of its original form and High-Victorian characteristics such as the projecting chimney stack with decorative coping, shouldered surrounds and steeply pitched gables. The piers to the gateways complement the gate lodge and are enhanced by the gablets and column shafts adding visual interest to the overall composition. The lodge and gateway form an important group and are of historic interest as an good example of park structures, laid out during the establishment of the public parks in Northern Ireland during the latter part of the nineteenth century.