St Patrick's Parochial House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey red brick Georgian terrace house on Donegall Street, with hipped return, dating from c. 1820.

Roof of Bangor Blue slates with blue clay ridge tiles and corbelled red brick chimneys with red clay pots; cast iron rainwater goods.

Front elevation: Red brick laid in Flemish bond with corbelled eaves. Plastic windows with mid rails. At 2nd floor windows have simple moulded architraves and projecting cills; at first floor windows are similar but with continuous cill course; and at ground floor windows are tripartite and set within segmental headed opes. Upper floors are four bay, ground floor is three bay with central doorcase. The doorcase is slightly recessed with plain Ionic columns on bases supporting entablature and moulded surround with five-petal spiderweb fanlight. Front door clad with polished brass with moulded panels top and bottom, matching ironmongery and nameplate.

Rear elevation: A complex of three-storey return and two storey outshot, the latter with a chamfered corner at ground floor. Returns all built of brighter brick than the original rear elevation. with cast iron rainwater goods and similar plastic windows.

E Elevation: Built before the tightly adjacent church, the view of this elevation is restricted, but has similar design to the front elevation, three storeys high and five bays long with central doorcase. Windows all plastic with midrail, with plastered reveals. The doorcase has a deep panelled reveal and slender moulded surround, sidelights and segmental spiderweb fanlight above slender doorhead.

There is a change of brickwork on the front elevation which indicates two dates of construction, and this is echoed in slight change of levels internally along the spine wall separating the E side of the house from the central staircase. Since this building predates the present church, it is possible that the E elevation was the original front elevation and that when the church was built alongside it the new front elevation to Donegall Street was established.

Setting: Part of a rare surviving group of Georgian and early Victorian buildings ranging from Clifton House (HB26/49/001) to St Patrick's School (HB26/50/077C), and contiguous with the early Victorian 201-205 Donegall Street (HB26/50/85).

Schedule of materials:
Roof: Slated
Walls: Red brick
Windows: Plastic
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

St. Patrick’s Parochial House, a three-storey redbrick dwelling located at No. 199 Donegal Street, was constructed in the 1820s and, along with the nearby schoolhouse (HB26/50/077C) and adjoining terrace (nos 201-205 – HB26/50/085), is one of the earliest surviving Georgian structures in Donegall Street. The Parochial House predates the adjoining St. Patrick’s Church (HB26/50/077A) which was rebuilt in the mid-Victorian period. The original chapel was only the second Roman Catholic Church in Belfast and was constructed between 1810 and 1812 to a design by Patrick Davis; it was demolished in 1875 to make way for the current cruciform church. Brett states that Patrick Davis also designed the national schoolhouse in 1828 and is the likely architect of the Parochial House which was erected sometime earlier. George Benn’s 1822 map of Belfast clearly depicts a building on the current site of the parochial house, located on the north side of the original church; however this was an earlier property as a c. 1823 illustration in Brett’s Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850, depicts a building, which was clearly not the parochial house, on the current site (Brett, p. 18).

It is certain that the parochial house had been constructed by c. 1830 when the Townland Valuations valued the three-storey dwelling at £44 and recorded that it was occupied by the Right Rev. Dr. Denvir, the Roman Catholic Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. The Belfast Street Directory for 1843 noted that the Bishop’s Palace was occupied by Rev. Denvir but also by six other priests; the property was also utilised as the dwelling for the teachers of the neighbouring schoolhouse and in 1852 a Mr. Edward Kelly, a professor of Classics and Mathematics, resided with the priests (Belfast Street Directories).

By Griffith’s Valuation (1859) the Rev. Denvir continued to reside at the parochial house which was increased in value to £54; the valuer noted that the property was owned outright by the church. However, by 1868 the Street Directories noted that only a single priest, the Rev. W. Martin, resided at the address after the bishop’s death in 1865. The Annual Revisions record that in the latter half of the 19th century the parochial house was occupied by the Rev. Patrick Dorrian, who replaced Denvir as Lord Bishop of Down and Connor. The Catholic Hierarchy database records that Dorrian died in 1885 and that his replacement was the Right Rev. Patrick MacAlister who kept the post until 1895.

In 1900 the Belfast Revaluation increased the rateable value of the dwelling to £80 noting that it was occupied by the Rev. Henry Henry who had replaced McAlister in 1895, however the 1901 Census and Belfast Street Directory notes that Henry did not in fact reside at Donegall Street but that the former Bishop’s Palace was now chiefly the residence of the parish priests. In 1900 the valuer noted that the urban dwelling was not of a high enough quality to deserve a high valuation rating stating that ‘I don’t believe this presbytery worth more than £100 a year as a residence. It is much less valuable than a parochial residence in a poor residential locality.’ However, the census building return for 1901 described the presbytery as a 1st class dwelling and noted that it consisted of 16 inhabited rooms.

There was no alteration in the value of the presbytery by the end of the Annual Revisions which were cancelled in 1930, however under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the value of the parochial house was increased to £105; at this time the only parish priest recorded was a Rev. Joseph Byrne, although a number of other priests certainly resided at the site. The presbytery was not revalued for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the Second World War, however in the aftermath of the conflict the dwelling was decreased in value to £96 at which it remained by the end of the second revaluation in 1972.

St. Patrick’s Presbytery was constructed in c. 1820 and, along with the contemporary schoolhouse, is a surviving remnant of the original St. Patrick’s Chapel, which was designed by Patrick Davis. The chapel was constructed in 1810-12 and was only the second Roman Catholic Church to be constructed in the town of Belfast; the first chapel was St. Mary’s Chapel on Chapel Lane which had been erected in 1783 (see HB26/50/109). Brett states that the new chapel on Donegall Street was designed, not for the poor of the parish but for the middle classes; the poorer Catholics were encouraged to continue attending Mass at Chapel Lane. It was hoped that the area surrounding the church would be settled by the middle classes, and as a result the three-storey Bishop’s Palace was erected immediately adjacent to the chapel. Although the original chapel was replaced in 1874-77 by the current Gothic Revival Church, the Georgian parochial house was retained and continued to be utilised as a parochial house (Brett, p. 18).

Heatley records that the Presbytery was erected in the 1820s but the exact date of construction, as well as the architect responsible, is not known. Field inspection of the Presbytery finds evidence of two phases of construction as the change in the brickwork of the front elevation and a slight alteration in the interior levels indicates. Although there is no documentary evidence for a rebuild or second phase of construction, early illustrations of the original church shows that the Presbytery was originally fronted to the east with a Georgian doorcase opening onto the church yard; the current orientation of the dwelling presumably dates from alteration work carried out in c. 1874-77 when the adjoining church was replaced by the much larger building which, in turn, blocked off the original entrance (the original east-facing Georgian entrance has not been removed and can be found down the narrow alley between the church and its Presbytery) (Heatley).

Between c. 1820 and c. 1900 the Bishop’s Palace was the official residence of the Lord Bishop of Down & Connor, the most notable holders of the office were the Right Rev. William Crolly (1825-1835) who Patton states oversaw the construction of the Presbytery and was its first occupant; the other Lord Bishops who inhabited the Presbytery included the Right Rev. Cornelius Denvir (1835-1865), the Right Rev. Patrick Dorrian (1865-1885), the Right Rev. Patrick MacAlister (1886-1895) and the Right Rev. Henry Henry (1895-1908). All of these bishops were heavily involved in the development of the Catholic faith in Belfast which had been given the ability to expand after the Relief Acts of the late 18th century and Catholic Emancipation in 1829. The construction of St. Patrick’s Church in 1810-12, only thirty years after the completion of St. Mary’s Chapel, was essential due to the increase in the size of the Belfast Catholic population; in 1840-44 the ever expanding population required the construction of a third church, St. Malachy’s on Alfred Street (HB26/30/023).

By the turn of the 20th century the former Bishop’s Palace was solely utilised as a parochial house and has continued in this use to the present day. Brett states that of all the Georgian dwellings that remain in Belfast’s city centre, almost all form part of a terrace, however, St. Patrick’s Presbytery is one of the exceptions having been constructed as a stand-alone dwelling. In a later work Brett described the parochial house as ‘a handsome box-like three storey brick house in the country rectory tradition [possessing] a rather naïve doorcase of Ionic pillars, a fanlight, and a truly remarkable (modern) brass front door’ (Brett: Buildings of Belfast, p. 17). Heatley records that the brass door was installed in 1951 at a cost of £38 ‘making it not alone a cheap acquisition but also ... The only one of its kind in Belfast’ (Heatley, p. 66).

St. Patrick’s Presbytery was listed in 1985; Patton, writing in 1993, states that the parochial house has witnessed a number of minor alterations; aside from the modern brass door, Patton suggests that the ground floor arches are not original whilst the first floor windows have been replaced with plastic (Patton, p. 130).

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/61/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1832-33
2. PRONI OS/6/1/61/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/1/61/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1901-02
4. PRONI OS/6/1/61/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1931
5. PRONI OS/6/1/61/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map 1938
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/720A+B – Townland Valuation c. 1830
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/7/3A-C – Griffith’s Valuation 1859
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/C/1-44 – Annual Revisions 1863-1930
9. PRONI VAL/7/B/12/13 – Belfast Revaluation 1900
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/14 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/39 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-72
12. George Benn’s The History of the town of Belfast (1823)
13. Belfast Street Directories (1843-1918)
14. Census of Ireland (1901)
15. First Survey Image – HB26/50/158 (No Date)
16. Ordnance Survey map 130-13SE (1959)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Georgian Belfast, 1750-1850: Maps, buildings and trades’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2004.
3. Heatley, F., ‘The story of St. Patrick’s, Belfast: 1815-1977’ Belfast: St. Patrick’s Church, 1977?
4. Patton, M., ‘Central Belfast: An historical gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1993

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Catholic Hierarchy website - http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/ddown.html

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

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A three-storey red brick Georgian terraced parochial house dating from about 1820, distinguished by a polished brass door. Much historic fabric and detailing survive and this is one of the earliest buildings still standing in the city. It history as part of the church group, especially as the Bishop's palace, is of note and it is also good example of this type of larger town house.

General comments

Renumbered from HB26/50/158 to HB26/50/077B