Abbey House, Whiteabbey Hospital, Station Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT37 9RH

Abbey House is an impressive two-storey, multi-bay Italianate stucco house built around 1855 to designs by the celebrated Ulster architect Sir Charles Lanyon. It was originally constructed as a private residence for a client but soon became Lanyon's own home, reflecting his personal taste. Despite the degradation of its setting and years of neglect, the house remains a handsome building, with ornate stucco detailing and the Italianate styling typical of Lanyon's work. Now vacant, it sits within the grounds of Whiteabbey Hospital Complex on Station Road, Newtownabbey.

Architectural Description

The house is square on plan with a south-facing porch, and has a rectangular wing to the west with a single-bay return to the rear. This west wing is fronted by an additional lower L-shaped block with a bowed projection. A long two-storey range, dating from around 1880, extends to the north. The building sits over a partially concealed basement.

The roofs are hipped natural slate with leaded hips and valleys. The chimneystacks are stepped, with corbelled caps and decorative terracotta pots. The deep overhanging eaves are carried on heavy Italianate cornices featuring a coin frieze, dentil course, and modillioned brackets. Rainwater goods are ogee-profile cast iron.

The walling is painted smooth render with stucco detailing throughout. The ground floor has heavy rusticated quoins, while the first floor has feather-edged quoins, with a moulded string course dividing the two floors.

All windows are boarded-over timber sashes — one-over-one panes to the ground floor, six-over-six to the first floor. Ground-floor windows have moulded architraves and dripstones on scrolled console brackets. First-floor windows are segmental-headed (unless noted otherwise) with lugged, keyblocked architraves. A sill course and panelled aprons run along the principal elevations.

Principal (South) Elevation

The principal south elevation is symmetrical, except for a later window insertion, and is arranged around a central projecting balconied porch. The porch features Corinthian columns in antis with banded rusticated antae; both the columns and antae are supported on pedestals. There is a plain entablature and a decorative pierced stone parapet to the balcony. A window sits to either side at ground-floor level. At first-floor level, a central triple round-headed arcaded window opening contains a French door to the centre, with a window to either side and a smaller segmental-headed insertion to the left.

West Elevation and West Wing

The west elevation is abutted by the west wing. The west wing is asymmetrical and consists of a three-storey block fronted by a slightly lower two-bay block. The detailing here is more restrained, with a simple moulded cornice and sill course to each floor.

The south elevation of the front block has a bowed left bay with three windows at each floor. The right bay is fronted by a heavy porch canopy with curved corners and a decorative parapet, supported by Corinthian columns on pedestals linked by a decorative painted sandstone balustrade. The central section is open and gives access to three square-headed windows separated by pilasters and with apron mouldings matching those elsewhere. A bell push to the right of the central window suggests this was formerly a door opening. The balcony is accessed by a pair of round-headed openings.

The right cheek of the front block has a door opening and a plainly detailed segmental-headed window to the ground floor, with a window with a moulded architrave to the first floor.

The main section of the west wing has a curved corbelled-out south-west corner, a partial dentil cornice, and plainly detailed windows with painted projecting sills to each floor on each elevation.

North and South Elevations of the Main Block

The north and south elevations of the main block are identical, each consisting of five equally spaced openings to each floor. The exposed basement, enclosed by a steep bank, has plain reveals to its openings.

Rear North Range

The rear north range has a pitched slate roof with red clay roll-top ridge tiles, painted rendered walling, and uPVC replacement windows.

Interior

Internally, the house has undergone some remodelling for use as an administrative block, but its plan form and detailing survive, though suffering serious decay.

Setting

The house is set within the grounds of Whiteabbey Hospital. The original layout of the grounds has mostly been lost, and the building is now surrounded by car parks and hospital buildings of various dates and styles. Vestiges of the landscaped setting remain to the east. A former coach house to the west, now used as offices, retains a suggestion of the original detailing.

A former multi-bay outbuilding range lies parallel to the north extension. It is similarly detailed to the main house, with an extended raking cornice forming a broken-bed pediment to the gable ends. A modern door opening is contained within a double elliptical-headed carriage arch with a painted rendered blocked surround, and uPVC windows have been fitted throughout. The roof is natural slate.

Historical Background

The building first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1857, shown as L-shaped in plan with an additional rectangular building to the north-west. The first edition OS map of 1832 shows the site was previously occupied by a smaller but apparently substantial dwelling, recorded in the Townland Valuation as a house occupied by Mrs Matthews and valued at £35. The property description at that time details a ballroom, stable, scullery, dairy, and a square tower.

Griffith's Valuation records a house, offices, gate lodge, and land, named The Abbey, held in fee by Richard Davison and valued at £122, later revised to £190. The valuation describes it as "a very superior first class house built 12 years ago… Cemented and stone finished with stone quoins and dressings… very finely situated and close to Whiteabbey Station." The gate lodge is noted as being "very neat and well finished." Also listed as part of The Abbey property are a cow house, stables with a bell tower attraction, and a greenhouse.

The Valuation Revisions of 1862–64 list the occupier as Charles Lanyon, with the valuation unchanged. Following Lanyon's death, the house stood empty for a period: a note in the 1898 revision states "vacant for six years" and records that the leasehold had transferred to Granville Hotels Co. Ltd, though the freehold remained with the Lanyon family. By the third edition OS map of 1902, several further additions had been made to the property.

The house is listed under exemptions in 1906 and described as "auxiliary workhouses, gate lodges and land." Ownership was revised from the Guardians of Belfast Union to Belfast Corporation in 1916, with the property described as "auxiliary workhouse, gate lodges, office, hospital for consumptives and land." In 1913 this entry was crossed out, with the exception of the gate lodges, and "electric power house" inserted, suggesting a change of use. In the 1930–35 Valuation Revision Fieldbook the property is entered as "a municipal sanatorium, gate lodges, electric power house, office and land," with Belfast Corporation listed as occupier.

According to Brett (Buildings of County Antrim, UAHS, 1996), The Abbey was built by Charles Lanyon for Richard Davison on the site of a gentleman's cottage called Demyat, previously owned by Davison's predecessor, the MP Samuel Getty.

Sir Charles Lanyon was originally born in Eastbourne and moved to Dublin to take up a civil engineering post with the Irish Board of Works, before relocating to County Antrim to serve as County Surveyor. In that role he engineered the Larne–Portrush coast road and the Belfast–Ballymena railway line. He was responsible for many of Belfast's most celebrated buildings and structures, including Queen's College at Queen's University, Crumlin Road Courthouse and Gaol, the Custom House, and the Palm House. While resident at The Abbey, Lanyon served as local Member of Parliament and later as Mayor of Belfast. He died at the house in 1889 and is buried at Knockbreda Cemetery, Belfast.