3 Clanbrassil Terrace, Clanbrassil Road, Cultra, Co. Down, BT18 0AR

3 Clanbrassil Terrace is a three-bay three-storey-over-basement terraced house built around 1860, situated on the south shores of Belfast Lough to the east of Holywood. It forms part of Clanbrassil Terrace, a distinctive group of houses developed as Belfast's suburbs expanded following the arrival of the railway. The building demonstrates the architectural character and detailing typical of large prosperous residences of the late nineteenth century.

The house is rectangular on plan with a pitched natural slate roof and brick chimney stack featuring a moulded rendered plinth, multiple flues and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are fitted to sandstone dentilled eaves. The walling is ruled-and-lined render over sandstone. Windows are 2/2 horizontal timber-framed sliding sash with horns (reduced to 1/2 on the second floor), set in moulded reveals that project in deep relief on the principal elevation. Continuous sills run along the ground and first floors, with projecting sills to the basement and top floor. Sandstone surrounds with keyblocks are used throughout, though basement windows lack keyblock detail.

The principal elevation faces north. A central three-quarter glazed timber door is accessed by fourteen stone steps; the lower steps are flanked by raised grass banks, while the final five steps are contained within rendered masonry walls and piers topped by cast-iron railings. To the right of the door stands a canted bay with four openings extending from basement to first floor. The second floor is five openings wide. To the left of the bay are three openings on the ground and first floor. The basement contains a canted bay to the right, a panelled and glazed timber door to the left, a 2/2 sash window, and a 1/1 sash window set beneath the steps. A smooth rendered plat-band separates the ground and first floors.

The east elevation features stretcher-bonded red brick facing with a slender window opening and masonry lintel to the right of the ground floor. Below is a cement-rendered lean-to with slate roof.

The rear elevation now contains the main entrance and is symmetrically arranged with three openings to each floor flanking a central projecting porch. The porch is accessed by four sandstone steps with octagonal tiles to the top step. It contains a four-panelled timber door with bolection moulded-and-raised panels and a transom light, set within a moulded surround with keyblock and moulded stringcourse at springing level. The porch features a moulded cornice and dentilled eaves, and is topped by two terracotta urns on a plinth. A cast-iron and glass lamp with finial and decorative horizontal supports hangs over the entrance. Steps down to the basement to the left are accessed through cast-iron gate and railings with octagonal tiles to the top step. The basement to the west has two diminutive 1/1 timber-framed sash windows to the left and a timber half-panelled door to the right. Beneath the porch to the east wall is a diminutive window with projecting sill. The west elevation is abutted by an adjoining building.

The setting comprises a large lawn to the north, separated from the beach to north and west by a rubble stone wall and steel three-bar railing. To the east, a fence and hedgerow separates the terrace from a neighbouring property. Access to the rear is through curved entrance walls with round rendered stone piers bearing projecting pointed caps on corbels. The property is bounded to the road to the south by a rubble stone wall with brick and stone coping.

The house was not shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 but appears in the Annual Revisions of 1870 as Clanbrassil Terrace, the name derived from Henry Hamilton, Earl of Clanbrassil, a local proprietor. The terrace originally comprised four houses, each described in the valuation records as a house, yard and pleasure ground with buildings valued at £50. By 1877 this valuation had dropped to £42, possibly following an appeal. The valuation fieldbook noted in 1885 that the first house in the terrace, adjoining number 1, had burnt down and fallen into ruins. The current house was valued at £35 in 1887, perhaps reflecting this loss.

According to historical sources, entrepreneurs George McAuliffe and James Connor commissioned cartographer J Phillips to draw a pictorial map of houses and building sites for lease along the coast shortly after the arrival of the Belfast and Bangor Railway Company at Marino and Cultra stations. Clanbrassil Terrace was depicted as having five houses, with those at the ends built at right angles to the central block. The house at the west end was destroyed by fire in 1878. The proposed house at the east end was not completed; protruding building stones indicate the intended additional residence. The developers reserved a nearby site for stables and outbuildings. A double-banked earth terrace rising from sea-bordered lawns was designed to conceal the basement windows, with tennis courts and a pitch and putt course laid before the entrance front. A driveway was planned to encircle the completed terrace.

The reception room ceilings display expert work by stuccoer William Hayes of Marino. Although built in 1867, the bathrooms' equipment featured showers, bidets and comprehensive toilet facilities. The basement provided full culinary capacity including wine cellars and housekeepers' rooms.

By 1880 the occupier was Michael Buckley, listed in the Belfast and Province of Ulster Street Directory as a solicitor, followed by Charles Buckley in 1887. Subsequent changes of occupier indicate the house was let. The valuation fell to £25 by 1910. The terrace first appears as Princess Gardens on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900–2 but was renamed Clanbrassil Terrace after 1933, appearing under that name on the 1938–41 map. In the 1930s the house was occupied by Alexander Lee Richardson and leased from Thomas Shanks, later from Sir Robert J Kennedy, and was valued at £29, subsequently raised to £40.

Most external architectural detailing remains intact, though early 1970s renovation works involved minor but significant changes to the exterior. During these works the majority of interior detailing was reinstated following a period of dereliction. A modern end-terrace house built to the south completes the original terrace configuration but currently makes it asymmetrical. The house forms part of a distinctive terrace that as a whole is a good example of its type, with particular architectural interest in its style, proportion and setting, and group value. The terrace is of local historical interest.