Marino House, 40 Old Quay Road, Marino, Holywood, BT18 0AL

Marino House is a fine mid-to-late 18th-century house built around 1750, with flanking wings added around 1780, situated at the west end of Old Quay Road, Holywood, overlooking the shore of Belfast Lough. It is one of the earliest surviving buildings in the Marino area and a good example of the type, valued for its elegant Georgian proportions, restrained detailing, and the survival — albeit compromised — of sufficient setting to complement the whole. The scale and quality of the main house suggest it was originally built as a shore-side retreat or bathing lodge, possibly for the Kennedy family.

Exterior

The house is symmetrical, two storeys tall, and three bays wide, L-shaped on plan, with single-storey flanking wings having bowed ends and a contemporary extension to the rear. The roof is hipped natural slate with leaded hips and blue-black angled clay ridge tiles. Rainwater goods are ogee-profile cast iron. Chimneystacks are plain rendered with flat caps. External walls are ruled-and-lined render over a bevelled plinth. Windows are primarily reinstated 6-over-6 horned timber sliding sashes with plain reveals; those on the ground floor have slightly projecting architraves with plain entablatures. Windows to the wings are tripartite sashes with entablatures, bowed at the ends. All window sills are painted masonry.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged around a later central flat-roofed projecting porch, its corners articulated by pilasters with fluted capitals supporting a cornice and blocking course. The porch is accessed by a stone step and has salvaged double-leaf three-panelled doors with a brass pull handle. Each wing presents a single window to the front and a bowed end, terminated by large urns on pedestals to both front and rear.

The south elevation is abutted by the south wing; exposed sections are blank. The east elevation is abutted on the right by the rear return — flush with the north elevation — and on the left by a single-storey outbuilding, now incorporated into the house and itself abutted by a lean-to conservatory to the south. The exposed section of the east elevation has a window at each floor level and a modern multi-pane timber door leading to a small rear yard enclosed between the abutments. On the left cheek of the return, there are two staggered first-floor windows, a diminished 4-over-4 sash at ground-floor right, and a stained and leaded light insert. The return is extended to the south by a contemporary addition comprising a steel frame infilled with glazed curtain walling, with walls elsewhere finished to match the main house. The north elevation and the right cheek of the return read as a single composition, with the north wing abutting at the far right. Fenestration on this side is irregular and includes one window set slightly obliquely into the re-entrant angle with the north wing.

Setting

The house occupies a garden enclosed by high hedges and rendered walls, accessed from Old Quay Road to the north through modern security gates on rendered piers. The site is now considerably constrained by development to the south, east, and north. To the front is a gravelled forecourt. To the east is a coach house, now heavily restored and abutting a two-storey building in separate ownership accessed from The Close to the east. A small access yard leading to The Close is separated from the main rear yard by a large pair of wrought-iron gates.

Historical Background

According to Tony Merrick's Buildings of Holywood (1986), the house dates from the mid-18th century, and internal inspection appears to confirm this, though the building has a late 18th-century appearance. The current owners report that it was originally a bathing lodge, likely for the Kennedy family, a suggestion supported by the scale and quality of the main house. The wings were added later and can be dated from field observation, supported by owner information, to the late 18th century, though they have an early 19th-century appearance.

The house appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, captioned "Marino Cottage". At that date, and until at least the 1930s, the stable block was connected to the main house by a long range of outbuildings. In the early 1830s the house was the residence of Thomas Ward Esq., who had built a number of bathing lodges in the grounds. The house was valued at £31 12 shillings at this time.

By the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, the house is captioned "Marino Ho[use]" and was then the property of Thomas McCammon, who leased it from the representatives of Robert Kennedy (in chancery). Its valuation had risen to £54, and a contemporary note describes it as "stone finished and oil painted. Not modern. Offices small and inferior," with outbuildings including a shed, coach house, and scullery.

At some point after 1867, Jasper Macauley took up residence. Macauley is listed in the Belfast and Ulster Street Directory of 1852 as a merchant, broker, and commission agent, with a residence at 15 College Square North. He had also owned a gateway, loft, stores, and yard in Albert Square, which were compulsorily purchased in 1852 to make way for the new Customs House. He was followed by Charles H. Ward, resident in 1872 and solicitor to the Belfast Board of Guardians of the Poor, and then by James Connolly, who paid a rent of £75. By Connolly's tenancy the valuation had fallen to £44, possibly indicating the house was in need of repair.

A succession of tenants followed. By 1917 the occupier was James Wood, a solicitor who had previously served as Member of Parliament for East Down from 1902 to 1906. Valuer's notes from 1917, prompted by a complaint about the valuation, record a plan and dimensions and confirm that the stable block remained connected to the house by a range of outbuildings at that time. In 1933 the house was still occupied by James Wood, leased from Henry J. Harris, and comprised four bedrooms, four reception rooms, a kitchen, three sculleries, a bathroom, and a WC. A 1935 valuation appeal noted that the house enjoyed a very pleasant and quiet situation with good views but had very few bedrooms "for this class of property." By 1936 the valuation stood at £68, later reduced to £65, with a note that the "present tenant is leaving."

By 1967 the house was owned by A.L.G. Moody QC, and after his death his wife continued to live there for some years. The present owners have carried out extensive restoration works.