Bridge House, 8 Killaire Avenue, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 1EY

Bridge House (originally named Elsinore) is a detached three-bay two-storey Victorian stucco villa in the neoclassical style, built around 1871 for Daniel Joseph Jaffe and set in extensive mature grounds to the north of Killaire Avenue, Carnalea, close to the shores of Belfast Lough. It is a good example of the substantial residences built for wealthy merchants during the mid to late 19th century.

Architectural Description

The house is square on plan, with a projecting porch to the front (west) elevation, a projecting bow window to the north, and a box-bay to the east. There is a two-and-a-half-storey wing to the south, abutted by a large modern extension, and a single-storey extension to the rear. The roof is hipped and clad in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles; the rendered chimneystacks have a dentilled plinth and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods run on projecting corbelled eaves. The external walling is painted smooth render with a plinth, band rustication to the ground floor, and a painted masonry projecting plat-band between the floors. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sliding sash, segmental-arched to the first floor in moulded lugged surrounds with a keyblock, set on a continuous sill.

The principal (west) elevation is symmetrically arranged across five openings. At ground-floor centre is a projecting porch reached by two stone steps and enclosed by a low parapet wall. The porch features paired pilasters surmounted by an entablature, frieze, and ovolo-moulded dentilled cornice, and is crowned by a balustrade parapet with piers as stops. The entrance is via a double-panelled timber door with cast-iron door furniture.

The north elevation has two windows to either side of a projecting two-storey bow window, which itself contains three openings and features a balustrade under the first-floor sill.

The east elevation has a projecting box-bay to the ground floor containing a tripartite window — the outer windows are notably more slender than the central one — divided by Doric pilasters and surmounted by an ovolo-moulded dentilled cornice. There are two windows to the first floor. Also on this elevation are two windows to the first and attic floors, a segmental-arched wall-head dormer to the attic at the left, a paired window and a half-panelled timber door in a lugged surround with keyblock detail at ground-floor level, and a single-storey flat-roof extension to the left, which is considered of no architectural interest.

The south elevation has a single window to both the ground and first floor at the left, abutted to the right by the projecting wing, which has a paired window to a gabled dormer and a single window to both the first and ground floor; this is in turn abutted to the right by the large modern extension.

The west elevation has windows to all floors, including a segmental-arched wall-head dormer at attic level.

Setting

The house sits within large mature wooded grounds, with a lawned sloping garden to the north and private woods to the west and east. It is accessed via a gravel driveway enclosed by mature hedgerow and trees. At the entrance gate stands the associated gate lodge (listed separately), flanked by sandstone ashlar gate piers with a curved entrance wall bearing cast-iron railings.

Historical Background

The undeveloped land to the west of Bangor began to be built on following the construction of the Belfast, Holywood and Bangor Railway in 1865. The area was shown as open fields on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, but by 1901 several substantial mansions had appeared, including Elsinore. The open spaces of Carnalea permitted the construction of residences in spacious grounds with commanding views over Belfast Lough, and the opening of Carnalea railway station in 1877 made the area still more desirable.

Elsinore first appears in valuation records in 1871 as a house built for Daniel Joseph Jaffe on land leased from Richard R. Clelland, with a valuation of £78. Building work was evidently ongoing for some years: by 1873 offices, a gate lodge, and a pleasure ground were added to the valuation record and the figure was raised to £93. Daniel Joseph Jaffe was a linen merchant, the founder and organiser of Belfast's Jewish congregation, and the man who laid the foundation stone of the Great Victoria Street synagogue in 1871. His son went on to become Belfast's first Lord Mayor in 1899. Jaffe had previously lived at Craigdarragh, perhaps while awaiting completion of his new mansion, but he died in 1874 shortly after Elsinore was finished. His initials — DJJ — survive in the frosted glass of the inner door.

By 1877 the occupier was recorded as William Davis. From around 1894 the house was occupied by Francis Robert Lepper (1845–1908), a Director of the Ulster Bank from 1868, a Justice of the Peace for County Down, and a man prominent in local affairs with a particular interest in rifle shooting and cricket. He died in 1908 as the result of an operation. According to historian Marcus Patton, Lepper employed craftsmen from Harland and Wolff to install joinery work and frescoes, though the frescoes are now lost. In 1888 the valuation was raised to £98 following the addition of new two-storey outbuildings measuring 17 by 17 feet and 8 by 5 feet. The 1901 census records Lepper living at Elsinore with his Dublin-born wife, their five children, a parlour-maid, a housemaid, and a cook. His sons' occupations included solicitor, architect, and apprentice in a linen and cotton embroidery works.

Francis Lepper's son, John Charles Lepper, was an architect who designed the Ulster Bank's premises in Portadown in 1909 and, in partnership with William Fennell, at least four further Ulster Bank branches between 1900 and 1905. He also co-designed a number of villas and shops, though by 1911 he had retired at the age of 35.

By 1911, Francis Lepper's widow Harriette was in residence with her solicitor son, her retired architect son, and a daughter. Their household staff had grown to four: an English lady's maid, a housemaid from Monaghan, a parlour-maid from Fermanagh, and a cook born in County Cavan. The Leppers remained in residence until at least the 1920s. A photograph by Welch from this period survives, documenting an interior described as "very grandly laid out with scagliola entrance hall and spacious staircase hall with lantern over."

Subsequent owners have included Edmond O'Driscoll, Chairman of Allied Irish Bank in 1968, and Professor Lowry. The house was renamed Bridge House, a name that Patton suggests derives from an iron pedestrian bridge over the railway that gave access to the seashore.

Although a large extension has been built to the south and the original wider setting has been encroached upon by housing development, the house retains its character and architectural detailing largely intact both internally and externally. Its immediate surroundings, including the mature planned garden, remain largely unspoilt. The gate lodge at the entrance to the grounds forms a listed group together with the main house.