14 Raglan Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 3TL

14 Raglan Road, known historically as Marine Villa, is a two-storey with attic, three-bay Victorian semi-detached villa built around 1880. It forms the right half of a symmetrical pair together with the adjoining No. 16 (formerly Sunnyside Villa), and the two together represent a good example of the substantial suburban villas developed as Bangor expanded westward in the late 19th century. Although No. 14 has undergone significant alteration, the pair retains good original character, typical of the style and proportion of its time. The building sits within the Bangor West Area of Townscape Character, adjacent to the junction with Downshire Road.

Exterior

The plan is rectangular with a rear return and side extension. The principal elevation faces east and forms the right half of the symmetrical shared façade with the adjoining dwelling. Walls are finished in ruled-and-lined stucco render, with a projected plain plinth, string and sill courses, plain panelling between ground and first floor levels, and a dentilled cornice course to the overhanging eaves. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, and there is a smooth rendered chimney stack with a moulded dentilled cornice and clay pots. Rainwater goods have been replaced in uPVC.

Windows throughout are 2/2 segmental-arched timber sliding sashes with chamfered plain surrounds and a key block to the ground floor openings.

The principal east elevation is composed of three bays. The left (gabled) projecting bay has a two-storey breakfront with paired windows to each floor and, at attic level, a decorative timber gable bargeboard over a pair of small round-arched attic windows. The central bay features a single-storey flat-roofed former porch — with moulded string and parapet coping — abutting the main block; above it sits a single round-arched window and a flat-roofed dormer glazed on its east face and partially glazed and timber-sheeted on its north and south faces. The north face of the porch has been altered: the original front entrance has been blocked up, though the fanlight opening and its surrounds remain, and a small additional rectangular window has been inserted below the fanlight. The east face of the porch contains a tall round-arched window with matching surrounds; the west face is blank. The right bay has a single window to each floor, with the first-floor window being a replacement fixed pane. The left gable is abutted by the adjoining dwelling.

The rear (west) elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The right bay has its ground floor obscured, a single window to the first floor, and a flat-roofed canted dormer above left of centre. The left bay is abutted at ground floor by a flat-roofed addition of no architectural interest, with a single first-floor window above. The central bay is entirely abutted by a two-storey subservient return whose ridge level sits below the eaves of the main block; a modern rooflight has been inserted above on the main roof slope. The north face of the rear return is abutted at ground floor by a flat-roofed addition and has two square-headed windows to the first floor. The west gable has two square-headed windows to the ground floor, with openings altered around 1960, and two square-headed windows to the first floor. The south face has its ground floor obscured and two square-headed windows to the first floor.

The north elevation is asymmetrical. To the left is a two-storey canted bay with windows to each face on each floor. The right bay has a single first-floor window and is largely abutted at ground floor by a single-storey flat-roofed extension that returns to the rear. This extension, built around 1960, forms a flat-roofed canopy over the repositioned entrance, which now has a modern glazed timber door and a side screen to the left. The north elevation has a hipped roof with a chimney stack positioned slightly right of centre partway up the hip slope.

Setting

The front of the site is bounded by a rubble masonry wall. A former pedestrian entrance is flanked by a pair of yellow-brick piers surmounted by moulded copings inscribed respectively with "Marine" and "Villa"; this entrance is now blocked up. Vehicular access has been created on the north side via a modern gated entrance adjacent to a modern single-storey flat-roofed garage. To the rear of the site is a small swimming pool surrounded by sections of paved and lawn garden. The wider surroundings consist of two-storey detached and semi-detached dwellings.

History

The pair of houses first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901, though they enter valuation records in 1880, at which point Marine Villa was valued at £70 and the adjoining Sunnyside Villa at £69. Following complaints, both valuations were reduced by the 1890s to £40 and £39 respectively. The development of this part of Bangor was part of a broader westward expansion of the town that followed the arrival of the railway in 1865.

The houses were built by James Cochran, described as a gentleman, who lived at No. 14 (Marine Villa) and let No. 16 (Sunnyside Villa) to the Reverend William Clarke, minister of Bangor Second Presbyterian Church. James Cochran died in 1889 and the Reverend Clarke in 1892. The properties remained associated with the Cochran family for some years thereafter, with James's widow Jane Cochran recorded as resident at Sunnyside Villa in the 1901 census.

By 1901 Marine Villa was occupied by Emily Connor, apparently the daughter of Foster Connor, a linen manufacturer and builder of Seacourt. On Foster Connor's death in 1881, Seacourt passed to his son Charles Connor. Around 1890 a house called Glenbank was built for Emily Connor on the adjacent plot, but by 1901 that property had been taken over by William Corry, an aerated water manufacturer, and Emily Connor had moved to Marine Villa. Known locally as "Bangor's Lady Bountiful", Emily Connor was prominent in community life: she opened Bangor Golf Club in 1904 and laid the foundation stone of Bangor Hospital in 1909, with a wing of that hospital named in her honour. She lived at Marine Villa with a lady's companion from Portsmouth, Annie Green, and a household staff of three — a housemaid, a cook, and a parlour maid. By the time of the 1911 census she and Annie Green were still resident, though her staff had been reduced to two.

By 1917 the house had passed to Henry L. Wright, and by 1925 it was the home of the Reverend James A. Carey, rector of Bangor parish. It was largely through Reverend Carey's efforts that Bangor Abbey, which had lain unused for around thirty years, was restored and reopened. The house accordingly became the parish rectory. Following Reverend Carey's death, it was occupied by his successor, Reverend Canon Arthur William Barton, who was resident until at least 1930 and later became Bishop of Kilmore.

Marine Villa was extended and altered internally in the 1950s and 1960s, at which time the original porch was closed up and a replacement entrance was created at the side of the building. It has remained in use as a domestic dwelling.