Florida Manor, 14 Florida Road, Kilmood, Killinchy, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 6RU

Florida Manor is a large and impressive three-storey Palladian mansion of around 1780 to 1800, set on a slight rise within its own grounds approximately 2 miles north-west of the village of Killinchy, County Down. Compact in appearance despite its scale, the house is roughly square in plan with a hipped roof and prominent chimney stacks carrying very tall, early Victorian-looking chimney pots. Much of the exterior is original, though Victorian additions appear to include a rear conservatory/porch and some windows to the west. Despite some alterations and general degradation, the house and its setting remain impressive.

Exterior

The principal north-facing front is three bays wide. At ground floor centre is a single-storey entrance porch with a full Ionic portico — columns supporting an entablature and balustraded parapet over a flat roof — reached by steps. Behind the portico, the projecting porch has a central panelled door flanked by sash windows with Georgian panes, with pilasters between the door and each window and further outer pilasters at the corners. Each side wall of the porch also carries a sash window of the same character. The entablature and balustraded parapet continue across the top of the porch. To each side of the porch at ground floor is a tall sash window of the same type. Above, three slightly shorter first-floor windows rest on a cill course, with three smaller windows at second-floor level. The centre bay at both first and second floor is recessed. Attached to the right-hand end of the north facade is a high curving wall with Doric pilasters and a balustraded parapet, linking the house to the outbuildings to the west.

The east facade has windows of a similar type to the front, with six per floor, each floor's windows diminishing in height as they rise. The two central windows on each floor are set within a slightly projecting bay. The two ground-floor windows within this bay have moulded surrounds with entablature and cornice; the remaining windows within the bay have simpler surrounds. All first-floor windows sit on a cill course.

The rear facade was only partly visible at the time of survey. To the right at ground floor is a tall single-storey flat-roofed conservatory or porch with multi-pane glazing set in tall arched recesses on all sides and a central timber-sheeted double door to the south face, the whole topped with a decorative cast-iron balustrade. To the left of the conservatory, the facade projects slightly at all floors. At ground level this section could not be fully seen, but there appeared to be three tall window openings, two of which were blocked. At first floor are three windows, with a glazed double door to the far right opening onto the balcony formed above the conservatory/porch roof. The second floor has four windows of the same pattern.

The west facade is complex in appearance. The main elevation is two bays wide, with the left-hand bay projecting slightly. At ground floor left is a fairly recent single-storey lean-to extension with modern windows and a partly glazed door. To the right of this is a large two-storey projection or return with a gabled roof and a single-storey lean-to section, all linking the house to the outbuildings to the west. Only the north face of this projection could be seen, which carried several sash windows. At the upper floors of the west facade proper, six sash windows are arranged mainly at intermediate levels and somewhat irregularly. Two of these windows have Victorian-looking margin panes with coloured glass. Roughly centrally on this facade is a small nine-pane window at ground floor, with a large semicircular-headed stairwell window directly above it, featuring coloured glass and various coats of arms. At second floor is a small sash window matching those on the front.

The entire exterior is finished in lined render with plain quoins to several corners only, and an eaves course runs around the building. The main hipped roof is covered in Bangor blue slates. Four rendered chimney stacks carry the tall, early Victorian-looking chimney pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron. There is a basement level, glimpsed through lightwells; it appears to have some sash windows of the same type as the upper floors and to be rubble-built.

History

The Manor of Florida was created in 1638 on lands previously acquired by Sir James Montgomery, second son of Viscount Montgomery, from Con O'Neill. The name "Florida" is said to derive from Sir James's love of flowers. During the Commonwealth period of 1649 to 1660 the lands were placed in the custody of a Colonel Barrow, but were returned to the Montgomery family after considerable dispute in 1664. In 1691 to 1692 the manor passed to the Crawford family, and around 1770 came into the possession of Robert Gordon through his marriage to Ann, niece and sole heiress of David Crawford. It was almost certainly one of the Gordons who built the present house, probably around 1780 to 1800 — some sources give a date of 1796 based on an inscribed timber found in the stables. The house may have been constructed around an earlier Montgomery dwelling which, if a later datestone in the adjacent farmyard is reliable, dated from around 1676.

The house appears on the first Ordnance Survey map of 1834, marked as "Florida Manor" and shown together with a large farmyard to the rear, a steward's house, and gate lodges to the east and north. By the time of the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1859 to 1860, the return to the west had been built, linking the house to the stable block; the rear conservatory/porch and the early Victorian chimney pots may have been added around the same time.

In the later 19th century, as successive Land Acts led to the dispersal of many Irish estates, much of the Gordon family's land was sold off. By the 1880s the manor house itself appears to have been leased by a Thomas Brand. By at least 1917 the demesne and its buildings had been acquired by William Devenney, a local farmer who appears to have lived in the steward's house rather than the manor itself. Left unoccupied, Florida Manor fell into disrepair. After the Second World War it was purchased by Milo Pickaar, who undertook extensive — though perhaps not complete — renovation of the building. An article in the Belfast Telegraph of 7 October 1953, entitled "Life that is different — Returns to a Down house," records this restoration.

The rateable value of the house and offices was recorded as £65 8s 0d in the first Valuation of around 1835, rising to £110 by the time of the second Valuation of around 1861.