35 Belfast Road, Holywood, Co. Down, BT18 9EH

35 Belfast Road, Holywood is a two-storey end-terrace house with attic, dating from the mid-1840s. It forms the left unit of a three-dwelling terrace known as Bellevue Terrace, set back from Belfast Road facing away towards the sea. The house is rectangular on plan with a lower two-storey rear return, further extended by a single-storey extension that was formerly an outbuilding.

The pitched roof is natural slate with angled clay ridge tiles. Chimneysstacks are cement rendered with moulded caps and terracotta pots; one stack is shared with the adjoining building, while a simpler stack rises from the gable without pots. Cast iron ogee gutters run along the eaves board at the front, with half-round gutters to the rear on corbelled eases.

The walls are painted with ruled-and-lined cement render over a slightly projecting plinth, featuring a crenellated geometric frieze. A moulded string course runs at window head level on the ground floor and continues at first floor level, rising over the window heads. Windows are predominantly uPVC sashes. Those at ground floor have stop-end chamfered reveals with fluted keyblock detailing and moulding to the jambs, with painted masonry cills. First floor windows include a round-headed attic window to the left gable (with a replacement pane lacking the original hub), a small four-pane casement to the right side, and timber sash windows elsewhere. The rear elevation includes 6/3 and 6/6 timber sashes to the first floor, and bi-partite sash insertions.

The principal entrance faces northwest and is positioned to the left side of the elevation. The door is a timber four-panelled replacement with bolection moulding and beaded muntin, with a plain glazed transom above. The surround consists of panelled pilasters on plinth blocks topped by scrolled foliated console brackets supporting a masonry canopy. A stone threshold and step lead up to the door.

The rear elevation is largely enclosed by a tall rendered yard wall. The left bay retains a timber sash window at first floor and a glazed timber door to the yard. A tall chimney with two pots rises from the return section. The extension to the rear has a bi-partite sash and timber door. A small lean-to shed abuts the ground floor to the left, and a modern lean-to garage has been added to the side.

The house is set back from Belfast Road and largely concealed from view by two two-storey nineteenth-century houses to the south. The rear yard is enclosed by a tall rendered wall with a timber sheeted door set into a round-headed niche, accessed via a narrow alley. A gravel forecourt leads to an extensive former garden on lower ground to the north, now completely overgrown and inaccessible.

Historical Context

This terrace first appears on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map as Bellevue Terrace, comprising three dwellings that originally overlooked the sea on a plot extending down to the railway line. The houses are dated to the mid-1840s and represent the earliest terrace to appear on Belfast Road, marking the early spread of development in this part of Holywood.

Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) records the terrace as three houses leased from Robert Shaw, with accompanying pasture also leased by Shaw from John Harrison. The current house was occupied by Henry Atkinson and valued at £28. Subsequent occupants included Charles Bernard, Hannah Clements (1880), Marcus Ward (1887), John Gifford (1890), Hugh Small (1892), George Glynn (1900), Emma Hansard (1903), Edward Brown (1913), and James Alexander Henderson (1926). By 1886 the valuation had reduced to £19. A 1911 valuer's note indicates the house was vacant at that time but commanded a rent of £33 per year, and mentioned a small conservatory and larger garden compared to its neighbour.

Marcus Ward, who occupied the house in 1887, may have been a descendant of Marcus Ward (died 1847), founder of a publishing company with premises in London and Belfast. The company was particularly renowned for children's books and was among the first mass producers of calendars and greetings cards.

The terrace is characterised by good proportions and restrained ornamentation, retaining a substantial proportion of original fabric. The group has experienced little significant alteration or addition since 1911, with the exception of the modern lean-to garage. There is local tradition suggesting the house and its neighbour were once used as a private school, though no documentary evidence supports this claim.