'Dunida', 9 Lurgan Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4LU

'Dunida' is a late Victorian villa built around 1890 to designs by the architect Henry Hobart, situated on the east side of Lurgan Road to the north of Banbridge town centre in the townland of Edenderry. It is a well-proportioned, one-and-a-half-storey, three-bay detached house in rendered walling, set within a mature landscaped site. It is a good example of Hobart's preferred style and was built in a similar manner to the slightly later 'Clonaslee' (also designed by Hobart) on the opposite side of Lurgan Road. Together, both villas reflect the ongoing expansion of Banbridge during the later 19th century. The house has local historical interest through its association with Charles Hugh McCall, manager of Frederick W. Hayes's linen mill at Seapatrick (now demolished), and with the nearby Hayes Park, which was built to house factory workers.

FORM AND PLAN

The house follows an L-shaped plan with a projecting gabled bay to the left, a two-storey canted bay to the southeast, a projecting gabled and columned semi-open porch and veranda to the southwest, a two-storey gabled return to the rear, and a single-storey flat-roofed extension to the rear that is a later addition.

ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS

The roof is steeply hipped and covered in natural slate, with terracotta crestings, replica decorative finials, and rounded terracotta tiles to the hips. The chimneystacks are tall with a lozenge pattern and carry replica terracotta pots. The gables have plain bargeboards. Cast-iron ogee-profile rainwater goods run along the projecting eaves, which have timber fascia boards; the open porch has exposed rafter tails.

WALLING AND DETAILING

The external walls are finished in ruled-and-lined render with a stugged (roughened) surface, set on a chamfered plinth with smooth rendered quoins and a cavetto (concave) eaves course. Decorative terracotta panels appear at first-floor level.

WINDOWS

The windows are a mixture of timber casements and timber-framed sliding sash windows with horns, set in chamfered reveals with projecting sandstone sills. Those at first-floor level have moulded architraves with a keyblock and continuous sills.

PRINCIPAL (SOUTHWEST) ELEVATION

The principal elevation faces southwest and consists of a projecting gabled bay to the left and a wider bay to the right with a gablet and a semi-open timber porch at ground-floor level. The gabled left bay has a four-paned window at first floor and paired 1-over-1 windows at ground floor. The right bay has a four-paned window at both first- and ground-floor level. Set into the re-entrant angle is an enclosed timber-framed porch, gabled, which extends to a columned veranda to the right. The porch sits on a chamfered sandstone plinth and features decorative bargeboards with finials, louvered aprons, and timber brackets to the gable. It contains four timber windows with etched glass margins, topped by a three-paned leaded and stained glass window arranged in a triangle and surrounded by timber sheeting. The entrance opens to the southeast through a double-leaf raised-and-pointed three-panel varnished oak door with brass door furniture. The veranda is laid with terracotta tiles and accessed by two granite steps; its slated canopy is supported on square timber columns with carved brackets featuring trefoil detailing.

NORTHWEST ELEVATION

The northwest elevation has two windows at first-floor level to the left, an enlarged replacement window at ground-floor left, and a 1-over-1 window at ground-floor centre.

NORTHEAST ELEVATION AND REAR

The northeast elevation is abutted to the right by the two-storey return, which itself has a two-storey lean-to extension at its northwest face and a single-storey flat-roofed extension of no architectural interest to the northeast. Features here include a three-paned dormer window to the rear pitch, a four-paned window at first-floor left that breaks the eaves line, and a replacement stairwell window to the centre.

SOUTHEAST ELEVATION

The southeast elevation has a two-storey canted bay to the left. A four-paned window at first-floor level breaks the eaves line and has a segmental-headed hood. At ground floor there are double-leaf panelled and glazed timber doors with a transom light above, set in a moulded surround with a keyblock; 1-over-1 sashes flank the bay to the left and right cheeks, with the top panes each divided into three. The right bay has a four-paned timber window at ground floor.

SETTING

The house stands on an extensive mature site to the east side of Lurgan Road. Mature trees flank the driveway to the southwest, which is accessed from the main road through modern steel gates supported on rock-faced stone piers over a cattle grid. The road boundary is formed by a recent rock-faced stone wall with stone coping. There is a garage on site dating from the mid-20th century. Lawned gardens to the front and rear are planted with a variety of mature trees and bounded by mature hedgerow. The rear garden is accessed through original wrought-iron gates to the northwest and southeast.

MATERIALS SUMMARY

The roof is natural slate; external walling is pitted render, currently painted; windows to the main house are timber; rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and uPVC.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

'Dunida' first appears, captioned, on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903. Valuation records from 1891 record it as the home of Charles McCall, who purchased the lease from the Representatives of William E. E. Reilly. The house stood on over an acre of land and was initially valued at £17 10s, with recorded dimensions of 13 by 10 yards across two-and-a-half storeys. The initial valuation was considered too low and was raised in 1896 to £28 10s. The valuer's notes of this period record that the cost of construction had exceeded £800, and observe that the house was "very nice... in good position close to town, should let for £45 with grounds." A plan from this period shows the original layout of the house, which appears to be largely unchanged; the single-storey flat-roofed rear extension is shown at this date, though a section with a corrugated roof may have been added later. The porch and veranda do not appear on this early plan and may therefore have been a later addition.

Charles Hugh McCall, born in Lisburn, was the manager of Frederick W. Hayes's linen mill at Seapatrick. This well-established firm, founded in 1834, had passed from Frederick William Hayes to his son William, who died in 1876. The heir to the business — also named Frederick William Hayes — was a minor at the time, and McCall, son of Hugh McCall, the noted Lisburn linen historian, was appointed general mill manager to strengthen the management team. The 1901 census records McCall as a managing director of a County Down linen thread manufacturer, living with his wife, two children (including an adult son working as a manager, possibly also at the Edenderry factory, and a younger son aged nine), and two resident servants — a general domestic from Dublin and a cook from County Armagh. The thirteen-room house was classified as first class.

Following McCall's death in 1924, the house was sold to F. Charles Cowdy, with John Jones Cowdy subsequently living there, followed by tenants of the Smyth family — both families being prominent linen manufacturing dynasties in the Banbridge area. The general revaluation of the 1930s recorded the accommodation as four bedrooms, two reception rooms, a small sitting room, a separate WC, two pantries, a kitchen, a scullery, and an enclosed yard with a servants' WC. The house had electric light and town water. The valuer noted it was a "very well built detached house in very good condition," but added that it "adjoins railway line (in deep cutting) and opposite bleach works from which the smoke during prevailing west winds blows right onto the house forming a serious disadvantage." The tenants at that time were Charlotte Anne and Ruth Eleanor Smyth, who were vacating to make way for Anthony Lloyd Cowdy, who had been living in South Africa. By 1951, A. L. Cowdy is recorded as the occupier, though the house was sold in the mid-1960s. The house continues in use as a private dwelling.