Glencar, 35 Newry Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3HP

Glencar, 35 Newry Road, Banbridge

'Glencar' is a two-storey, four-bay detached house built in 1908 in a loose interpretation of the Domestic Revival style, situated on a large mature plot on the west side of Newry Road on what was then the outskirts of Banbridge. The name is almost certainly a reference to Glencar Waterfall in County Leitrim, the home county of the original owner. The house is notable for its early use of cavity wall construction, recorded at the time by the valuer, and for having been built, in the words of a contemporary sale notice, "regardless of expense." Architectural ornamentation and detailing are largely intact or sensitively restored. Some later modifications have actually enhanced the building's significance, while others — principally the replacement of some windows in uPVC — detract slightly, though the house remains a good example of its type.

Plan and Exterior

The plan is irregular, basically rectangular, with projections to all sides: an asymmetrical gabled box bay projects to the front, and there are single-storey and two-storey extensions to the rear added later. The roof is pitched and hipped, covered in rosemary tiles with replacement terracotta ridge and hip tiles, some leaded hips, and plain bargeboards to the gables. The rendered chimneystacks have dentilled concrete caps and reclaimed clay pots. Rainwater goods are aluminium gutters with uPVC downpipes, though one original cast-iron downpipe survives. The eaves overhang, with later roughcast soffits beneath.

The walling combines English garden wall-bonded red brick to the ground floor with painted roughcast render to the first floor. The south-west elevation has shingled asbestos tiles to the first-floor gable. Windows are a variety of metal and timber casements with replacement concrete and some original masonry sills; a number have replacement leaded-and-stained glass panels to their upper sections. Some windows to the rear and side elevations have been replaced in uPVC.

Principal (South-East) Elevation

The principal elevation is dominated by an asymmetrical gabled bay. To its left is a recessed open porch with a segmental arch, laid with replacement terracotta floor tiles. The porch has a half-panelled timber door with leaded-and-stained glass panels, a square-headed overlight, and sidelights — tripartite to the left and single-paned to the right — with flat-panelled aprons below. There is a replacement doorbell. To the right of the porch within the gabled bay is a large, five-part (Pentapartite) multi-pane window serving both ground and first floors, and a small two-pane casement window to the first floor on the left. A slightly recessed tiled recess detail sits at the apex of the gable. The left cheek of the bay is blank; the right cheek was not viewed.

To the left of the gabled bay, a quadripartite multi-pane window serves each floor. The ground-floor window sits beneath a lean-to rosemary-tiled canopy supported on a brick pier to the left; the canopy is enclosed to the left of the pier and is partially glazed, with an inserted bipartite multi-pane window on a brick plinth. A panelled and glazed timber door sits on the right cheek of this canopy, with single and bipartite multi-pane windows to the left cheek. To the right of the gabled bay is a slender multi-pane window to each floor. Further right, the elevation steps back and drops slightly in height, with a bipartite multi-pane window to the first floor and a tripartite multi-pane window to the ground floor.

South-West Elevation

At ground-floor level, this elevation is abutted by a projecting single-storey bay with a half-hipped roof, lit by two round windows with sills. This bay was originally a single-storey glass-roofed conservatory extending along this facade; it was converted in the early 20th century in the Arts and Crafts style to create what amounts to an inglenook off the sitting room. To the first floor, a central chimney breast is flanked by two windows.

North-West (Rear) Elevation

The rear elevation has a two-storey hipped return to the centre, itself abutted by a single-storey brick return. The chimney to the single-storey rear return has been rebuilt and is plain in comparison with the original chimneystacks on the main house. To the right side of the return there are multi-paned windows at both ground and first floor levels, and a projecting ground-floor box bay with a timber multi-paned window. On the south-west face of the rear return there is an oriel window fitted with a replacement uPVC multi-paned window and a pumice stone aggregate concrete sill.

To the left of the rear return, two further uPVC windows serve the first floor. At ground floor level on this side, a small flat-roofed extension with a skylight has been added more recently. The space between the two-storey returns was infilled around 1970 with a flat-roofed section providing a utility room at ground floor and a bathroom above. The rear yard is enclosed by a red-brick wall with a replacement timber-sheeted gate opening to the north-east.

North-East Elevation

This elevation has two quadripartite multi-pane windows of differing designs to the ground floor; a tripartite multi-pane window to the first floor on the left; and a bipartite uPVC window to the first floor on the right. The left ground-floor window is timber; the right is uPVC.

Windows and Later Alterations

The original metal windows were replaced with timber replicas, which is in keeping with the Arts and Crafts character of the house and is considered an enhancement. The replacement of some windows in uPVC, particularly to the rear and side elevations, detracts from the building. The two-storey return infill of around 1970 and the more recent flat-roofed ground-floor extension are also later interventions. Despite these changes, the original plan form and proportions are largely intact and the original design intent remains legible.

Setting

The house stands on a large, mature site set well back from Newry Road, with a generous lawned front garden containing a variety of mature trees and shrubbery. The curved tarmacadamed driveway was formerly flanked by original red-brick gate piers with coping stones and original metal gates, which have since been removed. To the north side of the main house is a detached, part timber-framed, panelled garage with an asbestos-tiled roof, replacement decorative timber apex, and timber bargeboards, in keeping with the style of the main house. Its doors have been sensitively replaced. A latch-gate provides access to the south-west, and there is a stone-edged pond to the rear garden, rebuilt in recent years. A variety of cold-frame structures and outhouses of later date are also present within the grounds.

Rear access from Old Newry Road runs between Nos. 23 and 25 Old Newry Road and is secured by a modern timber gate and fencing to the road. To the right of this rear entrance stands Glencar Cottage, 25 Old Newry Road (built 1910), a single-storey dwelling with a hipped fibre-cement roof.

Historical Background

Glencar first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1903–18, and is first recorded in the valuation books in 1908 when the building was noted as "in progress." It was completed by 1909 and initially valued at £42, subsequently reduced to £40 on appeal. The contemporary valuer's notebook records a construction cost of £800, includes a plan and dimensions of the new building, and notes the use of cavity walls — an early application of this technique. The 1909 plan also shows outbuildings including a garage, greenhouse, and tool house.

The house was built by Robert Allingham (died 1937), a County Leitrim-born businessman who founded the boot merchants Allingham & Co. of North Street, Belfast (later also trading from Donegall Place and Ann Street), and his wife Sarah Elizabeth. In the 1911 census, the couple are recorded as living there with a boarder, 30-year-old Lizzie Dickson. The house was described as a first-class dwelling with eleven rooms in occupation.

In late 1917 the Allinghams advertised Glencar for sale, describing it as a "delightfully artistic villa…built by the owner…regardless of expense," containing two sitting rooms, three bedrooms, a large kitchen, extra-large scullery, large bathroom, cloakroom and box room, two conservatories, and a motor garage, with grounds "beautifully laid out and planted with the very choicest shrubs" and a "well-stocked vegetable garden and orchard in full bearing." Subsequent occupants included David Towell (1919) and William J. Warren or Warner (1922), though ownership appears to have remained with the Allingham family, as Robert Allingham was again recorded as occupier in 1927.

By the early 1930s the ground-floor accommodation comprised a central hall, two reception rooms, a back lobby, cloakroom, separate WC, small study, kitchen, and a combined scullery and pantry with a small maid's bedroom above. Outside were a washhouse with hot and cold water supply, a coal store, and a garage within an enclosed yard. The first floor had two front bedrooms fitted with lavatory basins, one rear bedroom, a bathroom, and a separate WC. All principal rooms had central heating. A valuer at the time noted that the house was "of very attractive appearance standing well back in extensive grounds, well built and expensively finished but bedroom accommodation inadequate for class of house." The house was revalued at £59 in the First General Revaluation of 1936.

The property was advertised for sale again in 1933 as a "superior…artistically built…and beautifully situated villa," and was acquired before 1935 by Thomas J. Gibson, a surgeon. Gibson advertised it for sale in summer 1946, after which it was acquired by the footwear manufacturers Down Shoes Ltd. as a residence for their managing director, Tom Hooper. Down Shoes had established a factory further south along the Newry Road in 1947 and went on to become one of the largest employers in the Banbridge area, remaining in business until 2002. Glencar was sold to the present owner's family in late 1973.

Map evidence indicates that the living room extension that replaced the original conservatory was built at some point between 1918 and 1946. The house appears to have been renovated in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with further alterations in the late 1970s. In its setting, the house is of local interest as a representative of the ongoing expansion of Banbridge from the later 19th century into the 20th.