Moyrath, 270 Belmont Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT4 2AW

Moyrath, a detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey Italianate villa built around 1880, stands on the west side of Belmont Road in Belfast. It exemplifies the late nineteenth-century suburban houses characteristic of the Belmont and Sydenham areas, despite later subdivision into apartments and some loss of original interior fabric.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing south, with a pair of two-storey rear returns and is situated on a landscaped corner site at the junction of Hawthornden Gardens and Belmont Road. A two-storey detached apartment block, built around 2000, stands to the rear. The site is enclosed by hedgerow with rendered walls and piers to the west, and is surrounded by bitumac parking and communal lawns.

The roof is hipped natural slate with rolled lead ridges and valleys. Tall symmetrically-placed rendered profiled chimneystacks with terracotta pots rise prominently from the roof. Moulded cast-iron guttering sits on bracketed deep overhanging eaves, with cast-iron downpipes.

The walls are unpainted ruled-and-lined stucco with a moulded plinth course, deep moulded cornice between floors, eaves moulding, and continuous moulded sill and impost mouldings. The three-bay front elevation features a central advanced full-height entrance bay with windows arranged in pairs to both floors. The ground floor has square-headed window openings with stop-chamfered reveals and mouldings to the heads; the first floor has segmental-headed openings. The windows are possibly original single-pane timber sashes with ogee horns.

The segmental-headed door opening has a stop-chamfered surround flanked by three-quarter length pilasters surmounted by scrolled foliate console brackets supporting a hood cornice. The original flat-panelled timber door features bolection moulding and a glazed fanlight bearing gilt lettering reading 'Moyrath House'. The door opens onto a concrete step with a short plinth wall; there is a squat pier to the left with a universal access ramp to the right.

The two-bay west elevation contains a full-height three-sided canted bay window to the right, extended to the left by a further two-bay two-storey return. The two-bay east elevation has a full-height three-sided canted bay window to the left, extended to the right by a two-bay two-storey return and abutted by a single-storey canted projection with hipped natural slate roof and single-pane timber sash windows. The rear elevation comprises a pair of two-storey gable-ended returns with a flat-roofed central section.

The canted bays, deep overhanging eases and tall profiled chimneystacks contribute special character to the building.

Historically, Moyrath was constructed on the former site of Belfast's Royal Nurseries, established in 1869 on 12 acres of land provided by Thomas McClure, a local landowner and Member of Parliament. The building was originally erected as a residence for Hugh Dickson, a nurseryman who administered the Royal Nurseries by royal appointment. The building was originally known as Belavon. The 1901 census recorded it as a first-class dwelling comprising 14 rooms with a stable and coach house as outbuildings. Following Hugh Dickson's death in 1922, the property was leased as a private dwelling. It was occupied by Robert Swain, a yarn and cloth merchant, from 1925. The building was temporarily requisitioned by the British Government during the Second World War. The property was renamed Moyrath by 1982 when it was listed. The former private dwelling was converted into self-contained apartments around 1987, at which time a two-storey block was constructed to the north side of the building. Despite these changes, the building has retained its original external appearance.