137 Cavehill Road Belfast BT15 5BL

Edenmore is a substantial two-storey, double-fronted detached house built in 1875, probably designed by the Belfast architects Young & Mackenzie. It stands on a corner plot at the junction of Cavehill Road and Kansas Avenue, roughly 3 kilometres north of Belfast city centre, facing west towards the Antrim Road Waterworks. The house is one of the earliest to have been built along Cavehill Road and, in contrast to many of its neighbours, remains largely original both inside and out. It also retains almost all of its original garden plot, which allows the building to be seen on all sides and gives it both individuality and a quiet sense of gravitas within the wider streetscape. Later Victorian houses in this all-round state of originality are relatively rare in this part of the city, and combined with its prominent corner setting this makes Edenmore a building of some local importance.

OVERALL FORM AND SETTING

The house consists of a main gable-ended block with a lower, roughly centrally positioned, two-storey gabled return set at varying ridge height. A single-storey garage and shed abuts the south face of the return, created by roofing over the yard on that side; the corresponding yard to the north of the return remains untouched. The garden plot is enclosed from the street on the north and west sides by a privet hedge, with a vehicle gateway fitted with a wrought-iron gate to the north-east and a timber pedestrian gate a few metres to the west of it. The rear portion of the garden has been concreted to serve as a parking space.

FRONT (WEST) ELEVATION

The front elevation is symmetrical. The central entrance is framed with painted render — or possibly painted stone — pilasters, a frieze and cornice, and a recessed timber door screen comprising a panelled door, sidelights and an overlight. On either side of the entrance are flat-roofed canted bay windows finished in painted render or stone, each topped with a parapet and cornice; the roofs of the two bays are not identical and may not be original. Plain timber sash windows are set on a continuous sill to each facet of each bay. At first-floor level there are five windows, with the outer ones grouped more closely together — almost paired — and all are set on a sill course. A slight roof overhang is supported on a bracketed eaves cornice, which continues a short distance along either gable. The façade, outside the rendered areas, is finished in Flemish bond brickwork.

SOUTH ELEVATION

This and the remaining elevations are finished in garden wall bond brick. The main gable has two ground-floor windows at centre and right, matching the front windows in character. The side of the garage — originally a yard wall — is blank. The exposed upper level of the return has four windows; the pair to the taller left-hand section are larger than those to the right, and all have matching frames.

NORTH ELEVATION

The main gable is blank. The yard wall has a doorway with a sheeted timber door. At ground-floor level in the return there are two doorways towards the centre-left and centre, and to the right of these are two relatively small windows with replacement frames fitted with hopper openings; there is a further doorway to the far right. At first-floor level there are two windows of slightly differing width within the taller section, both with 2-over-2 timber sash frames. There is evidence of a blocked opening to the left on the lower section.

EAST ELEVATION

The garage addition to the right has a large metal-sheeted door. The gable of the return and the yard wall are blank. There is one window to the left at first-floor level in the main block, and one window on each floor to the right.

ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS

The roof of the main block appears to be covered in natural Bangor Blue slate, as does the return. There are two brick chimneystacks to the main block. The rainwater goods appear to be mainly cast iron, with some sections possibly replaced in PVC.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The house was built in 1875 by Thomas Sinclair (1838–1914), then owner of the provision merchants firm J & T Sinclair. In 1867 Thomas had inherited Hopefield, a mansion of around the 1840s located roughly where Kansas Avenue Flats now stand. Hopefield's grounds were substantial, stretching north to south from what is now Evelyn Gardens to Rosemount Gardens, and east to west between the Antrim and Cavehill Roads. The Cavehill Road was at that time a semi-rural route running alongside the upper, northern section of the Cave Hill Railway — a horse-drawn line established in 1832–34 to transport limestone from the quarry on Cave Hill to the docks. From the 1860s onwards, the gardens of several villas bordering the road began to be opened up for development. Sinclair's property was the largest of these, and in the 1870s he followed his neighbours in establishing ribbon development along the road, followed in the 1880s and 1890s by the creation of streets opening off it to the east. By around 1900, Hopefield itself sat within a plot less than a quarter of its original size, largely surrounded by suburban housing. Edenmore, sited along the Cavehill Road periphery of Sinclair's land, was one of his first developments in the area. It may have been designed by Young & Mackenzie, as Sinclair commissioned five houses to be built along the road from this firm in 1875, though the surviving specifications from that commission appear to relate to terraced and semi-detached two-and-a-half and three-storey buildings rather than a detached house of this form.

DOCUMENTED CHANGES OVER TIME

Edenmore is first shown on the Ordnance Survey town plan of 1884, at which date it appears to have had sheds or stabling to the north side — accessed from an additional gateway to the north-east — a conservatory or greenhouse attached to the south, and some small additional structures within the yards either side of the return. On the 1894–95 plan, one of the northern structures is identified as a summer house. By mid-1896, Kansas Avenue had been cut immediately to the north of the property, slicing off the edge of the garden and resulting in the removal of the gateway, summer house and other buildings on that side. The garden is shown much as it is today on the 1903 town plan. The conservatory was still present at that date but had been taken down before 1931. On the 1960 plan, a small freestanding building is shown within the southern yard, presumably a garage; this was replaced with the present garage on that side at some point between 1973 and 1987.

OCCUPANCY HISTORY

The property was initially leased to John Boal, a teacher, who appears to have died around 1890, after which Ann Porter — who may have been his daughter — is listed as occupant in the valuation books. She was followed by Samuel Keightley JP around 1894, John Moat around 1899, and Michael Hughes from around 1900. In the 1901 census, Michael Hughes is recorded as a 32-year-old civil service tutor — he established an academy for the training of civil servants in Royal Avenue — living here with his younger sister Lizzie and five visitors. The house is noted in that census as a first-class dwelling with ten rooms in use. Hughes died in 1909. By 1912 a J. Hughes — possibly a relative — is listed as resident, followed by J. Hanna by 1918, and James D. Laird, described as a rent agent, from around 1923. Laird died in 1939 but Edenmore appears to have remained with his family until at least 1952, when it was advertised for sale as a "substantially built, well-maintained residence with an unrivalled outlook over Belfast Waterworks." At some point before 1960 it was acquired by William Corran, a dentist who later became an antique dealer with premises in Wellington Place and Arthur Street. After his death in 1966 the house was sold again, and a Mrs M. Moloney is noted as residing here in 1969. It was advertised for sale once more in 1975, and T. Cunningham was recorded as householder in 1980. The property was sold again in 2023.