50 Sunnyside St., Belfast

50 Sunnyside Street is a two-storey red-brick terraced house built in 1909 (though it forms part of a longer terrace developed between 1903 and 1910), located approximately 3 kilometres from Belfast city centre on Sunnyside Street, a canted thoroughfare linking the Ormeau Road with Annadale Embankment. The building is one of 21 identical or virtually identical terraced houses set on the south side of the street.

The main house is rectangular in plan with a two-storey rectangular return featuring a flat roof. The walls are constructed of smooth red clay brick laid in English Garden Wall bond, with clay ventilation bricks at each level. The roof is natural slate with a red-brick chimney stack on the right-hand side, featuring projecting brick courses and clay pots. A projecting moulded brick course at eaves level supports cast metal ogee guttering.

The front elevation faces north and displays a painted timber four-panel door with overlight (plain glazing) to the left, and a uPVC top-hung double-glazed window to the right. The door has a semi-circular head with moulded architrave, while the window features a segmental head, also with moulded architrave. A smaller similar window is positioned almost centrally on the first floor. The front garden is finished in concrete block paviors, set behind a replacement red-brick boundary wall with gateway featuring painted metal railings and a small painted metal arched gate, installed circa 1988 as part of an improvement scheme.

The rear elevation faces south and is rendered in smooth cement plaster. It contains uPVC top-hung double-glazed windows to the left-hand side at both levels. A substantial two-storey extension, added circa 1990s, occupies the right-hand side and extends to the original yard wall. The extension is built in rustic red-clay brick with a flat roof, painted timber boards to the eaves, and uPVC top-hung double-glazed windows on the west elevation with uPVC rainwater goods. The south and east elevations of the extension are blank. A square-headed yard doorway with stained timber boarded door occupies the left-hand side, with a concrete head, brick courses, and concrete coping above. A narrow shared laneway runs to the rear of the yard wall, bounded to the south by a corrugated tin fence enclosing an industrial yard. Large groups of red-brick single and two-storey industrial outbuildings stand south of this yard.

The east side elevation abuts No. 48 Sunnyside Street, while the west side elevation abuts No. 52 Sunnyside Street.

Despite replacement of the original windows and the addition of the new-build rear extension, the house retains its external character, including the panelled timber front door with stucco surrounds, slate roof, and original stairwell internally. It retains significant group value with the wider terrace.

Sunnyside Street first appears on Ordnance Survey town plans in 1871–73 as a lane running from the Ormeau Road to the current junction with Whitehall Parade, with a terrace of six houses marked as 'Sunnyside' on the north side. By Marcus Ward's 1879 map, it was designated Sunnyside Street, presumably taking its name from the original terrace. The street extended incrementally over subsequent decades, with the present nos. 14–24 shown on the 1901–03 plan and greater development following. The opening of King's Bridge in 1912 allowed the street to reach its current extent, making it a thoroughfare connecting directly to Ridgeway Street beyond the River Lagan.

The long terrace of which No. 50 forms part was developed piecemeal. Nos. 14–24 appear on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map and were recorded in the valuation book that year. Nos. 26–42 were entered into the valuation book in 1904, and nos. 44–52 (including No. 50) were first recorded in 1910. The developer of nos. 14–42 appears to have been Hugh Scott, listed as lessor for those properties in 1906, while John McBride is noted as lessor for nos. 44–52 in 1910. The identity of any architect remains unknown.

The first recorded occupant of No. 50 was James Cooke, noted in street directories as a carpenter. The 1911 census records the building as a second-class dwelling containing five rooms, occupied at that time by William Taylor (a hall keeper), his wife Lizzie, and their young son. By 1918, Mrs. Duff was occupying the property and remained there into the 1980s according to street directories. A Jane Alexander is recorded as resident in 1990, and Martin D. McGrillen in 1995. The property was listed in 1986.

This is a good example of modest Edwardian urban terraced housing, built at a time when Belfast was expanding rapidly southwards from the city centre along the main thoroughfares of the Ormeau, Lisburn, and Malone Roads.