Gate Lodge & Gatescreen at Hunterhouse College, Upper Lisburn Road, Finaghy, Belfast, County Antrim, BT10 0LE

Gate Lodge and Gatescreen at Hunterhouse College

This Grade B2 listed building comprises a wrought-iron Art Nouveau style entrance gate with piers and railings dating from around 1900, probably designed by architect V. Craig, together with a pair of attached single-storey gate lodges dating from around 1870 and around 1900. The complex marks the entrance to Hunterhouse College on the Upper Lisburn Road in Finaghy, Belfast.

The gateway consists of wrought-iron Art Nouveau style railings mounted on brick-built dwarf walls with rough cast render and stone coping, forming a double-S curve in plan. Two square caged wrought-iron piers mark the main entrance to the college, with two shorter piers at each end of the gateway. Only one of the original four wrought-iron finials survives, at the north end pier. The gates were damaged in a traffic accident and are now in storage.

The south gate lodge dates from around 1870 and was built at the same time as Colinmore mansion, now part of Hunterhouse College. It is a single-storey building with an irregular plan facing south, abutted to the north by the second gate lodge. The roof is pitched natural slate with roll-top black-clay ridge tiles and overhanging eaves with decorated timber bargeboards supported on horizontal moulded brackets. The chimney stack is painted rendered with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. The walls are smooth rendered with ashlar lining and a simple chamfered plinth, all painted. Windows are replacement top-hung timber casement windows on painted sills. The principal elevation faces south and contains three bays; the two western bays are gabled. A square-headed door opening with plain architrave and timber-panelled door is located at the west end bay. The central gabled bay has a three-part Venetian window, and the east bay has a square-headed window flanked by simple pilasters. The overhanging bracketed verges have simply decorated bargeboards. The east elevation contains two gabled bays and a recessed flat-roofed bay abutting the north gate lodge, with two square-headed window openings to the central gabled bay and two smaller windows to the flat-roofed bay. The north side is abutted by the adjacent north gate lodge. The west elevation features a projecting gabled bay at the south end with a round-arched window flanked by pilasters, followed by three bays including a square-headed door opening to the centre with a modern flush timber door onto a stone step, and replacement windows on either side. uPVC half-round guttering and circular downpipes are present throughout.

The north gate lodge dates from around 1900 and is attributed to architect V. Craig. It is a single-storey building with a regular plan and hipped natural slate roof with angled black-clay hip tiles. The eaves are overhanging with uPVC half-round guttering and circular downpipes. The chimney stack is painted with red-clay chimney pots. The walls are smooth rendered with ashlar lining and a simple chamfered plinth, all painted. Windows are replacement top-hung timber casement windows on painted sills. The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrical, with a projecting central bay containing a segmental-headed door opening with modern flush door and fanlight. Single segmental-headed windows occupy the east and west bays. The west elevation comprises five bays; the two northern bays each have a segmental-headed window, while the remaining bays have square-headed windows. The south elevation is abutted by the south gate lodge. The east elevation consists of two bays with a three-sided canted bay at the north end having segmental-headed windows, and a single segmental-headed window opening to the south bay, which is attached to the south gate lodge.

The gate lodges are situated within a partly gravelled and tarmac area with concrete paving and a concrete path to the front of the south elevation. The complex is located on the east side of Upper Lisburn Road.