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

Gate Lodge and Gatescreen at Hunterhouse College, Upper Lisburn Road, Finaghy, Belfast

This entrance complex comprises a pair of attached single-storey gate lodges and a wrought-iron Art Nouveau gatescreen with railings, forming the entrance to Hunterhouse College on the east side of the Upper Lisburn Road. The earlier of the two lodges dates from around 1870, the second lodge and gatescreen from around 1900, the latter attributed to prominent local Belfast architect Vincent Craig (1869–1925).

Historical Background

The site has its origins in a merchant's mansion known as Strathearn, constructed by 1870 for Philip Fletcher Richardson, an insurance agent, and jointly valued with the first gate lodge at £90 in the Annual Revisions. By the time of the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901, a second gate lodge had been built immediately abutting the northern elevation of the original lodge, and the wrought-iron Art Nouveau gatescreen had been installed. Although the architect responsible for this phase of work is not definitively recorded, architectural historian J. A. K. Dean suggests both the new lodge and gatescreen may have been the work of Vincent Craig. Craig was a Belfast-based architect apprenticed to W. H. Lynn, who spent a year travelling Europe before establishing an independent practice in 1891. He was one of very few early advocates of Art Nouveau in Ulster and a key proponent of the style during the Edwardian period, which stressed an aesthetic approach to design over pure functionalism. He was also the younger brother of James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

In 1908, a Mr Harold Adrian Barbour took possession of Strathearn and undertook a major remodelling of the mansion. At that point the newer lodge was individually valued at £3, while the earlier lodge remained valued together with the mansion and was subsequently used as a dwelling for the Barbours' chauffeur. In 1945 the property was renamed Colinmore when it was acquired by the Princess Gardens School and converted into a junior schoolhouse and boarding accommodation, with the gatescreen and lodges retained as the school entrance. The gatescreen and lodges were listed in 1987, the same year the school was renamed Hunterhouse College. The lodges are now used as private dwellings.

The Gatescreen and Railings

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

South Gate Lodge (c.1870)

The south lodge is a gabled single-storey building with a pitched roof, built at the same time as the Colinmore mansion. It sits on an irregular plan facing south and is abutted to the north by the later lodge. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with roll-top black clay ridge tiles. The overhanging eaves feature decorated timber bargeboards supported on horizontal moulded brackets, with uPVC half-round guttering and circular downpipes. The painted rendered chimney stack has corbelled coping and red clay chimney pots.

The walls are smooth rendered with ashlar lining and a simple chamfered plinth, all with a painted finish. Windows are replacement top-hung timber casements on painted sills.

The principal south elevation has three bays, with the two western bays gabled. The west end bay has a square-headed door opening with a plain architrave and a timber panelled door. The gabled central bay has a three-part Venetian window, and the east bay has a square-headed window flanked by simple pilasters. The verges are overhanging and bracketed with simply decorated bargeboards.

The east elevation has two gabled bays and a recessed flat-roofed bay that abuts the north gate lodge. The central gabled bay has two square-headed window openings, and the flat-roofed bay has two smaller windows. The north elevation is abutted by the adjacent north lodge.

The west elevation has a projecting gabled bay at the south end with a round-arched window flanked by pilasters, plus three further bays: a square-headed door opening to the centre with a modern flush timber door opening onto a stone step, and replacement windows to each side.

Architectural historian Dean described this lodge as: "much gabled with that of the living room projection sporting a Venetian window, a collar tied feature over carried on moulded purlin brackets. A lower gable to the hall advances alongside. Pilastered frames to openings, exposed rafter toes."

North Gate Lodge (c.1900)

The north lodge is a single-storey building with a hipped roof, dating from around 1900 and attributed to Vincent Craig. It sits on a regular plan facing north, immediately abutting the south lodge. The hipped natural slate roof has angled black clay hip tiles. The overhanging eaves have uPVC half-round guttering and circular downpipes. The painted chimney stack has red clay chimney pots. The walls are smooth rendered with ashlar lining and a simple chamfered plinth, all with a painted finish. Windows are replacement top-hung timber casements on painted sills.

The symmetrical principal north elevation has a projecting central bay with a segmental-headed door opening fitted with a modern flush door and fanlight, flanked by a single segmental-headed window to each of the east and west bays.

The west elevation has five bays: the two northern bays each have a segmental-headed window, and the remaining bays have square-headed windows.

The east elevation has two bays. The northern bay features a three-sided canted bay window with segmental-headed windows. The southern bay has a single segmental-headed window opening and is attached to the south gate lodge. The south elevation is abutted by the adjacent south lodge.

Setting and Materials

The gate lodges are surrounded by a partly gravelled and tarmacked area, with concrete paving and a concrete path to the front of the south elevation. Roofing is in natural slate with uPVC rainwater goods. Walling is in painted render with ashlar lining. Windows are mainly timber casements.

The lodges and gatescreen together share group value with the Colinmore building of Hunterhouse College. Despite various alterations — including the loss of most of the wrought-iron finials, the damage to the gates, and the replacement of original windows — the lodges retain their architectural character and the ensemble as a whole makes an impressive entrance to the extensive school grounds.