190 Belmont Road, Belfast, Co.Antrim, BT4 2AT

190 Belmont Road, Belfast is a semi-detached, asymmetric three-bay, two-storey house with attic, constructed in 1897 in late-Victorian style. It forms one half of a pair with the adjoining 192 Belmont Road, both built on land formerly part of the Strathearn estate, a two-storey manor constructed in 1864.

The building is constructed of red brick and features a distinctive three-storey central tower to the south elevation with a pyramidal slate roof crowned by a cast-iron finial. An 'L-shaped' plan incorporates a projecting pediment gable and dormer to the south front, and a gabled return to the north elevation. A single-storey rendered extension extends to the north. The main pitched slate roof carries saw-tooth terracotta ridge tiles, projecting eaves with dog-tooth and egg and dart brick cornice, and is finished with ogee moulded uPVC guttering and downpipes.

The south front elevation is dominated by a two-storey canted bay with hipped leaded roof. The red brick walling is articulated with a projecting smooth rendered plinth, a torus brick string course between ground and first floors, a dog-tooth string course at first-floor window level, and a moulded string course between first and second floors. A half-dormer window sits on an egg and dart moulded bracket. Square-headed openings with projecting painted stone sill course serve the canted bay, while round-headed openings light the second storey. Windows throughout are one-over-one timber sliding sash with moulded horns and single panes. A square-headed door opening to the east elevation of the tower features a drip mould and floral label stops above. The entrance comprises a five-panelled timber door with fanlight, approached by three terracotta-tiled steps.

Red brick chimneys with corbelling and recessed coping carry terracotta pots. The west elevation projects a single-storey bay with leaded flat roof and moulded brick eaves course, with smooth rendered panelling to the north-west ground floor. The north elevation has an asymmetrical pitched roof to a brick-built rear return with square-headed windows, rendered to ground floor level, and a single-storey smooth rendered gabled extension. A rendered wall encloses the rear yard with a single square-headed door opening fitted with a diagonally sheeted door.

The property sits on the north side of Belmont Road, set back from the road with a dwarf red brick wall and formal hedge to the south. Brick entrance piers with flat rendered coping and decorative painted mild steel metal gateway mark the entrance. Elevated brick planting beds front the property, with bitumen parking areas to the west and north, and lawns and gardens to the north.

Historically, the site was originally rural in character in the mid-nineteenth century. The area developed from the 1860s onwards as a middle-class suburb when land bordering Belmont Road was leased out for new dwellings. According to the Third Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902, 190 and 192 Belmont Road were the first dwellings constructed on this plot between Wandsworth Drive and Pembridge Court, aside from Strathearn's gate lodge. The pair were constructed in 1897 and initially leased by James Bennett, a bank manager.

No. 190 was originally known as 'Barden Towers' and was first occupied by Henry Hirsch, a local schoolmaster. The 1901 census rated it a first-class dwelling of nine rooms with a rateable value of £27 and 10 shillings. By 1911, it had been taken up by Annie Fleming Dodds, principal of a local private preparatory school for boys. Ownership subsequently passed to G. F. N. Davison, who held the property until at least the 1970s. The house was occupied during the Second World War by C. S. Ritchie, a chemist, and by F. R. Kirkwood in the 1950s. The property has remained in use as a private dwelling throughout its recorded history, with its value increasing to £45 by the First General Revaluation (1936–57) and further to £50 by the Second Revaluation (1956–72).