9A Ascot Gardens, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT5 6LX

9A Ascot Gardens is a two-and-three-storey flat-roofed modernist house designed by Anthony Frederick Lucy and completed in 1935. It stands on an elevated site on the west side of Ascot Gardens in the Knock townland, forming a local landmark and a rare surviving example of pre-war modernist domestic architecture in south-east Belfast.

The house is arranged as three bays across its principal north-east elevation, which is three storeys tall. The south-east projecting bay has a stepped parapet with corner railings and features a single picture window at ground floor and corner windows at first floor. The main entrance is a recessed square-headed doorcase with an original timber-framed fully glazed door and horizontal-paned sidelights, approached by two wide concrete steps with painted finish. Above the entrance sits a flat projecting canopy decorated with a zig-zag pattern in black and white, exemplifying Art Deco detailing. A window at first floor and ground floor windows to adjacent bays complete this elevation.

The north-west elevation is three bays wide. The central bay projects narrowly and rises three storeys, containing the stairwell with windows at each floor and a raised plaster motif above the second floor window. The flanking bays are two storeys with raised parapets and corner railings. A projecting flat-roofed extension to the south-west has blank elevation to the north-west and two windows facing north-east. A recessed second floor bay to the south-west has a flat roof and glazed wall.

The south-west rear elevation comprises three bays plus a single-storey extension to the north-west with a square-headed door opening with horizontal panes and narrow side-and-fanlight. A projecting square bay to the south-east contains a central door opening with flanking sidelights and corner window above at first floor. Ground and first floor windows serve each remaining bay. The south-east elevation is four bays wide with projecting chimneys flanking the central two bays, which have narrow windows at ground and first floor levels; the outer bays feature corner windows.

The roof is flat with PVC covering and raised parapets of painted concrete coping with inset horizontal metal tubular railings forming a terrace at roof level, accessed from a second floor rooftop room. Rainwater hoppers are square section discharging to circular metal downpipes. Walls are smooth rendered and painted white with painted concrete cills. A raised plaster band runs at roof floor level along parts of the north-east, north-west and south-east elevations. Windows are replacement double-glazed metal windows with horizontal dividing panes and side-hung and toplight opening casements, the horizontal pattern of glazing having been reproduced from the original. The principal entrance retains its original fully glazed timber-framed door.

The setting occupies an elevated site on steep terrain. From the east, a rendered pedestrian gate with mature planting behind provides access to concrete steps flanked by low rendered walling that lead up through a series of terraced and stepped lawns to the main entrance. The boundary walls are rendered with mature planting behind them to the north-west and south-west. A detached single-storey garage with flat roof and two up-and-over doors, accessed from a lane running round the rear, sits at a lower level than the main house. The extent of listing includes the house, garage, walling, steps and gates.

Anthony Frederick Lucy worked almost exclusively in the Belfast area, chiefly designing houses for private housing developments in the city and suburbs. The Irish Builder records that he also designed a house in the adjoining Shandon Park in 1935. The south-east Belfast suburbs began tentative development in the early twentieth century but did not experience substantial suburbanisation until the 1950s following post-war industrial decline in the city. 9A Ascot Gardens was constructed as part of this tentative pre-war development and predates the majority of neighbouring dwellings, most of which were erected in the 1950s. The property was owned by Mr. T. McGeough at the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), when it was valued at £72.

The Northern Ireland Historic Buildings Council recommended statutory listing in 1991, recognising the house as a rare example of its type owing to the loss in recent years of other modernist houses in the area. It was formally listed in 1992. The house forms an important element in the suburban language of the area and remains in use as a private dwelling. Notable modernist features include the tubular metal railings to the parapet, Art Deco detailing such as zig-zag patterning to the entrance canopy, corner windows, rooftop room and terrace, and raised plaster mouldings to the stairway bay. The building has undergone recent alterations including installation of a new chimney in 2009 and replacement of the original roof in 2011, although the exterior and interior remain largely intact.