76 South Parade, BELFAST, County Antrim, BT7 2GQ

76 South Parade is one of a matched pair of semi-detached, gable-fronted, three-storey redbrick houses built in 1883, together known as 'Daisyfield Villas', as recorded on a painted masonry wall plaque. They sit on the north side of South Parade, Belfast, on a modest landscaped plot with rear access via a lane. The pair has group value with its neighbour at No. 78, and together they constitute a fine example of late Victorian suburban architecture in an unspoiled setting. The listing extends to the house, garage, outbuilding and gate.

The plan is irregular, facing south, with an entrance porch and a three-storey gabled projection to the west side elevation, and a two-storey return to the rear. A timber garage with a felt roof sits to the west, accessed from the rear lane.

The roof is covered in natural slate with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, and there are two redbrick chimneystacks with corbelled coping. The gables are embellished with decorative timber bargeboards, timber finials, and painted corbels to the eaves that support original ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering and cast-iron downpipes.

The walls are redbrick laid in Flemish bond, with a projecting rendered plinth course, continuous painted flush impost courses to the upper floors, and a continuous sill course at first-floor level. Window openings are square-headed, fitted with single-pane timber sash windows with ogee horns.

The front elevation occupies the western half of the gabled elevation and is abutted by a single-storey, three-sided canted bay with a lead-lined roof; the window openings of this bay are flanked by pilasters on a continuous sill course. At the centre of the gable is the painted masonry plaque reading 'Daisyfield / Villas / 1883'. At first-floor level the square-headed window openings have stop-chamfered masonry lintels set within segmental-headed brick arches. At second-floor level there is a single segmental-headed window opening with a stop-chamfered masonry lintel and brick arch above.

The west side elevation has a single-bay gabled projection abutted by a single-storey bay window matching that on the front elevation, and a lean-to entrance porch set into the re-entrant angle. Both the projection and the porch have timber bargeboards matching those on the front gable. The porch has a square-headed window opening facing west, fitted with single-pane timber sash windows and coloured glass margin lights. The front door, facing south within the porch, has flat panels with bolection mouldings and a rectangular overlight, and is approached by three nosed stone steps.

The rear elevation is abutted by a lower, gable-ended, two-storey redbrick return, fronting onto a small enclosed yard. The east elevation adjoins the neighbouring No. 78. An original wrought iron gate and posts mark the pedestrian entrance from South Parade.

The majority of original detailing survives both internally and externally, including the original glazing.

South Parade was the first of three residential roads to be built connecting the Ravenhill and Ormeau Roads, and is the only one of the three shown on the Belfast town plan of 1883–84, on which 'Daisyfield Villas' already appear. The houses were among the very first buildings constructed along this new road, shown as a semi-detached pair with gardens to front and side, each with a large tree or bush in the front garden. No. 78 had slightly more extensive outbuildings to the rear, and its back yard was subsequently covered with a glass roof.

The houses are first listed in the street directory for 1884, with No. 76 recorded as the residence of James Davidson, stationer and fancy goods salesman, and No. 78 as the home of John Rea, provision merchant. Valuation records gave No. 76 a value of £30, covering house, yard and gardens, and No. 78 a value of £36, reflecting its larger outbuildings. By 1895 both houses had been let to tenants. The 1900 Belfast Revaluation confirms the 1883 construction date and records that each house comprised seven rooms excluding the kitchen, was three storeys, and was fitted with gas and a bathroom. The rent for No. 76 was £50 minus taxes, with the house partly furnished by the lessor.

By 1895 James Davidson had let No. 76 to the Reverend John McMillan, minister at Cooke Centenary Church. Reverend McMillan, a native of Maghera in County Derry, was the first minister of the newly constructed Cooke Centenary Church, having been installed in August 1892. No. 76 appears to have served as his first residence and thus became the manse for a number of years. The 1901 census records him as a Presbyterian clergyman and editor of the Temperance Journal, living with his wife and a 27-year-old Catholic domestic servant from Monaghan, who was being visited at the time by a relative, probably a sister. As a champion of the temperance movement, McMillan was sometimes a controversial figure, objecting on grounds of conscience to the use of alcoholic wine at communion services. He was also responsible for constructing schools behind the church building; when these were handed back to the church by the Education Authority in 1963, they were refurbished and opened as the McMillan Halls in his honour. Reverend McMillan retired in 1930 and died four years later, having left 'Daisyfield Villas' some years previously.

No. 76 fell vacant in 1912. Subsequent recorded occupants include W. L. Millen, agent (1928), James Smyth, engineer (1929), Mrs E. Smyth (1937), Hugh R. Archbold (1938), J. C. Wilson, clerk (1942), Miss O. Wilson (1946), and from 1949, Dr J. J. Keenan. The house continues in use as a private domestic dwelling.