Gate Lodge, Glenalmond, 62 Quarry Road, Belfast, Co Antrim BT4 2NQ

Gate Lodge, Glenalmond

This symmetrical one-and-a-half-storey gate lodge in the late Arts and Crafts style was built around 1938 to serve Glenalmond House at No. 60 Quarry Road. The building stands east of Belfast city centre and north of Stormont Estate, on the outskirts of the metropolitan area in semi-rural surroundings. It was designed by Belfast architect John MacGeagh for Robert McConnell, principal of the noted estate agents R.J. McConnell, who had commissioned MacGeagh to design Glenalmond itself in 1932-33. The lodge may have been constructed specifically as a residence for a gardener, with Samuel Campbell listed as gardener and occupant from at least 1947 until 1951.

The building is constructed in brown rustic brick laid in Flemish stretcher bond with a steeply-pitched rosemary clay tile roof featuring jerkinhead detail to the north elevation. A single brown rustic brick chimneystack rises from the south gable. The principal elevation faces west and comprises three bays. A projecting two-storey central bay with hipped roof contains a painted sheeted timber door with wrought-iron door furniture flanked by wall-mounted bracketed lanterns, with a window above and at either side. The door opens onto tiled steps down to the surrounding path and driveway. The flanking single-storey outer bays contain windows, with the northern example octagonal in shape. Painted timber casement windows are flush with the walling throughout, with clay tile and brick lintels and painted projecting sills.

The north elevation features jerkinhead roof detail with deep soffit carrying plastic rainwater goods, with two windows at ground level and one at attic level. The rear (east) elevation has a centrally-placed flat-roofed porch in stretcher bond containing a timber sheeted door flanked by two windows, opening onto a tiled path. The south elevation displays a full-height centrally-placed projecting chimney breast with square-headed and bullseye windows at ground floor level and one square-headed window at attic level.

The window frames appear to be replacements, and the interior retains little evidence of original historic features. The present owner reports that a back porch was added to the lodge in the 1990s, with interior work carried out around the same time. Plastic rainwater goods are present on painted fascia.

The property was acquired around 1959 by Captain Oscar William James (Bill) Henderson and his wife Primrose, who appear to have retained the property until at least the early 1980s. The lodge and Glenalmond stand on what prior to the 1930s had been largely open field. A disused quarry, from which Quarry Road received its name, formerly occupied the site immediately west of the lodge. The easternmost stretch of Quarry Road was redirected to its present course around the 1870s.

Number 62 is situated beside the entrance to the Glenalmond site along Quarry Road at the beginning of the driveway approach to Number 60. The former quarry lies directly in front of the house behind mature trees and iron fencing. A small garden and secondary driveway with parking space are located to the rear.