5 College Park East, Belfast, BT7 1PS

5 College Park East, Belfast

This is a High Victorian mid-terrace house of two storeys with attic, built in 1869 to designs by Young & MacKenzie, and now used as university offices. It forms part of a mixed row of six properties at the junction of College Park East and University Avenue, in the Queen's University area of South Belfast, immediately south of Union Theological College. The front elevation faces west onto College Park East, with a university car park beyond, and the main buildings of Queen's University lie to the west.

CONTEXT AND HISTORY

College Park East — originally known simply as 'College Park' — was laid out in or shortly before 1864 on what had until then been the semi-rural 'Plains' of Malone, just east and south of Queen's College (completed 1849) and Union Theological College (completed 1853). The foundation of Queen's prompted several decades of southward residential development in the vicinity, with regularly-planned streets filled largely with High Victorian terraced housing for Belfast's professional and merchant classes, as the city centre became increasingly commercial and industrial.

Number 4, approximately centrally positioned in the terrace, was the first to be completed, in 1864. Numbers 1–3 and 5–6 followed in 1869, and 'Hope House' — not strictly part of the row but directly abutting the rear of No. 6 — was added in 1873. Numbers 1–3 appear to have been developed by William Sherrie, a brush manufacturer with premises in North Street; No. 4 by Alexander Holmes; and Nos. 5–6 and Hope House by Matthew Pattison (also recorded as Patteson). A tender for making streets in College Park East was advertised by Young & MacKenzie in August 1870, and this firm was responsible for the design of No. 5 and its neighbours. The jettied dormer used here is a device Young & MacKenzie employed elsewhere in Belfast, notably at 28 and 30 Wellington Park.

Note on early street numbering: the property at the north end of the terrace, present No. 1 College Park East, faces into the street but is accessed from University Avenue. As a result, 1870s and early 1880s references in street directories and valuation records are inconsistent — some entries include it under College Park East, others under University Avenue, with discrepancies in numbering throughout. This makes it difficult to trace the earliest occupants of the terrace with confidence.

The earliest recorded occupant of No. 5 appears to have been a William Browne, listed at number 5 in the valuation book commencing 1865. The 1877 street directory — the first in which 'College Park East' appears as a name — lists Matthew Pattison, described as 'financial mission secretary to the General Assembly' (the developer of this southern part of the terrace), as occupant. A Miss Millar is listed in the 1887 directory, followed by Mrs. Isabel J. Vanderhof in 1899. The 1901 census records Mrs. Vanderhof, a 74-year-old widow born in New York, as a boarder, with a James C. Long named as householder. Other occupants included his New York-born wife Mary, a domestic servant, and Miss Sarah J. Patterson, described as Mrs. Vanderhof's 'nurse companion'. The house was noted as a 'first class' dwelling with 13 rooms in use. Mr. and Mrs. Long were still in residence at the time of the 1911 census. Mrs. Long is named as occupant in 1918, but by 1924 the property — along with neighbouring No. 6 — had been converted to a private hospital, run initially by a Miss Caldwell. It appears to have continued as a hospital into the 1960s, after which it was acquired by Queen's University for use as its Department of Scholastic Philosophy. That department expanded into No. 4 during the 1980s and remained there into the later 1990s. The entire terrace is now integrated internally and serves as offices for the QUB School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work.

EXTERIOR

Materials: The roof is natural Welsh slate with black clay ridge tiles. The walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond. Windows are timber sliding sash with horns, single-glazed, and are likely to be replacements. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Front elevation (west): The facade is double-fronted and asymmetrical, two and a half storeys of red brick in Flemish bond. The entrance is centrally positioned at ground floor level. To the left is a two-and-a-half-storey canted bay, the top floor of which is jettied and rises above the eaves as a large half-timbered dormer. To the right is a smaller timber dormer, with a small modern rooflight between the two dormers at attic level. A continuous painted stone cill course runs across the first floor windows, with a bevelled brick course immediately below. The eaves to the two-storey section are formed by deep corbelled brickwork beneath the natural slate roof. There is a brick chimney to the left side, abutting the chimney of No. 4, with terracotta pots visible (number unknown). A small painted rendered plinth with brick below runs along the base.

The half-timbered jettied dormer above the canted bay has convex chamfered corners at each side, infilled with brick in header bond. Beneath the timber bargeboard are carved timber brackets, with a pointed timber finial at the centre and exposed rafter ends. The smaller timber dormer to the right is timber-clad to the apex, with fish-scale vertical slates to the cheeks.

All windows except the dormer windows are 1/1 single-glazed timber sliding sash with horns, likely replacements, all with chamfered brick reveals. The canted bay windows have continuous painted stone header bands with chamfered bottom edges. The paired window openings to the right of the front door, at both ground and first floor levels, have shallow pointed painted render heads with a row of brick headers above. A single window opening with the same head detail sits at first floor level, aligned with the front door below. The dormer windows have been replaced: those to the jettied dormer are four-pane timber casements, while those to the smaller dormer are four-pane with the top panes top-hung.

The entrance consists of a pointed arched painted stone engaged surround beneath a pointed arched hood mould, which terminates at each side with a decorative foliated label stop, and has an indented keystone at the centre. The original door is a painted raised-and-fielded six-panelled timber door with a plain round-arched fanlight above, approached by three steps (replacement concrete). To the front, a small garden has been paved with concrete paving stones and gravel. A modern wheelchair ramp sits to the right of the entrance with modern metal railings. A painted plinth wall runs to the street, with replacement painted metal railings. Cast iron guttering and a cast metal downpipe are located to the right side of the elevation.

Side elevation (north): No. 4 abuts to the north. A small section of gable wall is exposed at the rear because No. 5 has a deeper plan than No. 4. A new window opening has been formed in this exposed section for a timber top-hung window at ground floor level. The remainder is blank except for several modern metal vents and a PVC downpipe. There is a projecting stone corbel at eaves level.

Side elevation (south): Fully abutted by No. 6.

Rear elevation (east): A modern two-storey extension abuts the rear walls of Nos. 5 and 6, linking both houses with the new block constructed to the rear of Hope House. Most of the existing rear elevation of No. 5 is now internal within this extension, with the exception of a narrow strip on the north side which remains external.

The now-internal rear elevation of No. 5 has a centrally located modern glass and timber door with a glazed side screen within a plain painted plaster surround, and a large original 6/6 timber sliding sash window to the left at ground floor level. Directly above the door is a large arch-headed 2/2 half-landing window with coloured glass margin panes and etched glass to the main panes. A modern internal bridge with glass-panelled sides abuts the first floor level on the left at a door opening with a modern glass and timber door and rectangular fanlight above. Two small 2/2 windows sit to the right, with the bridge handrail abutting the pier between them. A structural steel beam abuts the existing rear wall of No. 5 at right angles between the heads of these two windows. At second floor half-landing level is a smaller version of the first floor half-landing window. A modern glazed roof structure abuts the rear wall above this second floor half-landing window, running north to south.

The narrow exposed section of wall outside the new extension, on the north side, has a bricked-up opening at ground floor level and a 2/2 window above at first floor level, with a PVC downpipe to the right side.

All rear windows have splayed brick heads (except the half-landing windows) and painted stone cills. All are single-glazed timber sliding sash with horns, some likely replacements. All brickwork is in Flemish bond. Above the modern glazed roof, the existing eaves of No. 5 are visible with PVC guttering. To the left is a flat-roofed dormer with a replacement timber triple casement window; to the right, a pitched-roof dormer with painted timber bargeboards, a natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles, and a replacement timber paired casement window.

INTERIOR

Much of the original layout survives, with the exception of openings made to link the building with No. 4 to the north and No. 6 to the south. Original interior detailing remains, including decorative plasterwork in the hall and the original staircase.

SIGNIFICANCE AND SETTING

No. 5 forms part of a terrace of six (the group listed as a whole under HB26/27/064A–F) which makes a strong collective contribution to the character of the Queen's University area. The building retains much of its original external character, proportions, and detailing, and is distinguished by its jettied dormer — a device used elsewhere in Belfast by Young & MacKenzie, including at 28 and 30 Wellington Park. A modern two- to three-storey flat-roofed building has been constructed at the rear, connected internally with Nos. 5, 6, and Hope House, and a new main entrance has been formed on College Park to the south-east.