29 Bloomfield Road, Belfast

29 Bloomfield Road is a three-storey semi-detached house built in 1900 in the Arts & Crafts style, designed by Belfast architect William J. Moore. It forms part of a terrace of three pairs of semi-detached houses on the south side of Bloomfield Road and is listed Grade B2 for its architectural and historical interest.

The house is constructed of redbrick laid in a variation between English-garden bond and Scottish bond (four courses of stretchers to one of headers), with a projecting plinth course. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with roll-top red-clay ridge tiles, red-clay knob finials, and a shared redbrick chimneystack with corbelled coping. All gables have timber barge boards.

The front elevation, which faces north, features a prominent two-storey three-sided canted bay supporting a third-storey gabled projection. This bay is rendered with mock timber detailing and embellished with timber brackets, continuous painted sill course, flush painted lintel course, terracotta mouldings, and a terracotta plaque at the centre of each bay. Window openings to the principal elevations are square-headed with stop-chamfer jambs to the brick openings and are currently fitted with replacement 1/1 top-hung uPVC casement windows.

The west elevation contains a two-storey single-bay gabled projection with a segmental-headed door opening facing north, approached by a single nosed step. This elevation has painted sills, flush painted lintels, and terracotta mouldings, with a terracotta plaque above the main doorcase. The rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey redbrick return with pitched natural slate roof, roll-top red-clay ridge tiles, and a single course of decorative bricks. A single-storey extension extends to the south. The east side elevation is abutted by the adjoining house at No. 31.

The front yard is divided into a paved pathway and a modest landscaped garden, enclosed by a rendered redbrick dwarf wall topped by a wooden fence with a metal gate. An alleyway behind the building separates the dwelling from a row of three-storey terraced houses.

The property was first recorded as vacant in the Annual Revisions of 1900. The initial occupant was J. L. Harvey, a draper, followed by Andrew Dunsire, a mill manager, who lived there by 1911. The 1911 census described the house as a first-class dwelling containing 11 rooms. Ownership passed to Joseph McMaster by 1935 and remained with him until the 1970s. The property continues to be used as a domestic dwelling. Renovations were carried out in 1987, including replacement of the lead valley to the roof and repointing of the exterior brickwork.

William J. Moore, the architect, was Belfast-based (c. 1873–1921) and established his private practice in Ann Street by 1896. Numbers 21–31 Bloomfield Road were among the earliest domestic buildings completed during his years of independent practice. Moore derived his architectural style from the work of Scottish architect Norman Shaw, whose break from established classical and gothic traditions was instrumental in the development of the Arts & Crafts movement.

Current materials include a uPVC rainwater system with half-round guttering and circular downpipes throughout, and replacement uPVC casement windows and doors. The exterior brickwork has been repointed.