37 Malone Road, Belfast

37 Malone Road is an end-of-terrace, four-storey, two-bay red brick late Victorian town house, built in 1886–87 to designs by William Eaton, an architect then based on Botanic Avenue, Belfast. It stands at the northern end of Malone Road on the corner with Eglantine Avenue, and forms the first in a terrace of nine similar houses running between Malone Avenue and Eglantine Avenue (Nos. 37–53 Malone Road). The terrace, originally named Windsor Gardens, was built for James Johnston — possibly the insurance agent of that name recorded in contemporary directories as operating from Waring Street — on land that had previously formed the grounds of Eglantine Hill, a pre-1832 house. The whole group appears to have been completed by mid-1888, and all properties were recorded as occupied in the earliest available directory of 1890. Together, these nine houses form one of the most impressive terraces within the Malone Road Conservation Area.

Architectural Overview

The building is rectangular on plan, with the terrace aligned on a north–south axis and gabled ends to each house. The roof is covered in natural slate (Bangor Blue) with bands of fish-scale slates to the bowed bay, and red terracotta saw-tooth ridge tiles and finials. A large red brick chimney is centred on the gable end of the main roof, with simple corbelled brick coursing to the cap and eight circular yellow clay pots; a smaller red brick chimney on the gable end of the return carries three octagonal yellow clay pots. A decorative timber bargeboard with a pierced motif projects from the main gable end. Cast iron guttering is supported on scrolled terracotta brackets, with a projecting eaves course to the front elevation. The bowed bay rises beyond the main eaves, highlighted by a cornice of classical ornamentation in stuccowork below the gutter line.

Walls are of red brick laid in Flemish bond with painted stucco dressings. Windows throughout the main building are single-glazed, double-hung, painted timber sliding sash with 1/1 panes, with replacement top-hung casements to the return unless otherwise noted. Rainwater goods are cast iron to the front, with some uPVC downpipes to the rear return.

Front Elevation (East)

The front elevation faces east and is two bays wide, with the bowed bay offset to the right and the entrance to the left. Projecting moulded cill and string courses, together with a continuous plat band to all floors, are carried out in painted stucco. The bowed bay is also finished in painted stucco, except for some brick courses between floor levels. Bay windows and the segmental arched door have incised decoration in stuccowork above the openings, with an edge roll moulding. The door surround has a moulded stucco hood and label stops, set above a painted stucco plat band on pink marble colonnettes with moulded stucco foliated caps. There is a plain fanlight above a square-headed five-panelled replacement timber door, a toothed stucco surround below the plat band, and a decorative terracotta panel above the door head. The colonnettes and terracotta panel are repeated on the first- and second-floor windows directly above the door.

North Elevation (Eglantine Avenue)

The north elevation onto Eglantine Avenue comprises three distinct parts: the gable end of the main building, the flank elevation of the return, and the later red brick extension. The gable end is relatively plain compared to the main facade. The bargeboard terminates in a projecting terracotta eaves course on scrolled brackets, matching those on the east and west sides. There are three windows to the ground, first, and second floors in a less formal arrangement — one to the outer edge at each side and a third off-centred to the left — with two smaller round-arched windows to the third floor close to the eaves. Brick soldier-coursed window heads and projecting moulded stucco cill courses continue from the front elevation, painted. The ground-floor windows to the right have been replaced with modern plain casements with top-hung night vents; the left window has been replaced by a flush painted modern door with a plain over-light. Replacement timber top-hung casement windows appear on the return, and also on the left-hand window of the main gable. A gabled porch in red brick stretcher bond is centred on the return, with a stained timber entrance door, boxed eaves, a slate roof, black clay ridge tiles, and uPVC gutter and downpipe. A flat-roofed three-storey extension, of little architectural interest, is stitched to the west side of the return, with boxed eaves, three wide metal casement windows, and painted concrete heads and cills. A single-storey flat-roofed porch is attached to its west side.

West Elevation

The west elevation faces onto a shared alley and is two bays wide. To the right (south) is the three-storey gabled return; to the left (north) is a two-storey lean-to projection, shallower in plan; and further to the right is the three-storey flat-roofed extension, blank except for a plain flush door. The chimney described above sits on the gable end of the return; the remainder of this elevation is otherwise blank. The main building and returns are plainly detailed, as on the north elevation. The third-floor window above the gabled return at the left side has 1/2 panes; the window at the third-floor half-landing level to the right has 2/2 panes. The first- and second-floor lean-to half-landing windows have been replaced with narrower top-hung casement windows.

South Elevation

The main building's south elevation abuts No. 39 Malone Road. The flank elevation of the extension is detailed as the north elevation.

Setting

The building is set back from the tree-lined street by paved front gardens bounded by low walling with replacement railings on the west side of Malone Road. Positioned at the corner of Eglantine Avenue, it forms the end of the terrace of nine similar town houses, all rectangular on plan and aligned parallel to the main road. It stands directly opposite Fisherwick Presbyterian Church, and when viewed from this aspect, at the corner of Chlorine Gardens, it makes a particularly impressive appearance.

History of Occupation

The first recorded occupant of No. 37 was Robert W. Gordon, a magistrate. Around 1894 the tenancy passed to Samuel Charles, a hardware merchant described as a cabinetmaker and general house furnisher, who remained until 1899–1900. In the 1901 census the property is listed as a first-class dwelling containing fifteen rooms, occupied by civil engineer Henry Riddell, his wife Mary Jane, their four children, Mary Jane's parents, and a domestic servant. By 1907 a Mrs Irvine Smith was in residence, and by 1911 Miss Margaretta C. Angwin (or Augwin), a domestic science teacher, appears to have been running a school from the premises, as she is recorded in the census of that year with three pupils boarding with her. The property is noted as vacant in 1915, with a manager named G. H. Allibon listed there in 1920. In the early 1920s, J. O'Doherty, a surveyor, became the occupant, remaining until around 1947, when the architectural firm of McLean and Forte acquired the property. That practice still owns and occupies part of the building, but since the mid-1950s has rented portions to various businesses including engineering consultants, the Provident Mutual Assurance Association, a finance company, and fellow architects. The ground floor was converted to a restaurant around 1999.

Alterations

The building appears to have retained its original form until the 1960s, when the large flat-roofed return extension was added. A small porch projection was added to the north side of the original return around 2005, with a window on that side converted to a doorway at approximately the same date. Some replacement windows throughout detract from the overall quality of the building. The property was listed in November 1991.