47 Derryvolgie Avenue, Belfast, BT9 6FP

47 Derryvolgie Avenue is a two-storey, four-bay detached house built around 1884–85, situated on the north side of Derryvolgie Avenue in Belfast, within the Derryvolgie and Windsor Conservation Area. The architect is unknown. The house was originally known as 'Lancedean' and was built for Jackson H. Graham, a linen merchant.

Derryvolgie Avenue runs east to west between the Malone and Lisburn Roads, two main arterial routes to the south of Belfast city centre. The street takes its name from Derryvolgie House, a large Italianate dwelling at the south-eastern end of the street (now a crèche), built in 1856–58 to a design by Thomas Jackson for Cranston J. Gregg. The wider area developed as a suburb during the 19th century, when Belfast's merchant and professional classes sought to escape the increasingly commercialised and industrialised town centre for the semi-rural surroundings to the south. The land had originally been laid out as long strip farm plots, probably established in the early 17th century, stretching down from the Malone ridge westwards to the lower ground of the Bog Meadows. The integrity of these plots was first compromised in the early 19th century by the construction of the new Lisburn Road (1816–19) and the Ulster Railway (1837–39), and by the willingness of the cash-strapped Donegall estate to sell off its assets. Up to around 1860, development largely took the form of relatively large single properties set individually within the bounds of the former plots, functioning as small private demesnes, many with gate lodges along the Malone and Lisburn Roads. In the following decades, as the exodus from the town centre intensified, these gardens were carved up, and by the end of the century much of the area had become suburbanised, with the old farm boundaries laid out as streets lined with detached and semi-detached housing, and terraces appearing on those streets closer to the northern end of the ridge.

The house is first shown on the Ordnance Survey town plan of 1883–84, and is recorded for the first time in the valuation book in 1885; newspaper notices suggest it was not finished until that year. Jackson H. Graham appears to have died around 1898, and shortly afterwards the lease was taken up by John McCaughey JP, another linen merchant. In the 1901 census, McCaughey — who served as High Sheriff of Belfast in 1908 — is recorded as living there with his wife Letitia Christina, their six children, a governess, and a domestic servant, occupying a first-class dwelling of 16 rooms. He was still in residence in 1911 with four children and two servants. John McCaughey died in 1937, and by 1943 Sydney H. Jackson, a chartered accountant, is listed as resident. By 1951 the property had been divided into four flats and remained so into the 1960s. It had returned to single occupation by 1967, with Mrs Beatrice S. Jeffrey in residence. By 1979 Dr Gregg Doran had become the occupant, and at that time the property appears also to have been used by the Queen's University Belfast Department of Botany. It is now once again a private dwelling.

The plan is L-shaped. The main body of the house is square, with an advanced two-storey bay projecting from the north-west corner. A single-storey flat-roofed entrance porch faces east off the front elevation. The house is built in red brick laid in Flemish bond, with a painted brick projecting plinth incorporating ventilators to the suspended floor. Four blue-black brick string courses articulate the elevations: the first and third run at sill level between the ground-floor and first-floor windows respectively, the second forms a continuous horizontal line above the flat arches of the ground-floor windows, and the fourth runs between the upper parts of the first-floor windows. The hipped roof is covered in natural slate (replaced) with black clay ridge tiles, and features overhanging eaves. Two brick, two-stage chimney stacks carry red clay pots. Rainwater goods are cast metal, painted.

Throughout the three principal elevations and part of the less formal west elevation, the windows are large 6-over-6 painted timber single-glazed sliding sash windows with slender glazing bars and horns, and projecting stone cills, painted. Some historic glass survives. Ground-floor windows have flat arches and first-floor windows have segmental arched heads, all formed with soldier-coursed brick headers. The combination of red brick, blue brick string courses, and formally arranged multi-paned windows gives the building a railway station aesthetic that is distinctive within the conservation area.

The north elevation (front) has eight 6-over-6 sash windows regularly arranged in four pairs, one above the other, across both floors. The small square entrance porch has a corbelled brick parapet concealing a flat PVC roof, and replacement decorative railings. The original entrance door, which faces east towards the drive, is a four-panelled diamond-fielded double-leaf painted timber door.

The east elevation (the side facing the drive) has six 6-over-6 sash windows regularly arranged in three pairs across both floors, with two blank window recesses at the north-east end — one at ground-floor level and one at first-floor level.

The south elevation (rear) shows the modern two-storey extension to the south-west. This is built in a slightly pinker and thinner brick than the main house, with a plain gable and clipped eaves, in the form of a traditional return. To its right, the extension continues as a canted single-storey glazed structure with full-height doors opening onto a small raised terrace, a flat roof, and a balcony above, with modern fenestration. The original main body of the house is visible to the south-east, with one new opening at ground-floor level that replicates in all details the 6-over-6 windows found elsewhere. At first-floor level in the centre of this wall is one original arch-headed window retaining historic glass.

The west elevation has an informal arrangement of windows. At ground-floor level, from left to right: one 6-over-6 sash as elsewhere, two smaller 3-over-3 timber sashes, and one new 6-over-3 timber sash window replicating the size of the adjacent original. There is also a back door with a traditional rectangular overlight. At first-floor level, from left to right: one 6-over-6 sash as elsewhere, one 3-over-3 sash matching those below, and a large multi-paned round-headed sash lighting the stair, with margins and some coloured and etched glass. To the far right at first-floor level are two small windows. The side elevation of the modern rear extension is blank. Its lower section is built from brick salvaged from the demolition of the original lean-to and outhouses; the upper section uses the new thinner brick, with the discrepancy in thickness made up by a layer of slate added to each mortar joint to allow the brickwork to tie in.

The modern extension to the rear was added around 2013 and falls largely within the footprint of the original single-storey lean-to scullery and outhouses.

Internally, the house is very well proportioned and largely intact, retaining historic joinery and plasterwork among other notable features.

The house is set back from the street behind a gravelled driveway flanked by planted beds. The front boundary is defined by a red brick wall with modern painted metal railings above and mature hedging behind; electric gates to the driveway match the railings. To the rear, a further gravelled area adjoins the rear patio, with the remainder of the garden laid to lawn with mature planting and a box parterre. Part of the garden to the west appears to have been sold off and is now occupied by a modern house. The west and south boundaries of the rear garden are defined by timber hit-and-miss fencing, while the east boundary retains sections of high basalt rubblestone walling with chamfered brick below a rounded terracotta cap. The setting is much enhanced by the mature planting, and a broad stone entrance step to the corner entrance porch further augments the character of the building. The listing covers the original house and step.