587 Ormeau Road, Belfast

A two to three-storey red-brick late Victorian terrace house built around 1860–1864, located on the Ormeau Road in Belfast just south of its intersection with Ravenhill Road, approximately 3 kilometres from the city centre. The house is one of a row of seven terraced houses on the west side of the Ormeau Road, all built at the end of the nineteenth century during Belfast's rapid southward expansion from the city centre along main thoroughfares including the Ormeau, Lisburn and Malone Roads.

The main section of the house is rectangular on plan with a two-storey rectangular-shaped return and enclosed yard to the rear. The building's walls are constructed of red clay brick laid in Flemish Bond on the front elevation and smooth unpainted render to the rear elevations and return. The roof is natural Bangor Blue slate. Rainwater goods and windows are uPVC.

The front elevation is two storeys in height, built from red clay facing brick in Flemish Bond with a decorative band of white bricks set beneath the flush eaves. The front door is a replacement flush door with an obscure glass upper light, set within a painted timber architrave and hood supported on ornate foliate brackets. To its left is a replacement top-opening uPVC double-glazed window with a plain opening and soldier-course lintel. The first floor contains two similar windows. The roof features a rebuilt chimney stack on the ridge extended with concrete bricks and retaining two octagonal chimney pots.

The rear elevation is rendered and incorporates a rendered two-storey double-pitched return with a small internal yard separated from a wide lane by a rendered wall containing a boarded door. The rear wall of the main block has top-hung uPVC windows to the ground floor and first floor, with a further first-floor window to the return facing west. The internal yard has a concrete finish and contains a uPVC window and flush door to the kitchen and a boarded door to an outhouse. Beyond the lane is a spacious grassed garden and parking space.

The front of the house is set back approximately 4 metres from the footpath behind a vertical painted timber fence and a replacement wrought iron gate. The path is concrete, and the small front garden contains mature shrubs and concrete flagstones.

The house, along with three matching neighbours (numbers 583–585 and 589 Ormeau Road, originally known collectively as 'Belvoir Place'), was built between 1858 and approximately 1864. These houses do not appear on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map but are recorded in the 1865 street directory. They may have been completed before 1862, as they appear in the valuation book commencing in that year as what seem to be original entries. However, a newspaper advertisement from March 1866 refers to them as 'those four new two-storey houses' described as 'comfortably finished [with] neat gardens in front and rear, and in a most healthy locality, within half an hour's walk from Belfast and close to the Parish Church and Meeting-House', suggesting construction closer to 1864. The group was probably developed by Thomas Courtney, listed as the immediate lessor in the valuation book. In 1871, Courtney added the matching house to the south (number 591) and a pair of taller dwellings beyond (numbers 593–595).

The sequence of occupants at number 587 is documented as follows: James Gray, buyer for Lindsay Bros., Donegall Place (to circa 1867); Joseph Middlemore, linen lapper (circa 1867–circa 1873); John T. Scott (circa 1873–circa 1877); Spence Humphrey (circa 1877–circa 1882); W.A.I. McBratney, clerk (circa 1882–circa 1885); Richard Shannon, draper (circa 1885–circa 1888); Mrs. Kennedy (circa 1888–1891); and Robert Thompson (1891–circa 1906), noted in the 1901 census as residing there with two nieces and a nephew. He was succeeded circa 1906 by George Duncan, cabinet maker, followed by Charles Henry in 1910. In the 1911 census, Henry is recorded as the sole occupant, with the house classified as a second-class dwelling of eight rooms. Henry was succeeded by Mrs. E. Kernan (circa 1920–24), Robert Thompson (1924–circa 1929), Charles Russell (circa 1929–circa 1933), Charles Henry (circa 1933–circa 1941), Mrs. Gray (circa 1941–circa 1943), Mrs. E. Kernan (circa 1943–circa 1947), and Thomas Gray (circa 1947–circa 1952). By this point the property was classified as a bakery, which by the mid-1950s was operated by Miss D. Burke and Miss S. Walker. No physical evidence of this former use remains visible. The building appears to have reverted to purely domestic use later in the 1950s, when J. Tohill, a lorry driver, is noted as resident in the 1960 street directory. He was followed by Mrs. Molly Conway (circa 1972–circa 1985), Joyce Boyd (circa 1985–circa 1990), with Patrick T. McElhinney recorded as the occupant in the 1995 street directory.

The house retains its external character despite the inclusion of inappropriate uPVC windows and some internal changes. The house and adjacent houses on the terrace form a distinct group, particularly to the rear, where the yards and original garden allotments remain remarkably intact. The building exemplifies modest late Victorian urban terraced housing, constructed during a period of rapid Belfast expansion southward from the city centre. The extent of listing includes the house and yard walling.