The Crags, 29 Newforge Lane, Belfast, BT9 5N

The Crags at 29 Newforge Lane is a two-storey house built in 1920 and designed by local architect John Seeds. It stands within the Malone Conservation Area as one of the first large suburban villas constructed along Newforge Lane when the Harberton estate began releasing adjacent plots in the 1920s.

The house is built with roughcast render and a natural Westmoreland slate roof laid in diminishing courses. Its most distinctive feature is its roughly L-shaped, asymmetric plan with hipped roofs interconnected at different levels, reflecting the irregular footprint. The entrance door is set in a re-entrant angle within a projecting gable that rises between two main wings, with a large stepped window serving the internal staircase positioned to the left of the door.

The front north-facing elevation presents the entrance gable containing a hardwood six-panelled door with a projecting painted hood restrained by two ornate wrought iron ties. The hood and stepped window surrounds appear to be reconstituted stone. The gable contains large kneelers at its eaves and breaks the eaves line of both adjoining wings. The left-hand two-storey wing has two windows on each floor, with ground floor windows featuring projecting swept lintels. A single-storey section extends further left, with an attached garage that has an angled buttress on its front corner.

The west side elevation includes a projecting canted single-storey bay with a natural slate roof featuring sprocketed eaves. The eaves throughout the house unusually have roughcast render to their soffits. The first floor of this elevation contains two windows.

The south-facing rear elevation is nearly symmetrical, comprising two projecting two-storey gabled bays flanking a recessed central section. This central section has double doors opening onto a large patio contained by low rendered walls with modern steps descending to the rear garden. Above the doors is a balcony with a painted open work balustrade set flush with the adjoining wings. Both projecting side bays contain large multi-paned windows.

The east side elevation is asymmetric, featuring a slightly projecting bay offset to the left that rises above the eaves with a central rendered chimney stack. Four chimney stacks exist in total, all similarly detailed with curved cappings. To the right are four windows of varying sizes on the first floor and two further windows with a set of double doors on the ground floor. The attached garage projects forward with a gable featuring kneelers and a semi-circular window at attic level.

The house displays a wealth of high-quality Arts and Crafts detailing both externally and internally, representing an excellent example of an early twentieth-century detached suburban house.

The property sits on a large and mature landscaped site with sloping grassed areas containing mature trees and shrubs. The rear and side gardens slope away to the south and west, elevating the house and giving it visual prominence from these directions. The gardens contain many mature shrubs and trees, particularly at the rear where a double row of pleached trees flanks a path. The original impressive rendered gate pillars remain at the entrance, each topped with domed coping and corner blocking pieces, with "THE CRAGS" inscribed in relief within recessed panels. The boundary to Newforge Lane is now a modern timber fence.

Windows are replacement painted timber with leaded lights. Rainwater goods are of cast metal with ogee gutters.

The house was built for R.L. Thompson and remained his residence until around 1937. Mrs. Stouppe McCance occupied it in 1943, followed by surgeon James R. Wheeler from 1951 until the early 1970s. Daniel Hale was householder in 1974, and the present owner acquired the property in the 1990s.