20 Knockdene Park 'Astolat', Belfast, Co.Antrim, BT5 7AB

Astolat is a large Arts and Crafts style house of one-and-a-half storeys, built in the 1890s. It is a three-bay dwelling constructed in red brick with rendered detailing and hipped and pitched slated roof. The house sits at the junction of Knockdene Park and Knockdene Park South within the Knockdene Conservation Area, oriented east to west with the main elevation facing west. Located on a slightly elevated site, the house is approached via an entrance drive sweeping up from the corner of the junction and is surrounded on all sides by mature gardens with hedges and trees to the boundaries.

The roof features natural slate with hips and half-hips, flat-roofed dormers to the front and a shallow-pitched dormer to the rear. Decorative double-looped terracotta ridges with foliated finials crown the roof, and tall red-brick chimneystacks with vertical bands of projecting brick headers support short vented terracotta pots.

The main west elevation displays red-brick walls laid in English Garden Wall bond up to decorative terracotta coping brick with cyma moulding set halfway up the ground-floor walls. Above this are panels of roughcast render with brick quoining to openings and specials to the eaves. Cast-iron rainwater goods with ogee gutters rest on brick eaves detail. A canted bay to the north features a hipped natural slate roof and lead flashing, with timber sliding sash windows having smaller upper sashes and segmental arched heads. The bay has 9/1 windows to each canted side and a 15/1 window to the main front, all with obscure glass to the upper sash and plain glass to the lower; sandstone cills rest on brick scrolled specials throughout. A tall narrow 6/1 timber sliding sash window with smaller upper sash stands in the central bay with brick quoining to the opening. A half-hipped gable wall above features brick string coursing and detailing to the window opening and eaves. An arched opening contains painted side-hung casement windows with upper sections divided into four panes of clear glass.

The south bay of the main elevation is stepped back with a painted timber five-panelled front door located in an exposed gable facing south, surmounted by a glazed fanlight with brass ironmongery. Two steps lead to the entrance from the drive. A recessed bay to the south contains painted timber glazed paired doors opening outwards with a divided overlight of twelve panes of obscure glass and brick quoining detail. A terracotta panel inscribed with 'Astolat' is set in the wall above these doors. Two flat-topped dormers with painted side-hung casements to the central and south bays have upper sections divided into two panes of clear glass.

The north elevation displays brickwork to window heads with roughcast render above. A rusticated stone plinth is visible at the base of the wall with stepped brick plinth above. A projecting brick string course runs at cill level, with brick detailing to the eaves and gable edges. A timber sliding sash window of 12/1 lights stands at ground-floor level to the west with smaller upper sash and segmental arched head. A large circular single-storey bow window in red brick with projecting brick detailing featuring dentils and cyma mouldings above the window openings occupies the centre of the gable wall. This bow features a lead-covered parapet and painted timber sliding sash windows of 12/1 lights with smaller upper sashes, curved glass and segmental arched heads. A paired timber sash window sits at first-floor level centred on the bay. The ground-floor wall to the east of the circular bay projects forward of the main wall with a single sliding sash window and pitched roof above. A yard wall extends beyond the rear elevation with a painted timber-sheeted door in an arched-headed opening; the wall's lower section is brick with roughcast render above and brick coping topping the wall.

The east elevation is only partially visible over the yard wall. The upper floor has a roughcast render finish with brick detailing to openings and eaves. Various sized windows serve this return. A dormer window to the north side of the return features slated cheeks, brick face and slightly pitched roof. The end wall of the return is blank with a centrally placed chimney stack detailed as on the main house, and various single-storey outbuildings project from the return at ground-floor level with matching detailing.

The south elevation features a modern timber conservatory attached to the east of the return at ground-floor level. The return walls are brick up to cill height with roughcast render to the remainder and brick detailing as elsewhere. Windows to the first floor are painted timber 1/1 and 6/1 lights with segmental arched heads. A double-storey canted bay to the east bay of the main elevation is all brick with 6/1 sashes at first-floor level and a blank wall to the front at ground-floor level. A segmental arched opening to the central bay at first-floor level contains a paired double sash window above. A single-storey red-brick canted bay window with pitched slated roof stands to the west with timber sliding sash windows of 12/1 lights. Single-storey hipped-roof outbuildings are attached to the return at the east.

Materials include a natural slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods, red-brick and roughcast render walls, and timber sliding sash windows.