34 Sunnyside St., Belfast

34 Sunnyside Street, Belfast, is a two-storey red-brick terrace house built around 1904. It forms part of a row of 21 virtually identical dwellings constructed on the south side of Sunnyside Street, approximately 3 kilometres from Belfast city centre. The house is located on a canted thoroughfare connecting the Ormeau Road with Annadale Embankment, in an area developed at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries as Belfast expanded rapidly southwards along its main thoroughfares.

The main rectangular block is accompanied by a single-storey rectangular return wing with a mono-pitched roof. The walls are constructed from smooth red clay brick laid in English Garden Wall bond, with clay ventilation bricks at each level. A blue-brick course with a projecting moulded brick course sits at eaves level, supporting cast-metal ogee guttering. The roof is natural slate with a red-brick chimney stack on the right-hand side, featuring a projecting brick course and clay pots.

The front elevation faces north and contains a painted timber four-panel door with overlight (plain glazing) positioned to the left, and a painted timber 2/2 sliding-sash single-glazed window to the right. Both door and window feature semi-circular and segmental heads respectively, with moulded architraves. A similar but smaller window is positioned almost centrally on the first floor. The building retains its original stairwell internally.

The rear elevation to the south shows red clay brick to the first floor with painted render below. A painted timber top-hung window sits on the left-hand side, with a smaller staircase window to the right, and a clay ventilation brick at first-floor level. The ground floor contains similar windows. An L-shaped single-storey extension with cement render walls and fibre-cement slate roof covering extends to the original boundary and abuts an original yard wall. This extension has cast-metal rainwater goods to its front and uPVC goods to the rear. The yard wall is constructed of red brick with canted brick coping and contains a square-headed doorway fitted with a painted timber boarded door.

The side elevations abut the neighbouring properties at Nos 32 and 36 Sunnyside Street respectively.

The front boundary comprises a small garden finished in concrete block paviors, set behind a replacement red-brick wall and gateway with painted metal railings and small painted metal arched gate. This boundary treatment, along with new front doors and windows, was installed around 1988 as part of an improvement scheme affecting the entire terrace.

Sunnyside Street first appears on the 1871–73 Ordnance Survey town plan as a lane running from the Ormeau Road to the current junction with Whitehall Parade. At that time, only a terrace of six houses on the north side (present Nos 43–53) had been built and were marked as "Sunnyside". By Marcus Ward's 1879 map, the street had taken its present name, drawing it from the original terrace. The 1901–03 Ordnance Survey plan shows the present Nos 14–24 in place, with the street extended as far as Walmer Street and brick fields beyond. The opening of King's Bridge in 1912 enabled the street to reach its current extent, becoming a thoroughfare connecting to Ridgeway Street across the River Lagan.

The terrace of 21 dwellings was built in phases, with Nos 14–24 shown on the 1903 Ordnance Survey map and recorded in the valuation book that year. Nos 26–42, including No. 34, were entered into the same book during 1904, while Nos 44–52 were first noted in 1910. The developer of Nos 14–42 was Hugh Scott, listed as lessor for these properties in 1906, though the identity of any architect remains unknown.

Edward Lavery, a gardener, was the first recorded occupant of No. 34. The 1911 census describes the building as a second-class dwelling containing five rooms, with Lavery, his wife Elizabeth, their three young children, and two boarders—Thomas Bunting, a bricklayer, and Deborah Bunting, a seamstress—residing there. The 1918 street directory records George Hawthorne, a tram conductor, as occupant; he was still listed in 1924. Edward Lavery reappears in the 1925 directory, but George Hawthorne returned by 1932. The Hawthorne family appear to have remained at No. 34 until the early 1960s, though George Crawford is recorded as occupant in 1951. Samuel M. Skimin, a plumber, is noted as resident in 1967, and the directories suggest a succession of later occupants: Miss Sarah Mitchell in 1980 and 1990, and Grace Dorman in 1995.

The property retains significant external character, including its original panelled timber front door, sliding-sash windows, stucco surrounds, and slate roof, along with the original internal stairwell. Despite replacement of the front boundary and the rear extension, the building holds considerable group value within the context of the wider terrace. It represents a good example of modest Edwardian urban terraced housing, built during a period of rapid southward expansion from Belfast's city centre. The property was listed in 1986.