Hope House, College Park, Belfast, BT7 1PS

Hope House is a late Victorian, two-and-a-half-storey, double-fronted former detached red brick house built in 1873, fronting onto College Park — a short pedestrianised street linking Rugby Road to the east with College Park East to the west in Belfast. It is now used as university offices and has been integrated with the adjoining terrace of Nos 1–6 College Park East to its west by means of a connecting extension. The building sits immediately south of Union Theological College and to the east of the main buildings of Queen's University.

The architect responsible for Hope House is uncertain, though the firm of Young & MacKenzie designed the adjoining terrace of Nos 1–6 and advertised a tender for making streets in College Park East in August 1870. Hope House was developed by Matthew Pattison (also recorded as Patteson or Patterson).

The building has been extensively refurbished in recent years and retains little historic detailing. The original staircase has been removed and a lift installed, and the layout has been much altered, including the opening up of the gable wall on the west side to create a new reception area at ground floor level. A modern two-storey flat-roofed building abuts the former rear wall of Hope House and extends northwards, enclosing the former rear yards of Nos 5 and 6 College Park East; the original rear wall has been fully incorporated into this modern extension. The exterior retains some original character, proportions and detailing, but there is insufficient historic fabric remaining for the building to be considered of special interest.

Materials and Construction

The roof is clad in natural Welsh slate with red clay ridge tiles. The walls are red brick laid in Flemish bond. Windows throughout are replacement timber top-hung. Rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron guttering and PVC downpipes.

Front Elevation (South)

The south-facing front facade is an asymmetrical double-fronted composition in red brick laid in Flemish bond. At ground floor level there is a centrally positioned entrance, with a single-storey canted bay to the left and a square bay to the right, both with replacement lead roofs. At first floor level there is a pair of window openings above the canted bay on the left, a single window opening in the centre aligned with the front door below, and a single opening above the square bay on the right. At attic level there is a large wall-head dormer on each side, each with a terracotta finial and paired window openings; these dormers may have been added at a later date, as a different brick has been used. A modern Velux window occupies the section between the two dormers.

A continuous painted stone cill course runs across the first floor windows, with a bevelled brick course immediately below. Deep corbelled brick eaves detailing sits below the slate roof. There are plain brick chimneys at the apex of the gable on both the left and right sides; the left chimney has six terracotta pots and the right has three visible (total number unknown). Both chimneys are of plain brickwork with four courses of modern brick to the top section. There is a stone corbel to the eaves at each side, with flat coping — possibly concrete — to the verge.

All window openings on the front elevation have chamfered brick reveals, with the exception of the dormer windows which are plain. The canted bay windows have continuous painted stone header bands with a chamfered bottom edge. The first floor window openings have shallow pointed painted render heads with a row of brick headers above. All windows to the front are replacement timber top-hung.

The entrance consists of a replacement timber panelled door beneath a semicircular plain fanlight, set within a semicircular arch-headed opening. There is a painted stone engaged surround beneath a pointed arched hood mould, which terminates at each side with a decorative foliated label stop. The keystone is indented, with carved lettering either side reading "HOPE HOUSE" and small carved roundels with a flower motif on each side. The entrance is reached by three replacement concrete steps up from pavement level. Modern ramps, steps and concrete dwarf walls with modern metal handrails have been added to the front.

Side Elevation (West)

The west elevation is abutted by the modern connecting extension. Only the apex of the gable wall and chimney are exposed. There is horizontal coping beneath the chimney, possibly stone though difficult to determine.

Side Elevation (East)

The east gable elevation faces onto a narrow alleyway and is asymmetrical. There is a large stone corbel to each side at eaves level, with flat coping stones to each verge and a central flat section beneath the chimney. At ground floor level there is a single window opening on the extreme left and two further openings towards the right — the left of these two is a window and the right is a modern ventilated door. At first floor level there are three window openings: one on the extreme left and two single openings towards the right. At attic level there are two smaller window openings.

Ground and first floor window openings on the east elevation share the same detailing as those to the front: chamfered brick reveals and shallow pointed painted render heads with a row of brick headers above. The attic windows have arched painted rendered heads. Ground floor openings have separate painted stone cills; first floor openings sit above a continuous painted stone cill band with a row of bevelled brick below; and the attic windows have separate painted stone cills. All windows on the east gable are replacement timber top-hung or casement.

The east wall of the original rear return extends northward from the gable wall. This section contains a single window opening at half-landing level with a brick soldiered head and bevelled brick eaves. The modern extension begins from this point and continues northwards.

Historical Background

College Park East — originally simply known as "College Park" — was laid out in or shortly before 1864 on what had until then been the edge of the semi-rural "Plains" of Malone, just east and south of the recently established Queen's College (completed 1849) and Union Theological College (completed 1853). The foundation of Queen's in particular prompted several decades of development in the vicinity, with regularly planned streets filled largely with High Victorian terraced housing for the professional and merchant classes moving southwards from a rapidly commercialising and industrialising Belfast city centre.

The approximately centrally positioned No 4, built in 1864, was the first of the adjoining terrace to be completed, with Nos 1–3 and 5–6 following in 1869 and Hope House — not strictly part of the row, but directly abutting the rear of No 6 — completed in 1873. Nos 1–3 appear to have been developed by William Sherrie, a brush manufacturer with premises in North Street; No 4 by Alexander Holmes; and Nos 5–6 and Hope House by Matthew Pattison (also recorded as Patteson or Patterson). Note: one secondary source states that the whole terrace was developed by William Sherrie, but the valuation books and contemporary newspaper notices suggest he was responsible only for Nos 1–3.

When advertised to let in spring 1873, Hope House was described as containing on the ground floor three reception rooms, three pantries, a kitchen, scullery and other accommodation; in the first flat, four bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a bathroom and water closet; and in the second flat, five bedrooms, a napery room and storerooms, as well as the usual yard accommodation, a back green flower plot and a conservatory. From this it appears the building was originally intended to accommodate two separate tenancies, sharing reception rooms and kitchen, though from the outset it appears to have been leased to a single tenant only.

The first tenant was Charles C. Connor, a linen merchant. He was followed in 1882 by David Corbett of Brown, Corbett & Co., wine and spirit merchants, and then in around 1889 by John Edgar. In the 1901 census, the 66-year-old Mr Edgar, describing himself as a gentleman, is recorded as living there with a domestic servant; the building was listed as a first-class dwelling with nine rooms in use, though the 1873 advertisement suggests the actual number of rooms was greater, and indeed 16 rooms are recorded in the 1911 census. By 1911, Mr Edgar, his wife Mary, a grown-up daughter and a domestic servant were occupying the house. The Edgar family retained the property until at least 1925.

By 1932, the Reverend F. J. Paul, principal of the nearby Union Theological College, was in residence, and the house subsequently remained in the College's hands, functioning as a Presbyterian student's hostel and community centre by the mid-1960s — a role it retained until at least 1995. At some point after this, the building was acquired by Queen's University and has since been greatly extended to the rear, modernised internally and integrated internally with the rest of the terrace. The whole complex presently serves as the offices of the Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work.