216-220 Limestone Road, Belfast, Co.Antrim, BT15 3AP

216–220 Limestone Road, Belfast (Lisieux House)

Three of an original terrace of four similar Victorian two-storey, three-bay red-brick houses, built around 1868 to designs by an unknown architect, situated in the townland of Town Parks. Originally known as Newington Terrace, the row stands on an elevated site set back from Limestone Road to the south, with Newington Avenue to the west. The three houses — numbers 216, 218 and 220 — were converted into 17 self-contained supported-living apartments in 2003 and 2004, and are now collectively known as Lisieux House. The fourth house in the terrace, number 222, remains a separate building at the north-western end and is listed separately. Together, all four former houses carry group value.

Historical background

The terrace takes its name from its position along the Limestone Road, a route renamed around 1865 that followed the course of a gravity-powered rail line connecting a limestone quarry on the southern face of Cave Hill, in the townland of Ballyaghagan, to Belfast's docklands. This line was depicted as a proposed route on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33, and was recorded as the Cave Hill Tramway on the second edition map of 1858, by which time very little had been built along its length. It was not until the 1860s and 1870s that terraced housing began to develop along the Limestone Road, alongside the red-brick terraces of Atlantic Avenue, Duncairn Gardens and Newington Avenue.

Newington Terrace was constructed on land leased by Phillip Wright, a local coal merchant who held business premises at Belfast's Coal Exchange at Queen's Quay and had previously lived on the Shankill Road. Wright built the terrace around 1868 and took up residence himself at number 222. The terrace was first included in the Annual Revisions in 1868, which set the rateable value of numbers 216–220 at £47 each, with Wright's slightly larger house at number 222 valued at £57. The row is notable as one of the earliest Victorian-style terraces in the area.

The first recorded occupant of number 216 was Lucinda Hennessey, who lived there from the 1870s until her death in 1889. Her daughter Mary Jane continued to occupy the house until 1896, when it was purchased outright by Dr Michael McDonnell, a local physician. The 1901 Census of Ireland described number 216 as a first-class dwelling containing 15 rooms. Following McDonnell's death in 1902, the house was leased to John McVea, a wholesale merchant and draper, who remained there until around 1920. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (covering 1936–57), ownership had passed to a Mrs Scott and the rateable value had fallen to £45. A Mr S. Carson occupied the address from 1936 into the 1970s, and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the total rateable value stood at £40.

The terrace was listed in 1987. Number 216 lay derelict until 1995, when it was restored and converted into office premises. Numbers 216–220 were then converted into their current use as supported-living apartments in 2003 and 2004.

Exterior

The terrace is rectangular in plan, facing north-east. The roof is pitched and finished in natural slate, with metal rainwater goods comprising ogee guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes. A saw-tooth double eaves course runs along both the north-east elevation and the south-east gable. Rectangular two-stage red-brick chimneys — with replacement terracotta pots and two separate courses of yellow brick — mark the divisions between the original three-bay dwellings. Each house has two dormer windows to the north-east, with timber bargeboards terminating in circular lobes at the eaves, slate cheeks, and semi-circular-headed casement windows.

Principal (north-east) elevation

The principal elevation presents three two-storey, three-bay terrace houses in a unified composition. Each house has three bays at ground-floor level, with a central doorcase flanked by a projecting single-storey semi-circular flat-roofed bay and a tripartite window. In the first and third houses (numbers 216 and 220) the semi-circular bay is located to the south-east side of the doorcase, while in the central house (number 218) it is to the north-west. The upper floors of each house are symmetrical, with a central semi-circular-headed window flanked by tripartite windows on each side.

Windows are generally tripartite in form, with a central light flanked by narrower lights set within red-brick segmental-arch bevelled openings. The mullions and springers are painted smooth-rendered and stop-chamfered. Glazing is generally by timber double-hung two-over-two-pane sashes with window horns and horizontal glazing bars. The walling is Flemish bond red brick with painted smooth-render quoins to the north-east corner, all set on a chamfered red-brick plinth course.

Each of the projecting single-storey semi-circular bays has three double-hung sash windows with curved glass and horizontal glazing bars, a continuous painted cill course, Flemish bond red-brick walling, and painted plaster above window-head level with a deep moulded projecting cornice to the parapet. This deep cornice extends along the façade of each house to form the door entablature, with a raised brick string course above the other ground-floor windows.

Each doorcase has a segmental-arch opening with fanlight, sidelights and a replacement square-headed timber door with glazed upper panels. The moulded plaster surround is surmounted by an entablature supported on scrolled console brackets, with a raised keystone to the centre and ornate mouldings to the spandrels. The doorways to numbers 216 and 220 are now redundant; all three houses are entered through the doorway of the central house, number 218.

The first-floor windows have a banded painted plaster cill course, with each house featuring a central semi-circular-headed window flanked by single tripartite windows.

South-east (gable) elevation

The gabled end of the terrace has a double saw-tooth eaves course and a chimney at the apex. The lower section is smooth-rendered and painted, with red-brick walling above. Three segmental-arch window openings with metal grilles occupy the centre of the gable end in graduated fenestration. Later red-brick boundary walling in stretcher bond has been added to the yard to the south-east and along the rear access route to the south-west.

South-west (rear) elevation

A large three-storey multi-bay block extension, built in 2003, links numbers 216, 218 and 220 at the rear. This extension rises from the ridge of the original terrace and is set back by one bay from the south-east gable end (the end of number 216). The extension has painted smooth-render walling with sections of stretcher-bond red brick, and square-headed uPVC casement windows with concrete cills. It includes a two-storey section abutted to the south-east and south-west, with a roof-top balcony enclosed by metal railings accessed by square-headed uPVC balcony doors at third-floor level. The central section of the 2003 block has stretcher-bond red-brick walling flanked by sections of painted smooth render. A two-storey three-bay section with painted smooth render and metal balcony railings projects narrowly at the western end, with an L-shaped two-storey section with a balcony abutted to the south of the main block. A single balconette with metal railings is provided to the red-brick section of the central block.

North-west elevation

This elevation abuts number 222 Limestone Road.

Setting

The terrace is set back from Limestone Road on a raised site, with a modest garden to the front and an enclosed yard to the rear. The front boundary is defined by a painted smooth-rendered dwarf retaining wall — matching in style the original section of wall to the east — topped by replacement metal railings set on a chamfered concrete coping. Access to the front garden is through a replacement metal pedestrian gate with simple flattened finials and a horizontal rail on square-section metal posts. The principal entrance to the building is approached by a short flight of steps, with a paved path and an accessibility ramp leading to the entrance of the central house, number 218.

Notwithstanding the loss of internal partition walls, the modern extensions to the rear and the extensive hard landscaping at the front, the terrace retains its original character as seen from Limestone Road, with good proportions and style, and continues to make a positive contribution to the local environment.