270 Antrim Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT15 5AA

270 Antrim Road, Belfast is a mid-terrace, three-bay, two-storey Victorian house with attic, constructed in 1844. Built in red brick with Flemish bond, it is one of three attached dwellings known originally as Richmond Terrace, located on the west side of Antrim Road in the townland of Skegoneill.

The front elevation faces east and displays early-Victorian architectural character. Single-storey canted bays with hipped roofs flank a central entrance, their parapets moulded and matching the main pitched slate roof. Classical detailing includes rendered raised ashlar quoins to the corners, a first-floor string course in raised render, and horizontal-paned timber sliding sash windows with square-headed openings and painted stone sills. The six-panelled entrance door features a margin-paned fanlight with stained-glass centre panel, set within a rendered surround with scrolled brackets on pilasters supporting a moulded cornice canopy. First-floor windows above the canted bays are paired two-over-two sliding sash windows. All windows are two-over-two horizontally divided unless otherwise stated. Red brick chimneys with rendered bands and moulded coping display round terracotta pots and are shared with adjoining properties.

The pitched roof has natural slate covering with clay ridge tiles, overhanging eaves on paired timber brackets with scrolled ends and timber-sheeted soffit. Gutters and downpipes are ogee-moulded uPVC. A painted stone plinth runs across the front elevation at ground level.

The rear two-storey return to the west is cement rendered with square-headed openings containing uPVC casement windows. A gabled central return projects from the rear elevation with metal roof-lights to the main pitched roof. Six-over-six timber sliding sash windows appear on the second floor, while a Venetian window with uPVC frame is set in the gabled return's second floor. Both side elevations are attached to neighbouring listed properties at numbers 268 and 272 Antrim Road.

The property is set on a slightly elevated site enclosed to the east by a rock-faced coursed basalt boundary wall with corner piers topped by pyramidal coping, forming a gateway with a replacement decorative painted cast-metal gate. A hedge boundary marks the south and north sides, while a rendered boundary wall stands to the west. Gardens occupy the east side of the building.

The house was originally known as Ivy Dene and was valued at £37 in Griffith's Valuation of 1859. The first recorded occupant was Captain John H. De Vries, who lived there until 1866. Jane Bennett subsequently occupied the house until the turn of the 20th century. By 1901, ownership had passed to John Lawrence Clancy, a local insurance agent, and the census return described it as a first-class dwelling containing 13 rooms. Mrs A. Jarman occupied the property between 1910 and her death in 1925, after which Beatrice O'Neill lived there until 1970. Marion Allworthy then acquired the property and converted it into self-contained apartments in 1970. The building was listed in 1986.

The house retains many original features including horizontal-paned timber sliding sash windows and red brick chimneys with their original coping. The canted bays and exposed rafter ends represent characteristic early-Victorian design. The building has group value as the central element of the three-house terrace and contributes significantly to the character of the area, situated adjacent to the north entrance of Waterworks, formerly Queen Mary's Gardens.