22 Sunnyside St., Belfast

22 Sunnyside Street is a two-storey red-brick terraced house built in 1903, located on the south side of Sunnyside Street approximately 3 kilometres from Belfast city centre. The street itself was a canted thoroughfare connecting the Ormeau Road with Annadale Embankment, later extended to reach the River Lagan after King's Bridge opened in 1912.

The house forms part of a long terrace of twenty-one virtually identical dwellings, though constructed in phases. Numbers 14–24, including this property, are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1903 and were recorded in the valuation book that year. Numbers 26–42 were entered the following year, and numbers 44–52 were first noted in 1910. The developer of numbers 14–42 was Hugh Scott, listed as lessor for these properties in 1906, though the identity of any architect remains unknown.

The main part of the house is rectangular on plan with a two-storey rectangular return featuring a double-pitched roof. Materials include natural slate to the roof, cast metal rainwater goods to the front and uPVC to the rear, and smooth red clay brick laid in English Garden Wall bond to the walls. Windows are painted timber 2/2 sliding-sash single-glazed to the front and painted timber casement to the rear.

The front elevation faces north and comprises a painted timber four-panel door with overlight to the left and a painted timber 2/2 sliding-sash window to the right. The door has a semi-circular head with a moulded architrave, while the window features a segmental head also with moulded architrave. A similar but smaller window is positioned almost centrally on the first floor. The brickwork is laid in English Garden Wall bond with clay ventilation bricks at each level and a projecting moulded brick course at eaves level supporting cast metal ogee guttering. A natural slate roof with red-brick chimney stack to the right-hand side completes the front, with projecting brick course and clay pots.

The rear elevation, inspected from the laneway as the rear yard was not accessible during survey, shows a painted timber casement window to the left at first floor level. A two-storey extension to the right features a double-pitched roof with clipped verges to gable, constructed in rustic red-clay brick with blank facades to east and south and a painted timber casement window at first floor level to the west. The original yard wall is red-brick with a square-headed doorway featuring a soldier course header and painted timber boarded door, with a canted red-brick course to the top. uPVC rainwater goods serve both the extension and the rear of the house, with uPVC soil stack to the rear.

The side elevations abut numbers 20 and 24 Sunnyside Street respectively. The front garden is finished in concrete block paviors set behind a replacement red-brick boundary wall and gateway with painted metal railings and small painted metal arched gate. This boundary treatment was installed circa 1988 alongside new front doors and windows as part of an improvement scheme encompassing the entire terrace. The rear is bounded to the south by a communal laneway shared with Whitehall Gardens.

The first occupant recorded was William Cooke, noted as a grocer's assistant. By 1910, Adam Hawthorn, a gardener, had become the householder, followed by James Shanks, a labourer, by 1918. Mr Shanks remained there until at least 1970, with Hugh Shanks recorded as occupant from 1974 to at least 1995. The property was listed in 1986.

The house represents a good example of modest Edwardian urban terraced housing, built at a time when Belfast was expanding rapidly from the city centre southwards along the main thoroughfares of the Ormeau, Lisburn and Malone Roads. Despite the replacement of the original front boundary and addition of a new-build two-storey rear extension, the building retains significant group value with the rest of the terrace and preserves its external character, including panelled timber front door, sliding sash windows, stucco surrounds and slate roof.