49 Malone Road, Belfast

49 Malone Road is a mid-terrace, four-storey, two-bay red brick late Victorian town house, built in 1886–87 to designs by William Eaton, an architect then based on Botanic Avenue, Belfast. It forms part of a terrace of nine similar houses — Nos. 37–53 Malone Road — running between Malone Avenue and Eglantine Avenue on the west side of the road, and together they constitute one of the most impressive terraces within the Malone Road Conservation Area. The terrace, originally called Windsor Gardens, was built for a James Johnston, possibly the insurance agent of that name recorded in contemporary directories as operating from Waring Street, on land that had previously formed the grounds of Eglantine Hill, a pre-1832 house. The whole group appears to have been completed by mid-1888, and all properties were occupied by the time of the earliest surviving street directory of 1890.

The building is rectangular on plan, oriented on a north–south axis, with the terrace gabled at each end. A three-storey gabled return was built to the rear (west) on the left side, at half-landing level, abutted by a wider two-storey gabled extension of little historic interest. The property is currently used as commercial offices.

The main roof is covered in natural slate, with bands of fish-scale slates to the bowed bay, red terracotta ridge tiles and finials to the main building, and black clay ridge tiles to the return. The extension has artificial slate. A large red brick chimney sits centrally on the ridge of the main roof, with simple corbelled brick coursing to the cap and eight circular yellow clay pots. Cast iron guttering is supported on scrolled terracotta brackets, with a projecting eaves course to the front elevation; the bowed bay rises beyond the main eaves, highlighted by a cornice of classical ornamentation in stuccowork below the gutter. Half-round uPVC guttering and circular-section rainwater pipes serve the rear and return.

The main walls are red brick laid to Flemish bond with painted stucco dressings to the front; English Garden Wall bond is used on the return elevations (north, south, and west). Windows throughout are double-glazed painted timber replacement sliding sash with 1-over-1 panes, unless noted otherwise.

Front Elevation (east): Two bays wide, with a bowed bay offset to the left and the entrance to the right. Projecting moulded cill and string courses and a painted stucco plat band run at all floor levels. The bowed bay is faced in painted stucco walling, except for some brick header courses between each floor level. Bay windows and the segmental arched door have incised decoration in stuccowork above the openings, with an edge roll moulding. The door surround features a moulded stucco hood with label stops, above a painted stucco plat band, on pink marble colonnettes with a dressed sandstone plinth and capital (painted). Above the door is a plain fanlight over a square-headed five-panelled replacement timber door, with toothed stucco quoins below the plat band and a decorative terracotta panel above the door head. The colonnettes and terracotta panel are repeated on the first- and second-floor windows above the door.

West Elevation: Faces a shared alley. Simple detailing throughout: brick, with soldier-coursed window heads and projecting brick headers to the eaves. The three-storey return to the left (north) has a painted timber bargeboard and one small window to the gable end, with no chimney; it is abutted by the two-storey gabled extension. To the right of the return, the main building has one window at each level, diminishing in size toward the upper floors. The brick walling at ground floor is painted white. The west elevation of the two-storey extension has red brick walling in stretcher bond, with a large timber-framed multi-paned window centred on the gable at first floor and a painted timber bargeboard.

South Elevation: The south face of the main building abuts No. 51 Malone Road. The south elevation of the three-storey return has informal fenestration and simple detailing as on the west elevation. The brick walling at ground floor is painted, with two windows to the left and a modern flush door to the right. Above ground level, the return has one window offset to the right (west) and two to the left (east) at first floor, and one window each to the far left and far right at second floor. The south elevation of the two-storey extension has timber-framed multi-paned corner windows at ground and first floors, and a flush door to the right at ground level only.

North Elevation: The north face of the main building abuts No. 47 Malone Road. The north elevation of the return is detailed as the south elevation and is entirely painted white. Windows overlook the yard of No. 47 at both first- and second-floor half-landings.

Internally, the building has been converted to offices with a substantial two-storey extension added to the rear, resulting in some loss of integrity and plan form. Nevertheless, the domestic scale and original spatial character — a sequence of stacked, well-lit, generous rooms — remains legible, and the robust original detailing, inside and out, continues to contribute to the special character of the building.

The terrace's Malone Road façade is particularly striking, with a rhythm created by each house having a full-height bowed bay with a conical slate roof and a wealth of ornate detailing.

Setting: The building is set back from a tree-lined street, with a paved front garden bounded by a low brick wall. The front garden is surfaced in precast concrete pavers, graded to provide level access at the entrance. The terrace is aligned parallel to the main road. The building sits directly opposite Fisherwick Presbyterian Church, and viewed from this aspect, at the corner of Chlorine Gardens, it makes a particularly impressive impression. To the rear, the yard is bounded by the gable end of the extension and modern red brick walling, with a flush timber door to the alley and palisade fencing above — set back further than Nos. 47 and 51 to either side. At the time of survey the wall and door were covered in graffiti.

The recorded history of the building's occupants begins with a W. Montgomery, an auctioneer, as the first resident. By 1895 it was serving as the de facto manse for Fisherwick Presbyterian Church, being home to the congregation's minister, the Reverend H. M. Williamson. William McMeekin, a linen merchant and Justice of the Peace, took over in 1901; the census of that year records the property as a first-class dwelling containing fifteen rooms, occupied on the night of the census by Mr. McMeekin, his wife Eleanor Christina, their two children, a domestic servant, and a nurse. By 1907 Robert McHenry, described as Chief Clerk of the Petty Sessions, had taken on the lease, and the 1911 census records him living there with his wife Sarah, a domestic servant, and a visitor named Charlotte Dawes. H. Cochrane, a tea agent, is listed as occupant from approximately 1915 to approximately 1933, followed by Mrs. Rita Macartney, who was running the property as a guest house by at least 1940. Mrs. Sheila MacMillan took over the establishment around 1953, but at some point in the mid-1960s the building was divided into offices, with the Sports Council (Northern Ireland branch) apparently the principal tenant. By the 1986 directory only one occupant — the Ulster Microfilm Service Ltd. — is recorded, though the building had returned to multiple occupancy by the early 1990s. In 1996, Belfast Women's Aid refurbished the then-vacant office building, demolished the existing single-storey return, and replaced it with the present two-storey return. The building was listed in November 1991.