30 Sunnyside St., Belfast

30 Sunnyside Street is a two-storey red-brick terrace house built in 1904, located on Sunnyside Street approximately 3 kilometres from Belfast city centre. It forms part of a terrace of 21 similar houses on the south side of the street.

The main part of the house is rectangular in plan with a single-storey rectangular return to the rear with a flat roof. The front elevation faces north with a painted timber four-panel door and overlight with a semi-circular head and moulded architrave positioned to the left, and a painted timber 2/2 sliding-sash single-glazed window with segmental head and moulded architrave to the right. A similar but smaller sliding-sash window is positioned centrally on the first floor. The brickwork is laid in English Garden Wall bond with clay ventilation bricks at each level. A blue-brick course and projecting moulded brick course at eaves level support cast metal ogee guttering. The roof is natural slate with a red-brick chimney stack on the right-hand side, featuring a projecting brick course and clay pots.

The rear elevation has uPVC top hung windows at first-floor level and a uPVC top hung staircase window to the right. A clay ventilation brick is located at first-floor level. A single-storey flat-roofed extension extends to the right-hand side at ground level, built in rustic red brick with painted timber boards to eaves and verges and uPVC rainwater gutters. The extension is abutted to an original section of yard wall, which is cement rendered red brick with concrete coping and a square-headed doorway with painted timber boarded door. Both the house and extension have uPVC rainwater gutters and soil stacks.

The property abuts No. 28 Sunnyside Street to the east and No. 32 Sunnyside Street to the west. A small front garden finished in concrete block paviors is set behind a replacement red-brick boundary wall and gateway with painted metal railings and arched gate, installed around 1988 as part of an improvement scheme encompassing the whole terrace. The rear boundary is defined to the south by a communal laneway shared with Whitehall Gardens.

The house was developed by Hugh Scott, the lessor recorded in 1906 for properties numbered 14 to 42 in this terrace. The architect remains unknown. The first recorded occupant was Mrs. Margaret Jane Keown, a widow recorded in the 1911 Census as living there with her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. The house was noted as a second-class dwelling containing five rooms. Subsequent occupants have included Samuel M. Skimin from 1951 to at least 1960, Mary Kenny in 1990, and Guy W. Barrisdale in 1995.

The house retains its original external character, including the panelled timber front door, sliding-sash windows, stucco surrounds, and slate roof. However, the original front boundary has been replaced and a large flat-roofed extension has been added to the rear. Despite these alterations, the building maintains significant group value with the rest of the terrace. It represents a good example of modest Edwardian urban terraced housing, built during a period of rapid expansion of Belfast southwards from the city centre along the main thoroughfares of the Ormeau, Lisburn, and Malone Roads. Sunnyside Street itself, initially shown as a lane on the Ordnance Survey map of 1871–73, was fully developed following the opening of King's Bridge in 1912, which allowed the street to function as a thoroughfare linking to Ridgeway Street on the other side of the River Lagan.