71 Somerton Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT15 4DE

71 Somerton Road, Belfast

This is a detached Italianate villa built around 1877, designed in red brick and stucco as a gentleman's residence, most likely by John Lanyon (1839–1900). It stands on the east side of Somerton Road, south of the Church of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, on land that formed part of the Fortwilliam Estate before it was broken up in the mid-19th century. The house is now vacant, having served as a parochial house from 1960 until recently, and sits within a conservation area.

Historical Background

The property was first recorded in the Annual Revisions of 1877, when it was valued at £78 and leased by William Valentine of Fortwilliam House to a flour merchant and baker named Edward Crawford. Crawford named the house Eirene. The Fortwilliam Park estate had been laid out in the mid-1860s, and a number of grand mansions were erected on the former estate during the 1860s and 1870s, of which only a few survive today.

The attribution to John Lanyon rests on strong circumstantial evidence. Lanyon was the son of Sir Charles Lanyon and had established an independent practice in Belfast following the dissolution of the firm Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon in 1872. He moved to Lisbreen House on the neighbouring Fortwilliam development in 1870, making him a near neighbour of the Somerton Road site. The Dictionary of Irish Architects records that he carried out work to a mansion on Fortwilliam Park in 1889. The distinctive three-storey Italianate tower with pyramidal roof seen here was a recurring feature of his designs, appearing at Waterside Railway Station in Londonderry and Amiens Street Railway Station in Dublin. The building shares close similarities with Rosaville at 30 Fortwilliam Park, particularly in its tower form, exuberant stucco detailing, arched and paired window openings, heavy moulded cornice, and pierced stucco parapet to the projecting bays. No. 30 Fortwilliam Park had been built in 1869 to designs by Boyd and Batt, but that firm dissolved in 1871.

After Crawford's departure in 1884, the house was occupied by William Spiller, an assistant to the Director of the Belfast Bank. The 1901 census describes his residence as a first-class dwelling of eleven rooms. Spiller died in 1907, and his widow Susan remained until her own death in 1914. By 1918 the house had passed to Robert S. Johnston, a shipbuilder with Workman, Clark and Company.

In 1920, the house was purchased by Lady Margaret McDowell, who renamed it Ventnor and commissioned Belfast-based architect Samuel Stevenson (1859–1924) to carry out extensions and alterations. These included a new doorway to the tower, a new single-storey porch to the right of the tower, a servants' wing return along the north side, and new beams over a covered gateway to a covered yard (the covered entrance and yard have since been demolished). Lady McDowell remained at Ventnor until her death in 1951. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the rateable value was raised to £100. In 1960, the Diocese of Down and Connor acquired the property, converted it into a parochial house, and built the adjacent Church of St. Thérèse of Lisieux to the north. The house and church now share the same site.

Architectural Description

The villa is two storeys over a basement, with an asymmetrical three-bay principal façade and a three-storey entrance tower with a pyramidal hipped roof. A single-storey curved bay projects to the west and south, and a two-storey curved bay over a canted base projects to the east (rear). The two-bay two-storey northern extension dates from around 1920.

The main roof is hipped natural slate with terracotta crested ridge tiles, overhanging eaves on a moulded eaves course with dentils, and receding two-stage red brick chimneys. The flat roofs to the curved bays on the west and south have stucco moulded cornices and raised pierced parapets. A single-storey outshot at the south-west corner has a raised red brick parapet on a projecting stucco-moulded string course with moulded coping. The 1920 north extension has a hipped slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and cresting, a heavy eaves overhang, and two-stage red brick chimneys. Rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and uPVC.

West Elevation (Principal Façade)

The three-bay principal elevation has red brick walling with a squared and pitch-coursed red sandstone plinth. A projecting moulded sill course and guilloche moulding run at the springing course level of the ground and first floor windows. The three-storey entrance tower has moulded string courses at ground and first floor, with projecting moulded sill and springing courses to the second floor openings. Window openings throughout have round-topped stilted arches with moulded surrounds and keystones. Scrolled brackets support the sills of the ground floor opening to the south and the first floor opening to the entrance tower. First floor windows are paired, as are those to the curved bay to the north, with a Corinthian colonette between each pair of openings. The curved bay has projecting moulded keystones with a fleur-de-lys motif. Windows are one-over-one timber sliding sashes at ground floor, two-over-two at the first floor north bay and second floor of the tower, and one-over-two to the remaining openings. The entrance is a timber panelled double door with a fanlight, approached by three steps, with a rock-faced red sandstone wall and metal railings.

The 1920 northern extension at this elevation includes an integral garage with a rendered surround featuring a cornice on pilasters with scrolled console brackets and rusticated walling inset. The extension's square-headed openings have smooth raised rendered surrounds, projecting moulded sills on brackets, and a smooth rendered string course at first floor level that aligns with the moulded cornice of the adjacent bowed window. Windows are one-over-one timber sliding sashes.

South Elevation

This is a two-storey elevation with a projecting bay to the west, a single-storey flat-roofed curved bay with a pierced parapet at centre, followed by the rear of the north extension. Red brick walls carry a projecting moulded sill course and a guilloche-moulded springing course to the ground and first floor openings. The single-storey curved bay has rendered spandrels, semi-circular stilted arch openings with raised surrounds and keystones, and pilasters at the outer ends of the curved bay, with Corinthian columns separating the openings — a detail repeated to the paired openings at first floor and to the second floor of the entrance tower. There is a blind opening at first floor on the entrance tower. Ground floor windows are one-over-one timber sliding sashes; first floor windows are two-over-one. The extension has square-headed openings with smooth raised surrounds and projecting moulded sills on scrolled brackets at first floor.

East Elevation (Rear)

This is a two-bay two-storey elevation over a red sandstone basement. The upper floors are red brick with a projecting moulded sill course on brackets and guilloche-moulded springing course to the ground and first floor. The north extension has a single-storey flat-roofed entrance porch on tapered piers with a rock-faced red sandstone plinth. Ground floor openings are semi-circular stilted arches with moulded surrounds, keystones, and a band course, with central Corinthian pilasters to the curved bay openings. Windows are one-over-one timber sliding sashes. The extension's integral garage has red brick walling, square-headed openings with smooth rendered surrounds, and projecting moulded sills on scrolled brackets.

North Elevation

Red brick walling. There is a semi-circular stilted arch opening with a moulded surround, keystone, and projecting moulded sill on scrolled brackets, with a margin-paned timber sliding sash window. Additional square-headed openings have raised smooth rendered surrounds. Set back from the extensions and visible at half-landing level, a Venetian multi-pane double-height window lights the internal stairwell of the original house. It has a moulded stucco architrave, raised keystone, and a moulded sill supported on brackets.

Interior

Many features of architectural merit survive inside the building. The Venetian stairwell window described above is a particular highlight.

Setting and Grounds

The house is enclosed within the same site as the Church of St. Thérèse of Lisieux to the north, with gardens to the south and east, a red brick boundary wall to the east, and parking to the west. The western boundary is tree-lined, with a dwarf rendered wall, rustic red brick pillars, and painted metal railings dating from around 1990. There is evidence in the gardens to the rear of a previously planned landscape, with surviving pathways and steps.

Significance

Despite the extensions of 1920, this house remains an important and relatively intact example of a suburban mid-Victorian residence, built following the break-up of the Fortwilliam Estate. Many original architectural features survive in good condition, including the stucco details, projecting sills, brackets, and guilloche mouldings.