6 Malone Hill Park, Belfast, BT9 6RD

6 Malone Hill Park, Belfast

This is a two-storey, detached Arts and Crafts villa built in 1927–28 to the designs of architect and civil engineer Thomas William Henry as his own residence. It stands on the south-west side of Malone Hill Park in South Belfast, flanked by detached villas of similar age, with a small raised front garden and a large rear garden. The house is a fine example of architect-designed domestic architecture for the professional classes in the Malone area, and retains the great majority of its original fabric and detailing.

Design and Architect

The house was designed by Thomas William Henry (died 14th January 1964), who practised from offices in Ocean Buildings and, from 1922, in the Scottish Temperance Buildings in Donegall Square, Belfast. Henry was a traditionalist: during the Second World War he publicly criticised proposals for rebuilding Belfast, arguing that new designs showed a "lack of architectural good manners" and should harmonise with the "traditions, environment and beautiful natural background" of the city. His practice was largely commercial, including several Ulster Bank premises, but he is known for a number of public buildings — most notably Shankill Road Public Library — and for domestic work elsewhere in the Malone area, including houses at 24 Cadogan Park and 65 Myrtlefield Park, and a large estate of workers' housing at Ainsworth in West Belfast. Thomas William Henry was the brother of the painter Paul Henry, celebrated for his depictions of the landscapes and people of the West of Ireland.

Original plans for the house are dated 28th April 1927. The Irish Builder of August 1927 records that the plans had recently been approved by the Belfast City Surveyor. The house first appears in valuation records in 1929 (as "2 Malone Hill Park", later renumbered) and in street directories from 1930. It was one of eight dwellings built in the new road between 1928 and 1931. The "house, motor house and grounds" were built on land owned by J McMaster and were valued at £60.

Exterior

The walls are finished in painted roughcast with a three-course red brick plinth. The roof is Westmoreland slate with red clay ridge tiles, overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends, and four red brick chimney stacks with brick corbelling and red clay pots — two exposed on the south-east gable, one on the front roof slope to the right and one on the main rear slope. Most windows are historic metal frames, now fitted with replacement slimline double-glazed panes with lead strips applied to the outside, set within painted timber surrounds, putty-fronted, with painted stone window cills. Original glazing survives only in the garage and coal shed; all other panes are replacements.

Front elevation (north-east): The façade is asymmetrical, with the left side advanced and the right set back, and window openings of varied sizes. There is a double-height bay to the left with a pitched roof and a stained glass window to the half-landing. A deep, open-columned projecting porch leads to the front entrance, with tapering sandstone columns and corbelled heads supporting a hipped roof, and a sandstone surround to the entrance. The original solid timber panelled front door with historic ironmongery is retained. The attached garage is set back to the right with a hipped roof and sectional painted sheeted timber doors that slide open on an internal track.

North-west side elevation: Single bay wide with one window opening at ground floor level and a yard door connecting to the garage block. The north-west side of the garage block is single storey with two window openings, both retaining their historic putty-fronted multipane leaded windows with patterned glass within painted timber frames.

Rear elevation (south-west): The façade is asymmetric, with the single-storey garage block to the left abutting the main block. There are modern patio doors to the right with a deep lead fascia, and twin pitched bays to the right, both with deep canted bays featuring full-height multipane metal-framed doors and windows beneath hipped roofs. Historic multipane metal doors to the rear bays are retained, though the glass panes are not original.

South-east side elevation: A regular façade with two exposed red brick chimney breasts built in English Garden Wall Bond, which step in towards the top and meet to form a brick voussoir arch framing two small window openings at each level.

Rear yard: Situated between the kitchen and garage, the rear yard retains the original coal store (now used for general storage) with a timber panelled door, and a WC with a timber sheeted door and its original high-level cistern bearing the name "THE ULSTER".

Interior and Historic Fabric

The house largely retains its original footprint and plan form. The principal reception rooms were arranged at the rear of the house, with the service wing positioned to the side (north-west) rather than the rear, allowing the main rooms to open directly onto the garden. Original plans show a drawing room and dining room with wood block floors at the back, both with French doors to the garden; a library with a wood floor at the front; and a porch, hall and cloakroom with separate WC. Wood flooring survives in some of these rooms. The service wing originally contained a kitchen, store (with terrazzo floor — some terrazzo survives in the former service wing), pantry, larder and housemaid's closet, with a further scullery, pantry and larder off the kitchen. These rooms have now been knocked through to form an open-plan kitchen with utility room off, representing the principal alteration to the plan form.

At first-floor level the original plans show five bedrooms, a box room, bathroom with separate WC and a linen cupboard. The bathroom and WC have since been altered to provide a larger bathroom. All principal rooms upstairs and downstairs were shown with fireplaces on the original plans; fireplaces in the downstairs rooms survive, though one room has a replacement insert.

At the time of the First General Revaluation in 1934, the house was noted to have electric light, with accommodation much as shown on the original plans. The valuer recorded that one of the reception rooms was panelled and that the bathroom had three-quarter tiled walls and a terrazzo floor.

Retained original features include some flooring, wall panelling, stained glass, light fittings and switches, electric servant bells, and the bell indicator box made by Bell and Crowe of 23 Church Street, Belfast, which remains in its original position (the bells and bell box are non-functional).

Stained Glass Window

Of particular note is the stained glass window to the stairwell, almost certainly the work of Campbell Brothers. This firm of stained glass manufacturers was founded by Tyrone brothers Francis and Samuel Campbell, who opened premises in Franklin Street, Belfast in 1897. The works soon expanded and moved to Millfield in the mid-1920s, then to Bath Place in 1950 and subsequently to the Springfield Road, expanding and diversifying throughout, and trading until at least the mid-1980s. Although few works are attributed to them by the Dictionary of Irish Architects, Campbell Brothers were in fact quite prolific in the first few decades of the 20th century, building up a reputation for high quality work at a time when it was not the norm to commission stained glass from Irish producers. The firm was responsible for the stained glass at several libraries including Shankill Road, Ballymacarrett, Lurgan Carnegie Library and Bangor Carnegie Library, as well as the two most significant municipal buildings in the north of Ireland — the Derry Guildhall and Belfast City Hall, the latter commission being shared with Ward and Partners (a third firm, Clokey, withdrew at an early stage). The firm also designed stained glass for numerous churches throughout the north of Ireland and as far away as Sligo (Church of the Holy Cross), including the sacristy of Newry workhouse.

The attribution to Campbell Brothers rests on the strong similarity between the staircase window at 6 Malone Hill Park and the stained glass staircase window at Shankill Road Public Library, both dated 1928 and both by architect T W Henry. Both windows share the same general form of a central circular medallion surrounded by swags and foliage adorned with ribbons, and repeat some of the same foliage details. Contemporary newspaper reports of the opening of Shankill Road Library identify its window as the work of Campbell Brothers, making it a reasonable supposition that the same studio produced both windows.

Garage and Sliding Door Gear

The garage, or motor house, features a sliding door system with Henderson's "Tangent" door gear. P C Henderson was a company established in 1921, based in Barking, Essex, and still in existence today. At the period when motor houses were becoming a more common addition to domestic dwellings, Henderson was a popular supplier of fittings for sliding garage doors.

Occupancy History

T W Henry appears to have been resident in the house until the 1940s, but was living in England at the time of his death in 1964. He was succeeded by James Arthur Stitt, a director of the Greenmount and Boyne Linen Company (Belfast) Ltd. Stitt had been born in Belfast, educated at Inst (the Royal Belfast Academical Institution), and had served his apprenticeship in Drogheda, his father being an outstanding figure in the linen trade. He served in the First World War as a Captain in the Royal Field Artillery, being awarded a Military Cross, and again in the Second World War as a Major in the Royal Artillery. He was a member of the Ulster Reform Club, the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club and the Royal Belfast Golf Club. Following Stitt's death on 30th March 1952, his widow Edna continued to live in the house for some years. The house was subsequently taken over by William Roger Boyd, possibly the W R Boyd who was an Employment Manager for the Goodyear tyre company, in the 1980s.

Notable Changes and Setting

Notable alterations include the replacement of the original glazing within the retained historic window frames with sealed slimline double-glazed units with lead strips applied to the outside, and the reconfiguration of the central ground floor service rooms into an open-plan kitchen. The front boundary piers, walling and steps were built in 2016 to match the house in materials, replacing a former hedge boundary.

The house is surrounded by gardens and fronts onto a leafy suburban avenue. The rear boundary has mature landscaping, with a house on Rosemary Park to the south. Rainwater goods are painted metal with original cast iron hoppers.