Superintendent's House, Belfast City Cemetery, Falls Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT12 6DE

Superintendent's House, Belfast City Cemetery

This is a fine example of a High Victorian Gothic Revival gate lodge, dating from around 1873 and designed by the prominent local architect John Lanyon. It was built by the Belfast firm John Lowry & Son at a contract price of £750. The building stands close to the main entrance of Belfast City Cemetery on the Falls Road and has been respectfully restored, retaining its original layout and architectural details throughout.

The house is a double-pile, two-storey structure on a rectangular floor plan. It features a projecting single-storey lean-to portico to the west, a single-storey walled extension to the north, and a projecting rectangular bay window to the south-east corner. The roof is covered in natural slate with banded slating and crested 'cockscomb' red-clay ridge tiles. The verges are raised in sandstone, with stone finials to the apex, and a sandstone corbel supports cast iron ogee guttering. Carved gargoyles to the north and south gables discharge water to uPVC circular section downpipes. The chimney stacks are built in basalt with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. External walls are laid in un-coursed rubble basalt with cut Scrabo sandstone dressings and quoins, all set on a projecting plinth course. Unless otherwise noted, window openings are square-headed with flush lintels, chamfered jambs, splayed sills, and a relieving arch, fitted with 1/1 double-hung timber sash windows.

The principal elevation faces east, towards the cemetery entrance, and incorporates a single-storey three-sided rectangular bay at the south-east corner. At ground floor centre there is a square-headed door opening fitted with a modern partly-glazed sheeted door, approached by two semi-circular stone steps. Above, at first floor centre, is a window, with a further ground floor window to the north bay. The projecting three-sided bay has a hipped lead roof dressed around the corner of the building and is constructed in ashlar sandstone above sill level, with a pair of square-headed windows to the front and a single window to each side.

The south elevation has two gables. The west gable contains a single window at ground floor and one at first floor. The east bay has a rectangular corner bay at ground floor with a window above at first floor. A carved gargoyle sits between the two bays, and a carved stone bearing the Belfast city coat of arms is positioned at ground floor level on the east gable. Both gables have a small rectangular opening at high level.

The west entrance consists of an elaborate projecting four-bay lean-to timber porch to the south side, with a window to the north side at ground floor level. The porch incorporates the main entrance door — a round-arched panelled door with glazing — and features a small lantern with a pyramidal roof, sprocketed eaves, and a metal finial.

The north elevation also has two gables, with projecting boundary walling enclosing a single-storey modern building. The east gable has a window at ground and first floor levels; the west gable has a window at first floor only. A carved gargoyle sits between the two bays, and a chimney stack rises from the wall above. Both gables have a small rectangular opening at high level. The boundary walling here is laid in un-coursed rubble basalt with sandstone coping stones.

The setting of the lodge has been altered somewhat. It is now enclosed by cemetery walling to the north and a new ashlar Duke sandstone wall with gate piers to the south-east, with iron railings and gates forming a new gateway. The ground to the west is paved, with lawned areas on all other sides.

Historical Background

The construction of this lodge is directly tied to the rapid growth of Belfast during the 19th century. As the city's population expanded at a remarkable pace, pressure on existing burial grounds grew acute, worsened by outbreaks of cholera and the effects of the Great Famine. Both Shankill graveyard and Friar's Bush graveyard were becoming overcrowded, and the New Burying Ground at Clifton Street was also filling up. The opening of a new Presbyterian cemetery at Balmoral offered only partial relief.

In the autumn of 1865, Belfast Corporation accepted Thomas Sinclair's offer of 101 acres on the Falls Road for a new municipal cemetery, completing the purchase in December of that year for £12,000 with an annual ground rent of £73 5s. 4d. Of this site, 45 acres were designated as cemetery, with most of the remainder eventually becoming Falls Park. On 25 January 1867 the Cemetery Committee awarded the contract to design the new cemetery to William Gay of Bradford. During the laying out of the cemetery, a dispute arose between Dr Patrick Dorrian, Catholic bishop of Down and Connor, over the ground reserved for Catholic burials. No satisfactory settlement could be reached, and as a result a separate Catholic cemetery — Milltown — was opened a short distance away on the opposite side of the Falls Road in November 1869. The Belfast Cemetery, so named by agreement on 29 September 1868, opened on 1 August 1869, with the first burials taking place three days later.

Provision for a superintendent's house had been part of the original plans drawn up in the late 1860s, but it was not until 20 April 1872 that the Cemetery Committee formally agreed to commission an architect, stipulating that the cost should not exceed £900. By July 1872 John Lanyon had produced plans estimating construction at approximately £600. After minor amendments, the plans were approved, and in September 1872 the tender of £750 from Messrs John Lowry & Son was accepted and work began. The Cemetery Committee was keen to avoid additional expenditure, and in November 1872 instructed Lanyon not to go to the extra expense of procuring 'Scotch cut stone' if good quality Scrabo stone could be obtained instead. The building was ready for its internal fittings by the following spring and was completed soon afterwards. In December 1873 Lanyon received professional fees of £42 16s. In October 1878, the Cemetery Committee directed that the portico — presumably the verandah — should be enclosed to provide shelter for the public. The structure is first recorded on the 1901 Ordnance Survey map.

By 1999 the building had fallen into a state of dilapidation and was no longer inhabited. A major programme of renovation was carried out in 2004–05 by architects Kennedy Fitzgerald on behalf of Belfast City Council. The works included an extension to provide a kitchen and enclosed yard, and the rebuilding of the verandah to incorporate a disabled toilet.

The Superintendent's House has group value with the other listed structures within the cemetery: the entrance gates and walling, the fountains, and the vaults and memorials.