2 Upper Green, Dunmurry, Belfast, Co Antrim BT17 0EL

2 Upper Green is a two-storey detached dwelling built in Edwardian style around 1925 (according to the fifth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1920-31, though the current owner states 1929). It stands at the entrance to Upper Green on Upper Dunmurry Lane, approximately four miles south-west of Belfast city centre, on what was formerly a bleach green and represents one of the earliest houses built in this suburban area.

The house displays a rectangular plan form with projecting bays and features a distinctive black and white colour scheme that is particularly striking. The walling is rough cast, painted white, with a projected plinth. The roof is hipped with natural slate and clay ridge tiles, overhanging eaves with timber soffits, and cast-iron ogee-moulded gutters with circular down-pipes and semi-octagonal hopper heads. Red-brick chimneys with corbelled cornice detail and clay pots complete the roofline.

The principal south-east facing elevation is asymmetrically arranged with the front entrance located centrally to the ground floor, served by brick steps. The doorcase is of particular architectural interest: the timber front door has three bolection-moulded panels with leaded rolled glass incorporating a central bull's-eye pane to the upper panel. The door is set within a tripartite central panel with a matching diminished lower panel. A blank semi-circular panel rises above, flanked by plain pilasters that extend to a plain projecting canopy with simple moulding, supported on four console brackets. A central round-headed arch spans over the door and extends over leaded side lights, which are embraced by channelled rustication.

The windows are 4/1 timber sliding sashes with quadripartite upper sashes and horns, set within rectangular masonry cills. To the right of the entrance are two ground-floor windows with matching windows above, and a single window over the front door. A two-storey canted bay to the left features single windows to the cheeks and bi-partite front windows to both ground and first-floor levels.

The south-west elevation is symmetrically arranged with two single windows to the ground floor and matching windows directly above at first-floor level. The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a two-storey canted bay to the right (matching the front elevation) and bi-partite windows to the left. A recessed portion to the far left forms part of the right cheek of a north-east projecting bay, comprising a single ground-floor window and a pair of first-floor windows. The north-east elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a single ground-floor window to the left and a double-height projecting bay to the right, featuring diminished ground-floor windows to the front and left cheek, a rear door to the front, and feature bi-partite leaded windows at first-floor level.

The building has undergone minimal alteration, retaining its plan form, detailing, and almost all of its original historic fabric, making it a good example of a dwelling from this period.

A single-storey hipped-roof garage with original bi-folding timber sheeted door (now replaced with a modern garage door) stands adjacent to the north-east elevation and is attached to the house via a single-storey wall with a gated entrance into the rear enclosed yard. The garage remains unchanged and adds to the overall composition.

The house is set within its own grounds in a suburban streetscape. The site is bounded by a wall and hedge, with replacement metal entrance gates (originally timber). Mature vegetation largely screens the house from the main road that runs parallel to the south-west elevation. The setting, including the boundary to the road front and side, remains good, though a modern house built on lands previously owned by the property has had some adverse impact on the setting from this viewpoint.

The house was originally built by the Anderson family, well-known as proprietors of the former Anderson & McAuley department store in Donegall Place, Belfast. It was subsequently owned by the Herdman family, flax spinners of Sion Mills, before being sold to the current owners approximately 30 years ago. This ownership history gives the building local historic interest.