94 Malone Road, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT9 5HP

94 Malone Road is a substantial two-storey semi-detached suburban residence built in 1875-76 in Victorian free Italianate style. It is the smaller of a non-identical pair, attached to its neighbour by their rear returns in such a way that each presents the appearance of a freestanding building when viewed from the front.

The house sits on the east side of Malone Road, accessed via a gateway on the south side of Cleaver Avenue. The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrical in composition. At the centre of the ground floor is the main entrance, comprising a panelled timber door with sidelights featuring panelled aprons and a large rectangular three-light overlight, all plainly glazed. This entrance is surrounded by a flat-roofed portico with Corinthian columns and pilasters mounted on tall conjoined plinths. The columns have accumulated many layers of paint, causing the detail of the capitals to become obscured. To the left of the entrance stands a large single-storey canted bay containing plain sash windows (double glazed with timber beads) to either side, separated by pilaster-like piers, with a cornice course and plain parapet above. To the right is a large but shallow square bay with a substantial tripartite sash window and similar detailing. The first floor has three evenly spaced, relatively small segmental-headed sash windows with simple lugged and heeled moulded surrounds and keystones, all resting on a cill course. The lower half of the front elevation, excluding the bays, is rusticated; the upper half is plain. The north and south elevations follow similar treatment.

The south elevation includes a panelled and glazed door on the ground floor to the left, recently fitted with Corinthian pilasters and a moulded flat cornice (this formerly led to a lean-to glasshouse, now removed). To the right of the door are two relatively tall sash windows, with two matching windows at first-floor level. A two-storey lean-to section adjoins the left side of this elevation, which connects to a high plain rendered wall with a doorway that once enclosed a yard, now roofed over. The north elevation is considerably longer as it incorporates the north face of the large three-level return. The ground floor begins with a canted bay matching that on the front. To its right are two 1/1 sash windows, followed by a three-paned casement window on the slightly recessed north face of the return, and then a partly glazed door. The first floor of the main section has two windows matching those on the front; the return has two plain sash windows at first-floor level. The second floor of the return has two squatter windows similar in style to those at first-floor level on the main section. The rear elevation of the main section could not be inspected externally, but internal investigation reveals a very large semicircular-headed window at half-landing level, filled with stained glass, and a smaller plainly glazed window directly above at the upper half-landing.

The hipped roof has a bracketed overhang in typical Italianate fashion and is slated with what appears to be fibre cement. Two tall centrally placed rendered chimneystacks rise from the main section, each with a cornice course and six matching octagonal clay pots. Cast iron and aluminium rainwater goods serve the building. A large garden surrounds the property to the east, north and south, now substantially altered to accommodate parking spaces.

The house was built as part of a development by Samuel Gibson, a Belfast druggist and grocer, who had acquired the land following the death of the previous owner, Thomas Gilmore, a Belfast merchant. Either this house alone or both it and its attached neighbour were originally named 'Carlton House'. The land had previously been part of the property immediately to the south, 'Montpellier', erected around 1840 by Gilmore on land acquired from Reverend George MacCartney-Black in 1836. In developing the site in 1875-76, Gibson demolished a gate lodge called 'Montpellier Cottage' that had served the original 1840s house, which had stood roughly at the entrance to the present drive of number 92. Gibson also built a further dwelling to the immediate west (present number 96) in the same period, and in 1878 constructed a large villa to the south, where he himself resided (now demolished).

The original resident of 94 Malone Road was Reverend Robert Hannay, incumbent of Christ Church Belfast, who remained there until around 1898. The property functioned as a private dwelling until the 1970s, when it was converted to offices with an apartment at first-floor level. Significant internal renovation occurred in the early 1980s, and the house underwent extensive repair and renovation in the mid-2000s, largely restoring it to its original internal appearance. The property lies within a conservation area.