Hampton House, 8 Glenmachan Park, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT4 2PJ

Hampton House is a detached, four-bay, two-storey Neo-Classical villa, built in 1862 to designs by Thomas Jackson. It stands in an elevated position within its own landscaped grounds at Glenmachan Park, Belfast, in the townland of Ballymaghan. The building is rendered throughout and characterised by a shallow hipped roof, raised quoins, and fine detailing to the parapet and eaves. Though now vacant, it retains most of its original external form and character.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The main house is a four-bay, two-storey rendered villa with a single-storey entrance porch to the north and projecting two-storey canted bays to the north, west and south elevations. Extensions include a three-bay single-storey addition to the north-east, a three-bay two-storey addition to the south-east, and a single-bay single-storey extension adjoining outbuildings to the east.

The roof is a shallow-hipped slate construction with clay ridge tiles and overhanging eaves carried on paired scrolled brackets. At the centre of the roof sit a pair of two-stage ashlar chimneys with moulded sandstone cornices on scrolled brackets. Rainwater goods consist of ogee-moulded uPVC gutters discharging to circular downpipes. The flat roof of the entrance porch features a projecting cornice on a dentilled eaves course with globe finials at the corners.

Windows throughout are square-headed with raised sandstone decorative surrounds and carved sandstone sills on scrolled brackets. They are boarded up except where noted otherwise. The principal windows, where visible, are one-over-one timber sliding sash with ogee horns.

The north (front) elevation is three bays wide over two storeys with a projecting two-storey hipped-roof canted bay to the east and a single-storey entrance porch at the centre. To the east there is a two-bay single-storey extension with a hipped roof and projecting eaves on a dentilled sandstone cornice, with a recessed single bay between this extension and the main house carrying similar detailing. The walling is smooth rendered with raised ashlar sandstone quoins, a projecting plinth, and a raised smooth ashlar string course at first-floor level. The entrance porch has three windows with one-over-one timber sliding sash glazing and ogee horns. The square-headed entrance doorway in the north porch elevation is surmounted by a fanlight.

The west elevation is three bays wide over two storeys with a shallow projecting bay to the north containing the two-storey canted bay. The south (rear) elevation is three bays wide over two storeys with a shallow projecting bay to the west containing another two-storey canted bay. The rear walls are finished in lined-and-ruled render. A metal staircase on posts rises to first-floor level, giving access to a later square-headed single-door opening. Adjoining the east side of the main house is a two-storey building of lower eaves height, three bays wide, with a hipped slate roof on a dentilled eaves course and paired square-headed openings with stone sills. Beyond this is a single-storey extension to the south-east with a curved corner to the west and a flat roof with a raised parapet. The west elevation of the complex is attached to the outbuildings.

OUTBUILDINGS AND SETTING

The house sits in an elevated position within its own grounds, with a driveway to the north and steps leading down to an overgrown garden at a lower level to the west, gardens to the south, and a mature tree-lined hedge boundary to the south.

To the east, the outbuildings form a courtyard complex entered from the north through a pair of square-plan rendered piers. The outbuilding to the north-east has a shallow pitched roof on timber lattice trusses and smooth rendered walls. To the west of the courtyard is a six-bay single-storey smooth rendered building with a mono-pitch slate roof on a brick dentilled eaves course. To the south is a seven-bay single-storey building, now roofless. To the east is a twelve-bay two-storey building with a pitched felt roof on painted brick dentilled eaves, ogee-moulded uPVC gutters and circular downpipes, a pair of red brick chimneys with cornice copings and terracotta chimney pots, roughcast rendered walls, square-headed openings with painted stone sills, and replacement casement windows throughout. Some of the courtyard outbuildings now fall on an adjacent site and have been converted into dwellings.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The house was originally known as Glen Ebor. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 records that the townland of Ballymaghan remained predominantly rural in character during the mid-19th century, with only Garnerville and Moat House among the few established buildings in the area. With the rapid expansion of Belfast's industries and population in the latter half of the 19th century, a number of new suburbs were established for the city's politicians, merchants and professionals in the eastern townlands of Ballyhackamore, Strandtown and Ballymaghan.

The Dublin Builder records that Glen Ebor was constructed in 1862 as a residence for Jonathan Cordukes, a local provisions merchant with business premises on Victoria Street, to a design by Thomas Jackson. According to the Dublin Builder and the Dictionary of Irish Architects, the building was faced with locally quarried Scrabo sandstone in ashlar courses with Tyrone stone dressings, and was erected by the Dublin-based contractor John Murphy.

Thomas Jackson (1807–1890) is described by the Dictionary of Irish Architects as primarily a domestic architect, though he worked across commercial, industrial, educational and ecclesiastical building types. Before undertaking work in the Sydenham area, he had been responsible for the early 19th century suburban development of North Belfast, taking inspiration — and the name Cliftonville — from Bristol's Clifton suburb, where he had received his training. Having established his reputation as one of the leading domestic architects in Belfast, Jackson became the preferred architect to the merchant elite. Between the 1860s and 1870s he designed a number of suburban villas and mansions in East Belfast, including Glenmachan Tower, Glenmachan House, Lismachan House and Craigavon House.

Annual Revisions initially valued Glen Ebor at £170 and described it as a first-class building with an entrance porch and billiard room. The house was leased by Sir Thomas McClure of Belmont House, a local landowner and Member of Parliament, and was depicted on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901–02 in its current layout, along with the outbuildings and courtyard to the east.

Jonathan Cordukes resided at Glen Ebor until his death in 1865, after which the house was acquired by Sir Samuel Black, Town Clerk for Belfast. Samuel Black lived there until his death in 1910, when his son Charles William Black, a solicitor, took possession. The 1911 census described Glen Ebor as a first-class dwelling of sixteen rooms, with a stable, coach house and store among its eastern outbuildings. Charles W. Black remained at the house until his death in 1932, when his widow Wilhelmina came into possession. She continued to reside there until her own death in 1939, at which point the Black family leased the house to a Mr Albert Victor Maunder, who remained until 1958. During this period the valuation of the house was reduced to £155, and the Black family themselves occupied the eastern outbuilding, which had been converted into a private dwelling in 1940.

Hampton Investment Co. Ltd. purchased Glen Ebor outright in 1958 and converted the former dwelling into a number of self-contained apartments, at which point it was renamed Hampton House. By the end of the Second General Revaluation of 1956–72 the building was valued at £231. A field inspection carried out as part of the Second Survey found that Hampton House and its associated outbuildings had fallen into a state of disrepair.