25-25A Annadale Avenue, Belfast

Annadale Avenue takes its name from a dwelling of pre-1833 construction, one of several small semi-rural gentlemen's residences that characterised the Ormeau and Ravenhill areas before suburban growth spread in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. That original house was located just south of the present Mornington Place, with extensive grounds stretching from what is now Ormeau Road to the Lagan and encompassing the area between present-day Annadale Avenue and Annadale embankment to the north and Hampton Park to the south.

In the later 1880s the grounds began to be sold off. Annadale Avenue itself, which follows a course roughly parallel to the northern boundary of the original grounds, was among the first thoroughfares to be laid out. The valuation books indicate that the present numbers 25-27 were constructed between 1888 and 1894 by builder John C. Clarke, who around the same time built himself a large detached house, 'Lindisfarne', further west (since demolished).

Both properties first appear in the street directories in 1895. Number 25, named 'Lahore', was listed as the home of David Graham Barkley, a barrister and native of Maghera, County Londonderry, who had served as a judge in India during the 1880s—hence the Indian name for his house. Barkley is mentioned as living in Annadale Avenue in a newspaper notice of March 1890, and the 1892 street directory places him at number 2, though the present buildings do not appear in the valuation books until around 1894. The current occupant of number 25A believes the house dates to around 1888. In the 1901 census, Judge Barkley (1836-1903) is recorded as occupying the property with seven nieces and nephews, two domestic servants, and another nephew as a temporary house guest. The building itself is noted as a first-class dwelling with 11 rooms in use.

Following Barkley's death in 1903, John Oliver Campbell, a building contractor, is named as resident by 1907. The 1911 census records Campbell living here with his wife Mary Georgina, their 6-year-old daughter, three adult step-children, a governess, and a domestic servant. The Campbells, who renamed the property 'Moyallon', remained there until at least 1951. At some point during the following decade the property was subdivided into two flats, with Miss McAlery (one of the Campbells' step-daughters) occupying the ground floor flat in 1960 and R.H. Sheppard the upper levels.