4 Malone Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT9 6BQ

4 Malone Road is an attractive, well-proportioned red brick former townhouse built around 1890, now in commercial use, located at the north end of Malone Road Lower in Belfast. It was designed by architect James J. Phillips and built as one of a pair with its neighbour No. 2 Malone Road — the more ornately styled 'Abbotsford' — as part of the ongoing development of south Belfast in the latter part of the 19th century. The building sits within the Queens Conservation Area, occupying a prominent position near the junction of Malone Road and Stranmillis Road, directly opposite Methodist College and in close proximity to the Ulster Museum and Queen's University.

Although No. 4 sits behind its neighbour No. 2, which dominates the corner, the wedge-shaped configuration of the group, combined with the tall proportions and considered use of projecting bays at No. 4, makes it a prominent element visible from some distance along the axis of University Road.

Architectural Overview

The building is three storeys over a basement, with an attic, and has three bays to the principal elevation, which faces west. The plan form is somewhat irregular. There is a full-height projecting bay to either side of the principal elevation: a canted bay to the left and a rectangular bay with chamfered corners to the right. The south-east corner is wedge-shaped and projects particularly sharply, terminating in a thin curved arris. The stairwell projects to the rear, is canted, and is hung with fishscale weather-slating from first half-landing level. The north gable is largely abutted by the adjoining No. 2 Malone Road, with which it is contemporary and shares detailing. The exposed section of the north gable is blank. The south gable is also blank, and is abutted by a stepped red brick wall enclosing a car park accessed via Stranmillis Road.

Exterior

Walling is red and orange brick in Flemish bond, with a variety of gauged brick, red sandstone, and terracotta embellishments. Basement walling is sandstone — rock-faced and coursed to the right bay, and ashlar to the left bay. Windows rest on continuous sandstone cills, each extended to form a string course, and each floor is delineated above window level by a heavy string course detailed to match the cornice.

The roof is pitched natural slate, hipped over the projecting bays, with ridge crestings, terracotta finials, and original profile cast iron gutters resting on a projecting brick cornice embellished with quadrant and egg-and-dart cornicing over a pale stone Lombardic frieze. The gables rise to large chimneystacks, each carrying multiple pots.

Windows are generally original one-over-one timber sash with horns, with original glazing surviving to the third floor only. Those to the projecting bays are paired and have sandstone surrounds. Windows to the upper floors are segmental-headed; those to the ground floor and basement are square-headed, the latter covered with mesh screens. To the rear, there has been some replacement of windows with timber casement or fixed-pane glazing, and the attic is lit to the rear by uPVC dormers. There also appears to be a tall round-headed opening to the left of the rear stairwell projection that has been infilled. The rear elevation is abutted centrally by the stairwell, which is lit to the east and south only, with its north cheek abutted by a bathroom projection.

The principal elevation comprises a central entrance with single windows above — the second-floor window being narrower — slightly offset to the left. The projecting bays each have a pair of windows to each floor, and the canted left bay is also lit to each cheek.

The original entrance door has been replaced with a contemporary fully glazed entrance, accessed by a flight of modern granite steps with a glazed balustrade. The basement flat is accessed beneath the exterior steps via a modern shuttered door. The building is set slightly back from street level, with raised paved platforms flanking the entrance steps. These are terminated by dwarf red brick piers with stone caps carved with a palmette motif. The basement well is enclosed to the left by original wrought iron railings retaining their original cast sunflower motif; the railings to the right are modern replacements made in a style resembling the originals.

Interior

Conversion to commercial use has been sympathetic, with minimal alteration to the internal layout and fabric, although the loss of the original entrance door is regrettable. Fittings and fixtures are of notably high quality, and decorative elements throughout are representative of the stock-source catalogue items that were popular at the time of construction.

Historical Context

The house first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1901, though it was built around 1890–1891. The second edition Ordnance Survey map shows that the wedge-shaped site formerly contained a small house and garden occupied by a James Cunningham. This was replaced by 'Abbotsford' at No. 2 by 1889, which was shortly followed by the construction of No. 4 in 1891. Each property was noted as comprising a house, conservatory, yard, and small garden; No. 4 was valued at £52 and No. 2 at £67.

Both No. 2 and No. 4 were built for Robert Walsh, a chartered accountant with the firm Johnston and Walsh in central Belfast, later known as Robert Walsh and Sons. Both houses appear to have remained vacant until around 1906, when Robert Walsh was recorded as the occupier of 'Ashestiel' at No. 4, and Abbotsford at No. 2 was occupied by a Thomas Kennedy and a Mrs Wheeler. Both properties received an increase in valuation in 1906 — No. 4 rising to £70 and No. 2 to £82 — though no alterations to either building are noted in the valuation documents at that time.

While No. 2 remained a single residence until at least 1957, annual revision records from 1936 show that No. 4 had by that date been subdivided into flats, with a H. Mussen as lessor of the ground-floor flat and the remainder leased by a Walter Morton. By the 1960s, the building was in use as commercial offices, with a quantity surveyor's office and two architectural firms occupying the main floors.

This section of the Malone Road formed part of University Road until around 1931. As the old road leading south from Belfast, the Malone Road area had been developed from the mid-19th century onwards by wealthy citizens seeking to build grand villas and residences away from the increasingly overcrowded and industrial city. Following the end of the Second World War, the area experienced a shift away from residential use towards office-based, commercial, educational, and institutional accommodation. This change of use is reflected in the alterations made to No. 4, including the reconfiguration of the entrance hall, the replacement of the original steps and doorcase with a fully glazed opening and canopy. The basement has remained as a self-contained residential flat throughout.