Lisbreen, 73 Somerton Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, BT15 4DE

Lisbreen, 73 Somerton Road, is a detached, asymmetrical, multi-bay, two-storey house over a concealed basement, built in red brick around 1870 and extensively renovated around 2013. It is a substantial mid-Victorian residence, originally well proportioned, with a square tower as a distinctive feature. The building is T-shaped on plan, facing south, with an attached converted outbuilding to the northeast and a further two-storey wing attached to the north, built around 1960. It sits within extensive landscaped grounds on the east side of Somerton Road, in the townland of Skegoneill, to the north of the Church of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The house was designed by the architect John Lanyon and was later used as the official residence of the Bishop of Down and Connor. It is listed for both its architectural and historical significance, and the listing covers the house and its gate screen.

EXTERIOR

The roofs are finished in natural slate with rolled lead ridges. Several tall, profiled red brick chimneystacks rise above the roofline, each with octagonal clay pots and black brick trims. The square-plan tower, set between the southeast and west wings, has a steep fish-scale slate roof surmounted by iron cresting. Replacement moulded cast-iron guttering is fixed to a billeted brick eaves course, with square-profile cast-iron downpipes supported on trefoil brackets; these downpipes feed into a further gutter at first-floor sill level, repeating the same arrangement below.

The external walls are red brick with lime pointing, laid in Flemish bond, with continuous flush black and yellow brick courses running at sill, impost, and eaves levels throughout. Window openings are generally segmental-headed with stop-chamfered surrounds, moulded stone sills, polychromatic brick headers, and black brick hood mouldings. The windows themselves are replacement single-pane timber sash windows with horns.

The principal south elevation is divided into a southeast block three windows wide and a recessed two-bay entrance block. Each block has a full-height canted bay window to the left, with corresponding hipped roofs above. The southeast block has two round-headed window openings that rise above the eaves level, with slightly advanced roofs. On the west elevation of the southeast block, there is a large stepped chimneystack with corbelled sections and a roundel to the left, which frames a carved sandstone plaque. To the right bay of the recessed entrance block, a segmental-headed door opening is set within a stepped brick surround with lead covering; it houses replacement double-leaf timber panelled doors with a leaded overlight. The door opens onto a stone-paved front area.

The west elevation of the entrance block has a single window at each level, with a slightly raised roof section at first-floor level. The north elevation of the entrance block has paired windows on each floor; those at first-floor level are round-headed with a slightly raised roof section. To the left of this elevation is a large stone-framed stairhall window with leaded glazing.

The west elevation comprises two gables with half-hipped roofs, each with paired windows, connecting to the former outbuilding to the north via a small flat-roofed single-storey bay. This elevation fronts onto a formal paved garden area enclosed by red brick walls with saddleback sandstone coping. The former outbuilding was raised by a further storey around 2013, the new work built in red brick with windows and a roof matching the rest of the house. The north elevation of the former outbuilding is abutted by a flat-roofed two-storey curved entrance bay. Both the former outbuilding and the main house are attached on the north side to a two-storey red brick extension built around 1960, with a further two-storey wing extending to the east.

The east elevation presents a series of two- and three-storey gables with half-hipped roofs, each with paired windows at every level; those to the north are abutted by a lead-lined flat-roofed single-storey projection. To the left of this elevation is a full-height canted bay window.

INTERIOR

The extensive renovations carried out around 2013 employed appropriate materials externally but have largely replaced most of the original internal fabric. The building therefore retains some of its original character on the exterior, while the interior has been substantially altered.

SETTING

The house is set back from the east side of Somerton Road within its own extensive landscaped grounds, which include an orchard. The grounds are enclosed to the south by a tall red brick wall and to the road by hedging. A bitmac avenue to the north opens onto the road through modern tall timber gates and fencing. A further, original entrance to the south retains decorative timber gates hung on timber piers with ball finials, with matching S-curve timber fencing set on a rendered plinth wall.

HISTORY

Lisbreen was constructed in 1870 on one of the private parks formed from the breaking up of the Fortwilliam Estate in the mid-19th century. Fortwilliam Park had been laid out in the mid-1860s, and according to architectural historian Paul Larmour, many grand mansions were erected on the former estate during the 1860s and 1870s, though only a few now survive. The Annual Revisions first recorded the property in 1870, when the rateable value of the house was set at £110; a valuer's plan from this period shows that the building originally consisted of the current southeast block alone.

The house was leased by William Valentine of Fortwilliam House to John Lanyon (1839–1900), son of Sir Charles Lanyon. John Lanyon began his architectural career in partnership with his father and W. H. Lynn, forming the firm Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon in 1860. Following the dissolution of the firm in 1872 and his father's retirement, John Lanyon established an independent practice in Belfast. He was responsible for the design of Belfast Castle (1870), Willowfield Parish Church (1871–72), the Waterside Railway Station in Londonderry (1873), and the north wing and chapel of the Presbyterian College in College Park (1879). John Lanyon resided at Lisbreen until his death in 1900, after which the property passed to his widow, Hannah Lanyon. The 1901 census described the house as a first-class dwelling with 16 rooms and outbuildings including a stable and coach house. Hannah Lanyon remained at Lisbreen until her own death in 1929.

In the early 1930s, Lisbreen was acquired by the Trustees of the St. Vincent De Paul Society and was purchased from the Lanyon family on 9th June 1933 at a cost of £3,646, to be used as a temporary chapel of ease; the first mass was held within the building on 17th September of that year. A plot of land to the south of Lisbreen was also purchased at this time, and the Church of St. Thérèse of Lisieux was constructed on it in 1937–39. Mass continued to be held in the dining room of Lisbreen until the opening of the adjoining church in 1939, at which point the house became the official residence of the Bishop of Down and Connor, the Most Reverend Dr. Mageean. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the rateable value of the Bishop's residence was increased to £130.

Two-storey extensions to the west and northwest sides of the building were added in 1965 to designs by Brian Gregory of P. and B. Gregory. These significantly increased the capacity of Lisbreen, which also became a home for the parish priests, and resulted in the total rateable value rising to £200 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72). Lisbreen was listed in 1987. Around 1997 a replacement garage and a link corridor connecting the existing buildings were added. Around 2002, a two-storey dwelling to the north, known as No. 73a Somerton Road, was constructed to provide additional office accommodation for the administration of the Diocese. A general restoration of the building was carried out in 2012–13. At the time of the most recent survey, the building continued to be used as the official residence and Diocesan office for the Bishop of Down and Connor.