Manor Lodge Care Home, 5 The Manor, Blacks Road, Dunmurry, BT10 0NB

Manor Lodge Care Home, 5 The Manor, Blacks Road, Dunmurry

A two-storey Victorian house built around 1872 by architect William Shirrie (also recorded as Sherry) for William Coates JP of Glentoran, erected on the site of the former Farmhill House. The house was built for Coates' daughter Eleanor and her husband Edward Richardson. Now serving as a care home, this well-preserved building displays high quality craftsmanship throughout and retains much of its original character, though it has become encompassed by suburban development. Extensions carried out in around 1990 when the house was adapted as a nursing home remain sympathetic and subservient to the principal building. A large adjoining accommodation block was added to the rear, connected by a two-storey glazed link, with two historic outbuildings positioned to the northwest.

The three-bay square plan form features a two-storey wing to the rear. The roof is natural slate with lead hip and ridge, topped by two profiled stone chimneystacks on brick bases with tall clay pots, located along the ridge over the principal elevation. A matching chimneystack sits over the rear wing. Overhanging eaves feature timber sheeted soffits with closely paired timber eaves brackets. Extruded metal ogee guttering with circular downpipes, with some original sanitary ware piping surviving to the rear.

The walling is red brick in Flemish bond with tooled ashlar sandstone surrounds to all openings, plinth, quoins and a moulded eaves string course. Victorian unequal 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with horns are arranged as singles, pairs and triples with sandstone mullions, cills and heads throughout. The front door is a large six-panelled timber door with brass ironmongery.

The symmetrically arranged south-facing principal elevation features a centrally located front door flanked by Tuscan pilasters rising to an entablature. Either side are matching single-storey shallow box bays with three lights, chamfered sandstone cills and mullions with entablature detailing above. At first-floor level, sandstone window surrounds project from the brick face with a projected eaves directly over.

The east-facing elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a large bowed single-storey sandstone bay on the right and a large modern single-storey conservatory to the left, with remains of the original sandstone bay visible where the extension abuts the façade. Three first-floor openings comprise a central single light with long-and-short surrounds, flanked by paired windows matching the principal elevation details.

The north-facing rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with a large half-arched sliding sash stair light with yellow brick surrounds and margin panes positioned left of centre. To the right an L-shaped single-storey modern kitchen has been built sympathetically. Various smaller windows with matching brick surrounds, sandstone cills and heads occupy the remainder of this elevation.

The west-facing elevation is five bays deep, incorporating the rear wing which projects approximately one metre beyond the principal building line. A single-storey canted bay with paired window above and projecting surrounds sits to the left, with the remaining windows being variously sized, single and paired openings uniformly arranged with long-and-short stone surrounds.

The internal detailing is of high quality and the internal plan has remained relatively unchanged, exemplifying the overall quality of this fine example of a large late Victorian house.

The setting is largely suburban development. A short driveway with landscaping either side leads from the southeast entrance to a tarmac car park adjacent to the front entrance. The original gated entrance to the north survives, though much of the associated wall has been removed. The two historic outbuildings to the northwest are 1½-storey masonry rubble structures with pitched slate roofs.

Historical Background

The site was originally occupied by Farmhill House, a small T-shaped building shown on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map with two large oblong outbuildings. The 1828-40 Townland Valuations recorded the occupier as James Coleman, with the house valued at £16.9s. and the land described as "Arable fine strong land". By the 1859 OS map the dwelling had been substantially altered, adopting a square plan form, with the two oblong outbuildings remaining. Griffiths Valuation of 1861 documented several additional returns and outbuildings, with the buildings described as "Thatched and low houses all in bad condition" and valued at £25. The tenant was Sarah McKibben and the landlord was John WS McCance.

John WS McCance (born 1772) was the son of John McCance (1744-1811). The McCance family name was associated with the linen industry in the area for almost 200 years, operating bleach greens at Suffolk and Glenville. John WS McCance also served as an Member of Parliament for Belfast. The McCance family sold the land to William Coates JP of Glentoran in 1869 for £2000. Annual Revisions record the imminent building works around 1871 with a valuer's note "see in 71 about to build here". The construction of the new house resulted in a dramatic increase in value from £3 in 1870 to £85 in 1876, with the total value including land reaching £142.

Eleanor Richardson continued to live in the house after her husband Edward's death in 1901. Around 1990 the house was adapted as a nursing home. In 2000 the home was taken over by its present owner.