Faith House, 25 Orpen Park, Finaghy, Belfast, County Antrim, BT10 0BN

Faith House, 25 Orpen Park, Finaghy

Faith House — originally known as Finaghy House — is a mixed single- and two-storey rendered masonry building whose central block is thought to date from the late 17th century, possibly around 1695. It stands on the west side of Orpen Park in the former rural townland of Ballyfinaghy, tucked behind a street of semi-detached houses and reached through an unassuming entrance. The building has grown in stages over more than three centuries, and this layered development defines its character today.

History and Ownership

The house was originally built for a Mr Richard Woods. In 1727 it was purchased by Ralph Charley (1674–1759), a successful linen merchant who owned a number of bleach greens in the Dunmurry area and later established weaving looms at the property. According to Rankin, the Charley family were originally from Lancashire and fled to Ireland following their involvement in the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, with Ralph Charley establishing the family's Irish line at Dunmurry. The Charley family went on to occupy Finaghy House for five generations over more than 150 years, from 1727 to 1885. In 1824, descendants John and William Charley formed the partnership J. & W. Charley & Co., which Rankin describes as a speciality linen business dealing in the finest household linen goods and carrying out commissions for the Royal Family.

At the time of its acquisition by the Charley family, Finaghy House reportedly comprised six reception rooms and twelve bedrooms and was described by a family descendant as "an imposing mansion in a large park, with extensive outhouses and stables," with a notable revolving fireplace between the drawing room and dining room (Lilburn Historical Society Journal). A plaque on the south-west gable records the date 1727, marking when the Charley family first took possession of the site.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s described the house as a commodious two-storey dwelling still retaining its original thatched roof, noting that "the walls are nearly four feet thick and run together by grouted lime, similar to other ancient buildings." The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832–33 depicted the main two-storey building in broadly its current layout, along with a number of slated outbuildings to the north-west that the Memoirs record as having been built by the Charley family within the preceding forty years. The Townland Valuations of around 1830 placed the total value of the house and outbuildings at £26 and 8 shillings. By the time of Griffith's Valuation around 1860, this had risen to £40. The Second Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows that the attached two-storey rear return and outbuilding to the north-west had been constructed in the intervening period.

John Stouppe Charley (1825–1878), a local magistrate and committee member of the Northern Bank, occupied Finaghy House from 1866 until 1885. Following his death in 1885, his widow sold the mansion and its contents. A Mr James Moore came into possession of the dwelling during the 1890s, and it was during his occupancy that the formerly thatched roof was most likely replaced with slate and the building altered into its current appearance. By 1898 the valuation of Finaghy House had risen sharply to £160, indicating that significant alterations had been made, though the valuer did not record the precise changes. The 1901 census confirms that the thatched roof had been replaced with slate by that date, and the Ordnance Survey map of 1901 shows the construction of the current single-storey entrance porch as the most discernible change made between the second and third map editions. The Moore family remained at Finaghy House until 1930, when the property was acquired by Major and Mrs Tyler.

Finaghy House continued in use as a private dwelling until 1960, when it was converted into a care home for elderly residents and renamed Faith House. The building was listed in 1987. Work carried out in 1989–90 included replacement of the original windows in the two-storey return and alteration of the side porch in the rear courtyard; at this time the original outbuilding to the north-west was replaced with the current two-storey wing, though the original two-storey gable bay at the north-west end of the return, erected between 1833 and 1858, was retained. Between 1991 and 2011 a number of further modern extensions were constructed to the north-west and south-west sides of the building, greatly increasing the capacity of the care home.

Phasing and Plan

The building complex has developed in clearly identifiable phases. The gabled two-storey rectangular block facing south (Block 1) is the oldest part, possibly dating from the late 17th century. The two-storey pitched-roof L-shaped building to the rear (Block 2) was constructed in the first half of the 18th century, followed by the single-storey pitched-roof extension to the south-east (Block 3) and the porch to the south (Block 4) in the second half of the 18th century. The modern extensions to Block 3 facing the middle courtyard (Block 5) date from 1989–90, and the remaining modern extensions to the north and south-west of the site (Block 6) were built between 1991 and 2011.

Principal (South) Elevation

The principal elevation faces south and presents a two-storey, three-bay block (Block 1) with crow-stepped gables and a single-storey porch (Block 4) to the east side, alongside a single-storey four-bay-wide elevation to the east (Block 3). The walling is rendered with projecting quoins and a base plinth. The chimney stacks are of rectangular section render with chamfered coping and polygonal chimney pots. The pitched roof to Block 1 is finished in natural slate with angled red clay ridge tiles and decorative fish-scale banding. Rainwater is collected by cast iron hoppers discharging to circular downpipes.

Window openings to the west are square-headed with rendered architraves, moulded hoods and projecting cills. Ground-floor windows are fitted with timber casements; first-floor windows are sliding sashes with 1-over-1 panes. The single-storey porch has a pointed segmental arched door opening with a moulded architrave, a replacement timber panelled door with fanlight and side lights, and bipartite window openings to the east and west return faces, each with a four-centred arch, fixed glazing and a dressed stone surround with moulded hood and splayed cill. The porch is strengthened by diagonal two-stage buttresses and finished with moulded cornicing and a raised crenellated parapet. The first and third gables each carry a plaque bearing a coat of arms at high level.

Block 3 has a half-hipped slate roof with angled red clay hip tiles and cast iron ogee guttering with decorated hoppers discharging to circular downpipes. Its square-headed window openings are fitted with timber casement windows with moulded hoods and chamfered cills. The third bay has a three-part window and there is a slightly projecting bay at the east end with a four-part window; both have a four-centred arch to each opening with dressed stone surrounds and hood moulds. The projecting bay is finished with a crenellated parapet above.

East Elevation

The east elevation comprises a single-storey gabled bay (the east face of Block 3), a projecting single-storey gabled bay immediately to the north, and a modern single-storey pitched-roof building (part of Block 6) abutting to the north. The walling to Block 3 is rendered with projecting quoins to the south end. The single-storey gabled bay has a pitched slate roof with roll-top black clay ridge tiles. A square-headed window opening with a uPVC casement window and projecting cill sits within the gabled bay. The modern Block 6 section is built in painted red brick.

West Elevation

The west elevation consists of a two-storey gabled bay at the south end (Block 1), a two-storey recessed four-bay-wide section immediately to the north (Block 2), and a two-storey crow-stepped gabled bay (Block 2) abutted by a modern two-storey flat-roofed extension (part of Block 6). The gabled bay at the south end features a three-sided hipped-roof bay window at ground-floor level, with a square-headed door above opening onto a modern steel fire-escape stair. A plaque with a coat of arms and the date 1727 is centred on the crow-stepped gable above. Moulded corbel stones appear at eaves level. A modern two-storey flat-roofed corridor connects the next bay to the modern south-east extension.

Block 2 has a pitched natural slate roof with decorative bands of fish-scale tiles, angled red and black clay ridge tiles and exposed rafter tails. Three rectangular painted chimney stacks with chamfered corners sit centred on the ridge: the central stack carries three octagonal clay pots with a fourth pot missing, and the two flanking stacks each carry two octagonal clay pots. The recessed bay and the ground floor of the gabled bay have replacement uPVC casement windows with raised architraves and stone cills. A three-part timber sliding sash window with 1-over-1 panes sits at first-floor level below the crow-stepped gable. The render to Block 2 has been scored to resemble ashlar stone, and a raised plinth runs along the base.

Middle Courtyard

The middle courtyard is accessed through the east elevation and is enclosed by the north faces of Blocks 1 and 3 — most of which are obscured by single- and two-storey modern extensions — along with the east and south elevations of Block 5 and the smallest of the modern extensions forming part of Block 6. Roofs here are finished in natural slate with angled red clay ridge tiles. uPVC semi-circular guttering discharges to circular downpipes. Modern skylights are present at the south end of Block 5. The walling is red brick laid to English bond. Square-headed window openings with projecting cills carry uPVC casement windows. A single-storey flat-roofed porch projects from the south elevation of Block 5, featuring leaded lights, a heavy cornice and paired brackets.

Setting and Materials

The site is approached via a narrow street on the west side of Orpen Park. Tarmacked parking occupies the south side and the middle and rear courtyards, with modest landscaping and some mature trees to the west. The modern extensions include a two-storey flat-roofed building to the north forming an L-shaped plan with a single-storey flat-roofed building, and a large complex to the south-west comprising single- and two-storey buildings arranged around an internal courtyard.

Roofing materials are natural slate throughout the historic portions of the building. Rainwater goods are cast iron to the principal elevations and uPVC elsewhere. External walling is rendered masonry. Windows are a mixture of timber sliding sashes and casements in the historic blocks, with uPVC casements in the later extensions.