1-5 Malone Place, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT12 5FD

1–5 Malone Place is a relatively small two-storey rendered house of around 1837–43, with a two-storey rear return and a plain single-storey projection to the north of around 1843–49. It was substantially altered in 1893 with the addition of a large projecting shop front, and was subsequently dismantled and rebuilt in 2004, with many of the later additions removed in the process. The property is one of the very few surviving pre-1850s houses in the centre of Belfast and, taken together with the remainder of Malone Place to its west — much of which also dates from the 1840s — it has group value in completing the terrace and turning the corner from Sandy Row into Malone Place.

Historical Background

The short stretch of street now known as Malone Place was originally the easternmost end of Blackstaff Lane, a country route running between what is now the Falls Road and what is now Bradbury Place and University Road, and, after 1816, the newly cut Lisburn Road. The Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows this area still in its undeveloped rural state, apart from a building on the site of the present 1–5 Malone Place. Whether that earlier structure is the same building as today is uncertain; it does not appear to have been recorded in the valuation of 1837, suggesting it was a modest, possibly single-storey, property. The main portion of the present building appears to have been constructed sometime between 1837 and 1843, as its shape and siting match that shown on a large-scale map of the latter year. However, the present return does not appear on that map, nor does anything of the terrace beyond it. Internal evidence — including a blocked-up window and doorway, and the fact that the return roof does not integrate with the rest of the building — indicates that the return is a later addition and that the main building was originally freestanding.

This main building, originally known as Malone Cottage, is recorded in a Belfast street directory of 1849 as the home of a pawnbroker named James Warnock. Seven other houses in Malone Place are also recorded at that date, comprising the bulk of the present terrace. All are shown on a large-scale Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and recorded in the valuation of 1860, along with the return, the projection to the north gable, and a large triangular-shaped garden immediately to the east of the Cottage. By this point Malone Place had ceased to function as the eastern end of Blackstaff Lane; a new short length of road had been cut to the north around 1845, creating a straightened route that was developed as Donegall Road in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the later 1860s and 1870s, Malone Cottage was leased to various occupants including a Dr Young and a draper named Henry Stevenson, but remained in the ownership of the Warnock family until 1893, when it was acquired by a William Rosbotham. By that stage, the semi-rural character the cottage had enjoyed in the 1840s had long since disappeared, with dense development in Sandy Row to the east and north, and along Bradbury Place and Lisburn Road to the south. The railway cutting to the south appeared in the late 1860s, and the straightening of the southern end of Sandy Row and the laying of tram lines had swept away the cottage's garden by the 1890s. In keeping with this urbanisation, William Rosbotham converted Malone Cottage to a shop in 1893, adding the large shop front. The small projection to the north end, along with a small section of the ground floor of the main building, was converted as a separate business premises around the same time; the first house in the terrace, the present no. 7 Malone Place, was also acquired by Rosbotham and converted to a shop in 1897. The former Malone Cottage continued as a shop — originally a furniture seller — until around the 1980s, after which it was used simply as a store for furniture. The separate premises to the north side, within the projection, operated as a bookmakers before closing around 1990.

Exterior as Recorded in February 2003 (Before 2004 Works)

The property is set at the east end of the short terraced block of Malone Place, fronting onto the southern end of Sandy Row, with the front elevation facing east. This elevation is asymmetrical and is made up of the main building together with the east face of the tall single-storey projection to the right-hand side. At the time of the 2003 survey, the entire ground floor level of the main building was covered by a large projecting rendered shop front, set at an angle and projecting further towards the left-hand, southern edge, culminating at the south-east corner in a bevel. The shop front had a recessed, right-of-centre doorway, at that point blocked — this had most recently given access to a bookmakers shop mainly contained within the projection to the north — with a large window to the left, then boarded over, and a much smaller high-level window to the right, also blocked. Above these openings was a simple timber frieze intended to carry the shop sign, much of the facing of which had fallen away. The frieze was topped with a simple moulded cornice course, and the roof of the shop front was flat. At first-floor level there were three original window openings, each with a simple moulded surround and fitted with modern replacement timber frames of the top-hung over fixed-pane type. The rest of the first floor was finished in plain painted render, with simple pilasters to the wall edges and a bracketed eaves course. It is possible the render was added along with the shop front in 1893, though the pilasters suggest it may have been original; other, now-demolished, mid-19th-century houses in Sandy Row, on the site of the neighbouring apartment block built more recently, had similar pilasters. The east elevation of the projection to the north was blank at this time, its single centrally positioned window having been blocked, with only the sill remaining.

The south elevation faces into Malone Place proper and consists of the gable of the main building to the right and the south face of the two-storey return. The return is slightly shorter than the main building, has a partly hipped roof, and to the west merges with the rest of the Malone Place terrace. In date it may be slightly more recent than the rest of the building, possibly added around 1843–49 when most of the houses in Malone Place were constructed. At ground floor level on the south face of the return, to the left, was a flat-arched vehicle doorway set within an elliptical-arched recess, fitted with a timber sheeted double door. To the right of this doorway was a window with a doorway immediately to its right, both boarded up. At first-floor level there had originally been two window openings, but both were blocked at the time of survey. This face of the return was finished in painted render. At ground floor level, the south gable of the main building was wholly covered by the shop front, which had a low doorway to the left, then a large square window, then a taller doorway leading into the shop and a narrow window to the right — all boarded. Much of the rendered upper portion of the gable was covered by a large billboard, with no openings visible at attic level, though internal evidence suggests there was originally at least one small window opening at this level.

Much of the north gable of the main building was covered by the large single-storey projection, which had a skewed north face, blank and rendered, and a single-pitch roof. The remainder of the north gable was rendered, with the outlines of two small square window openings at attic level, both blocked. There was a rendered chimneystack with a projecting cornice-like string course to each gable of the main building, with a similar but only partly rendered stack to the east end of the return roof. There were no chimney pots. A small cast-iron skylight was visible to the west, rear, side of the main building's roof.

The rear elevation could not be seen in its entirety at the time of survey. It appeared to be wholly in brick, with a lean-to section at ground floor level under a corrugated iron roof. This lean-to merged with the rear of the single-storey projection to the north, whose rear face extended beyond that of the main building, and had several small blocked-up window openings. At first-floor level there was a blocked-up window opening. The lean-to was constructed in a more modern-looking red-orange brick, suggesting it was not original. The north-facing rear elevation of the return could not be seen, but internal evidence showed that the vehicle entrance passed all the way through the return and that to the left of it, at ground floor level, there was a blocked-up window and doorway. The roofs of the main building and the return were both slated, while the projection to the north was covered in corrugated iron. The return roof was hipped to the east side and did not merge with the roof of the main building, further indicating that the return was added at a later date. Metal rainwater goods were fitted throughout.

Exterior as Recorded in January 2007 (Following 2004 Works)

The building was substantially dismantled and re-erected in 2004. On the front east-facing elevation, the shop front was removed and new window openings and a door were inserted to the ground floor. The new openings have simple moulded surrounds matching the existing first-floor fenestration. All windows are now new sliding sash, two-over-two panes. The new front door is a painted timber six-panel type with a simple rectangular fanlight. The finish is plain painted render throughout.

The gable elevation was remodelled with the original shop front removed and new windows installed. The ground and first floors each have two moulded window openings matching those on the front elevation. At attic level there are two narrower round-headed plain openings. All windows are sliding sash. The finish is plain painted render.

The return has two windows to the first floor matching the originals, fitted with new sliding sash windows. To the right-hand side of the return at ground floor level is a simple painted timber four-panelled entrance door with a small plain rectangular fanlight. Immediately to the left of the door is a sliding sash window. To the left on the ground floor of the south face of the return, there is a flat-arched vehicle doorway, now bricked up, containing two low book-matched entrance doors with simple rectangular fanlights. The finish to the return is fair-faced brick, matching the rest of the terrace facing Malone Place, of which it forms part.