22 College Gardens, Belfast

22 College Gardens, Belfast

End-of-terrace, three-storey with attic and semi-basement, red brick late Victorian townhouse, built 1881. The architect is unknown. The house forms the eastern gable end of a largely symmetrical block of four, comprising Nos. 19–22 College Gardens, with No. 19 mirroring No. 22 at the opposite gable end and Nos. 20 and 21 between them. The house sits midway along College Gardens — originally called College Gardens Avenue — a tree-lined street of similarly scaled late Victorian townhouses running between Malone Road and Lisburn Road, within the Queens Conservation Area. The buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College.

The listing covers the former townhouse together with its walls, outbuilding, railings, and side gate.

Architectural Description

The roof is natural slate with red clay crested ridge tiles. There is a gabled dormer to the front pitch, fitted with twin round-arched sliding sash windows, a pierced timber bargeboard, and a pointed finial. A modern roof-light sits to the rear pitch. Two red brick chimneys, both replaced in modern red brick with several circular clay pots, rise from the building: one is shared with No. 21, the other is centred on the gable end. A three-storey flat-roofed return to the rear has an asphalt membrane roof.

Rainwater goods to the main roof are ogee-profile cast metal gutters with circular-section rainwater pipes. The hipped and flat-roofed returns have uPVC gutters and rainwater pipes, with a cast iron rainwater pipe to the flat roof.

The walls are red brick in Flemish bond with stucco dressings to the south and west elevations, and English Garden Wall bond to the north and return. The principal windows are timber-framed double-glazed replacement sliding sashes: 1/1 panes to the south elevation and 2/2 panes to the north, unless otherwise noted. The 2/2 sashes each contain one continuous double-glazed unit per sash, with a central glazing bar face-fixed to the glass and additional spacers inside the glazed unit in line with the bar — in other words, there is no through astragal.

The projecting moulded eaves to the front elevation are carried on scrolled modillions. Beneath them runs a deep frieze composed of fluted pilasters between alternating panels: each panel either has a central roundel within a moulded rectangular frame or is left plain, and the base of each pilaster is embellished with a bestial head moulding. This eaves and frieze detail is returned at the south-west corner onto the gable end. To the rear, the eaves treatment is simpler, with alternating angular bricks; however, the decorative eaves and frieze of the front are repeated at the north-west corner, where they form the base of a plain rendered verge band and projecting moulded timber bargeboard.

Front Elevation (South)

The front elevation is asymmetrical. At ground floor level, the entrance is to the right (east) and a projecting square bay with two windows sits to the left (west). Above, there are three windows at each of the first and second floors, aligned with the ground floor openings, and a gabled attic dormer centred on the eaves. Apart from the attic windows, all openings are segmental-headed and diminish in height from ground to second floor. Windows at ground and first floor have the upper sash divided horizontally in two, with the top half fitted with Edwardian-style stained glass sandwiched between two panes of float glass — this treatment applies to all stained glass panels throughout the house.

A painted render base plinth with a moulded top runs along the front, with vermiculated toothed quoins to the south-west corner. The entrance door is square-headed and timber-framed, comprising two panels with raised fields and bolection moulding, with a plain glass overlight on a simple transom. The surround is an elaborate concentric arched stucco composition with egg-and-dart and chevron moulding, a pitched keystone, and simple pilasters, all painted. The ground floor bay has a cornice and frieze similar to the main roof eaves, and a Renaissance-style balustrade that continues across the main façade and is repeated below a continuous projecting cill at second floor level. Ground floor windows have deep moulded stucco surrounds with corresponding moulded brackets below the continuous projecting cill. The same detail appears at second floor level, but with simple chevron-moulded stucco in place of brackets. At first floor level, plain pilasters run between cill and impost level, where a continuous stucco band enriched with classical-style mouldings runs between the windows; above this band, the moulded surrounds carry ornate floral detail and exaggerated pitched keystones.

Rear Elevation (North)

The rear elevation is simpler in character. A full-height lean-to projection and a double return, built at half-landing level, abuts the left (east) side, stepping down from four to three storeys. To the right there is one opening at each of the basement, ground, first, and second floors. Detailing is plainer than the front, with flat-arched openings, soldier-coursed brick headers, and square-edged painted cills, mostly stone. Window reveals are rendered and painted. All windows to the main building match the description given under materials, except at basement level where there is a side-hung casement. The lean-to projection is otherwise blank apart from the chimneystack, which is now slated over.

The north face of the hipped-roof return has one window at second floor, centred on the hip. The north face of the flat-roofed return has a single window centred at basement level — a casement with faux horns — flanked by bricked-up former openings. At ground floor there is a long fixed light with a lowered cill, aligned with the basement window, and a smaller casement window to the left (east). At first floor there are two windows: a small casement window offset to the right, and to the left a large round-arched sliding sash with 1/1 panes fitted with stained glass. Original brick headers remain to all openings. Eaves to the returns are angled projecting brick as on the main building, with uPVC gutters and rainwater pipes.

East Elevation

The east elevation abuts No. 19 College Gardens. The east face of the return was surveyed from Elmwood Mews and is detailed similarly to the rear of the main building, being largely blank where visible. The brick walling to the hipped-roof return is painted white to first floor level.

West Elevation (Gable End)

The west elevation comprises the gable end of the main building, the west face of the lean-to projection, and the double return. The gable has toothed quoins returned from the main façade and the decorative eaves returned at north and south ends as described above. At ground floor there are two windows: one segmental-arched, matching the bay windows to the main façade, and one flat-headed timber casement. A similar casement appears at first floor, aligned with the one below. Near the eaves at attic level are two small round-arched windows with painted rendered reveals.

The lean-to projection has one opening at each half-landing level. From top to bottom: at attic level, a sliding sash with 2/2 panes; at second floor, a sliding sash with 2/2 panes and margin panes; at first floor, a sliding sash with 1/1 panes where the lower pane has Arts and Crafts-style stained glass; at ground floor, a sliding sash with 1/1 pane with metal bars fitted to the external reveal; and at basement level, a modern sheeted timber door.

On the hipped-roof return: one window at second floor, a sliding sash with 1/1 panes — a wider concrete lintel and adjoining brick infill indicate this opening has been altered; two windows at first floor, sliding sashes with 2/2 panes; two inward-opening casement windows with lowered cills at ground floor; and a casement with faux horns at basement level.

On the flat-roofed return, windows are informally arranged: at first floor, a sliding sash with 2/2 panes and a smaller fixed light with stained glass; at ground floor, a sliding sash with 1/1 panes; and at basement level, a casement with faux horns, not aligned with those above. Remaining soldier-course headers suggest a second basement window that has since been bricked up.

Setting and Curtilage

No. 22 is set back from the tree-lined street by low red brick walling with a chamfered stone coping topped by modern metal railings, with a hedge behind. The same walling separates the side of the house from the rear yard, topped by cast iron railings with a lily motif and a matching gate. The front door opens onto a broad replacement step, flanked by painted dwarf walls with an open balustrade between square end piers. A hedge aligns the boundary with the front garden of No. 23. There is red brick walling to the yard with a rounded terracotta cap. The rear boundary to Elmwood Mews is marked by similar walling with the same cap and a sheeted timber door with a concrete lintel. A matching red brick outbuilding with a wide slide-back door — possibly originally a garage — adjoins the rear boundary. The outbuilding appears to be contemporary with the house, with soldier-course headers and stone cills to openings on the east and south-facing elevations onto the yard; it is now boarded up. Square concrete pavers cover the yard and the paths at the front and side of the house, the latter flanked by planted beds. The front garden has been tarmacked to provide off-street parking, shared with No. 21.

Alterations and Condition

Replacement sliding sash windows have generally been sensitively detailed to the front elevation, though casement windows to the side and rear detract from the overall quality. Subdivision of the upper floors has resulted in some loss of original plan form. Both chimneys have been rebuilt in modern red brick.

Historical Background

College Gardens stands on land that, before the early 19th century, formed part of a series of strip farms running between what are now Malone Road and University Road and the Bog Meadows. These farms were probably laid out in the early 17th century. Their integrity was broken up by the cutting of Lisburn Road in 1816–19 and the construction of the Ulster Railway in 1837–39. Around the same time, greater security of tenure from the Donegall estate led to the gentrification of the remaining farmland, with the building or upgrading of existing structures to create small country villas and the laying out of small demesnes within the former farm plots.

The land immediately north and south of College Gardens belonged to one such villa, Vermont, a pre-1770 house possibly rebuilt or enlarged around 1815 and enlarged again in the 1840s — on the later occasion by John Riddell, a Belfast ironmonger. The construction of Queen's College a short distance to the north-east in 1845 triggered the suburbanisation of the area. In 1865 Vermont itself was sold for the building of Methodist College, which was completed in 1868. A new private avenue was laid out on the lower ground immediately to the north, with building plots on the northern side. Development proceeded eastward along the street: Nos. 1–6 were constructed in 1871, Nos. 7–18 in 1877, Nos. 33 and 34 in 1879, Nos. 19–22 in 1881, Nos. 23–26 in 1882, and Nos. 27–32 in 1883. The developer of everything from No. 11 to No. 32 appears to have been the Reverend George Cron, then minister of the Evangelical Union Church in Wellington Place, though the identity of the architect remains unknown.

The 1884 street directory records the first occupant of No. 22 as John Fulton, described as a manufacturer and warehouseman. He was followed around 1891 by John Campbell, then by a Mrs Gardiner by 1895, Reverend George Cron himself (the developer) in 1899, and Bass Capper by 1900. The 1901 census records Mr Capper — a linen yarn merchant from County Armagh — living at No. 22 with his wife Alice, their three children, and two domestic servants; the house was noted as a first-class dwelling with 14 rooms in use. The Cappers were still in residence at the time of the 1911 census, with their youngest child and two servants, but had moved on by 1918, when a Dr R. Campbell is recorded as occupant. Mrs Campbell, possibly his widow, is recorded there in 1924, and Dr Foster Coates in 1932. Dr Coates appears to have died in the mid-to-late 1940s, after which his widow divided the house into three flats. In the early 1970s the property was acquired by Queen's University Belfast and used as a student residence, a use that continued at least until 1996. After a period of near-dereliction, the building was converted to flats and an architect's office around 2013.