19 Wellington Park, Belfast, BT9 6DJ

19 Wellington Park is a two-storey, double-fronted Victorian villa in the domestic gothic revival style, built in 1889/90 by the builder Andrew Dempter Gibson (architect unknown). It forms one of a pair with the adjoining number 21 to the northwest, and together the two houses close the end of a mixed terrace of double-fronted attached dwellings on the northeast side of Wellington Park — a wide, tree-lined avenue running between the Lisburn Road and the Malone Road within the Malone Conservation Area.

The plan is T-shaped, with a three-storey rear return. The roof is finished in natural slate with clay ridge tiles, and plain red brick chimney stacks — shared with number 21 — rise from the northwest and southeast gables, each with a plain corbelled capping course and clay circular chimney pots.

The symmetrical front elevation is built in red brick stretcher bond. At its centre is a shallow-arched doorway flanked by painted circular stone columns with square plinths and Corinthian-style capitals. The door itself is an original bolection-moulded timber example with original ironmongery, approached by two plain concrete steps framed by a dwarf concrete plinth. Above the door is an elliptical arched toplight with polychrome charcoal and red soldier voussoirs. Two-storey canted bays project either side of the doorway. These are topped with pyramidal natural slate roofs edged with lead flashings and capped with ornamental metal finials. Metal guttering with circular downpipes sits above a projecting brick eaves detail with a dog-tooth course below. The canted bays contain historic 1-over-1 painted timber sliding sash windows with sidelights, separated by brick piers. All windows have polychrome charcoal and red soldier canted voussoirs and painted window cills linked across the elevation by a single course of horizontal charcoal brick banding. A projecting corbelled band runs horizontally between floor levels. A contrasting dark-coloured brick plinth runs along the full frontage.

The southeast elevation is blank, with no openings and a chimney at the gable apex.

To the rear, the roof finishes, eaves detailing, and guttering match those at the front. The ground floor level of the rear elevation is finished in masonry paint. On the left side of the main block, windows are vertically stacked: a 6-over-6 sash at ground floor and a 2-over-2 with horizontal transoms at first floor. On the right side, both the ground and first floor windows are 2-over-2 with horizontal transoms. The main block is abutted by the three-storey return, whose southeast face has an asymmetric arrangement of openings: two windows at ground floor to the right of the back door, three windows at first floor level, and a single opening at second floor level. All windows are 2-over-2 with horizontal transoms, except the extreme right ground floor window which is 1-over-1. The northeast gable of the central projection is blank and is abutted by a single-storey outhouse with a pitched roof; the southeast face of this outbuilding has a painted vertically-sheeted door and a small 2-over-2 painted sliding sash window to the right. The northwest side of the rear return has two window openings per floor, all 2-over-2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal transoms.

Materials throughout are as follows: the roof is natural slate with clay ridge tiles; the walls are red brick with blue and charcoal brick detailing, painted at ground level to the rear; windows include some original 2-over-2 timber sliding sash windows with horizontal transoms and some replacement 1-over-1 timber sliding sash windows, all single-glazed; rainwater goods are cast iron and cast aluminium, with some PVC waste pipes and soil pipes to the rear.

Much of the original interior fabric and ornamental detailing survives and the plan form of the house remains largely intact. A minor exception is the partial removal or replacement of the single-storey return at the far rear of number 19, which formerly contained a store and WC, as recorded on large-scale maps of 1958–59 and 1970. A 1935 valuation inspection recorded the interior as substantially built and in good condition at that time. By then, the house had been fitted with electric light, and the entrance hall, landing, and principal rooms had oak parquet floors. The ground floor accommodation at that date comprised an entrance hall, two reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery, two pantries, an outside coal house, and a wash house with a bath for servants and a WC. The first floor contained three double bedrooms, one reception room, a dressing room, and a bathroom in the return. The second floor of the return held two small bedrooms. High ceilings to the main rooms of the front part of the house — recorded as 11 feet 6 inches — were cited as a selling point when the house was first advertised.

The building sits within a setting enhanced by mature trees defining the front boundary with the public footpath and a mature hedgerow, which together soften the streetscape and conceal contemporary paving that provides off-street parking behind. The rear of the property is defined by a high alley boundary wall with a pedestrian access door, giving access to a narrow U-shaped paved patio and yard area.

The history of Wellington Park as a street begins in the 1850s, when the area known as Malone Lower was gradually opened to suburban development. After 1799 the Marquis of Donegall had begun granting longer leases to his tenants in Malone Lower, encouraging building and the southward spread of Belfast. In 1850 an area captioned "Wellington Park" on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map was acquired by George Tate, a timber merchant, who built Wellington Park House — most probably named after the Duke of Wellington, who died in 1852 — and parcelled off the remaining land for development. Wellington Park as a road was laid out in the same decade, and together with Eglantine Avenue and Malone Avenue it forms the southern boundary of terraced development in this part of Belfast. South of Malone Avenue, Malone was largely developed with detached and some semi-detached villas. The double-fronted dwelling type is particularly characteristic of Wellington Park, where houses are slightly more densely packed than in surrounding streets.

The houses at numbers 19 and 21 were built by Andrew Dempter Gibson, a builder with premises in Camden Street, as recorded in the 1901 census. They first appear in valuation records in 1889, each valued at £45. Gibson built several other houses in Wellington Park and in nearby streets, including 17 houses in Wellesley Avenue (approved between 1896 and 1897), two houses in Eglantine Avenue (approved 1882–1888), and 14 houses in Blackstaff Road, now Donegall Road (1891). In January 1890 Gibson placed a newspaper advertisement offering "two two-storey new double houses Wellington Park, three large reception and seven bedrooms, 11ft 6in ceilings, ready for occupation; are worthy of inspection to anyone wanting comfortable house to buy", almost certainly referring to the present pair. In March 1890 the Works Committee recorded granting permission for Gibson to take water into two houses in Wellington Park. The pair first appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1902.

After a period of being rented out, both houses were purchased from Gibson by Samuel Hogg, a Shankill Road grocer, who was resident at number 19 from at least 1894. Samuel Hogg was a relative — most likely an uncle — of the photographer Alexander Robert Hogg. At the time of the 1901 census, Samuel Hogg was living in the house, which was recorded as having 14 rooms and classified as first class. He was resident with his two adult daughters and a general servant. The Belfast Revaluation of 1900 and the appeal books of 1901 recorded both number 19 and number 21 as having three reception rooms and four bedrooms, with a further four bedrooms in the return, "good kitchen and pantries," and fittings that included both gas and a bathroom. The two houses were revalued at £58, subsequently reduced to £52 on appeal. The accompanying plan of the identical houses confirmed the two-storey main block with a three-storey rear return and a further single-storey return at the far rear.

The Hogg daughters remained at number 19 for some years, but by 1924 the house had been taken over by William Moore Fullerton, a Director of the Ulster Bank Ltd. At his death in 1954, Fullerton was described as "a noted figure in the banking world and public life of Northern Ireland for nearly sixty years." Educated at Methodist College, he entered the Ulster Bank in 1886 and retired in 1945 as senior director and chairman. He was also chairman of the Board of Governors of Methodist College and described as "the influence, inspiration and guide" behind the acquisition of Pirrie Park and the establishment of Downey House. He served as a governor of Riddell Hall at Queen's University Belfast, was a member of University Road Methodist Church, and in 1946 presented a minor chapel to the church in memory of his wife. His other public roles included vice-president of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, president of the Methodist Old Boys' Association, treasurer of the Belfast Committee of the German Refugee Fund, and trustee of the Lord Mayor of Belfast's Air Raid Distress Fund. His public services were recognised by his appointment as Deputy Lieutenant for the City of Belfast in 1948, a position he held until his death at the age of 83. He was a prominent freemason, holding high positions in various lodges including Sovereign of Prince Mason Chapter 15. In his will he left £200 for a silver medal for the head boy and head girl of Methodist College, to be known as the W M Fullerton Memorial Medal; one of the preparatory houses of the school was named Fullerton House in 1951 and continues to bear that name.

Fullerton was survived by his daughter, and she and her husband, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Richard St John Shannon — who had served in the Indian Army, fought in Burma during the Second World War, and was awarded various medals including the Burma Star and the Indian War Service Medal — continued to live in the house. The Shannon family were in residence until the 1990s, meaning the Fullerton family and their descendants occupied the house for over 65 years.

Number 19 Wellington Park retains its original aspect and character including its double-height canted bays, decorative polychrome brickwork, and historic windows. Its authenticity, the substantial survival of its original interior fabric and plan form, and its group value together with the adjoining number 21 contribute to its special interest.