13 College Gardens, Belfast

13 College Gardens is a mid-terrace, three-storey over basement, red brick late Victorian townhouse built in 1877, architect unknown. It forms part of a symmetrical block of four properties together with Nos. 11, 12 and 14 College Gardens, with the two single-fronted middle houses — Nos. 12 and 13 — mirroring each other, and the wider double-fronted properties at either end of the block. The listing extends to the building itself, its entrance steps and boot-scraper.

The house sits near the eastern end of College Gardens, a tree-lined street of similarly scaled townhouses running between Malone Road and Lisburn Road, within the Queens Conservation Area. The buildings face south and overlook the grounds of Methodist College.

Architectural Overview

The main south-facing front elevation is well proportioned, with red brick walls in Flemish bond and painted stucco dressings. A dark painted render base plinth with a moulded and chamfered top runs along the ground floor. To the left of the front elevation is a single-storey canted bay window with smooth stucco dressings and a projecting moulded cornice decorated with foliage carving; the bay has stop-chamfered heads and jambs to its windows, heavy bull-nosed cills set within the reveal, a serrated edge to the plain frieze below the cornice, and a shallow parapet above a flat roof. To the right is the entrance, which shares a similar smooth stucco surround and matching foliage cornice. The square-headed timber entrance door comprises twin round-arched raised panels with bolection moulding, a plain glass fanlight above a deep moulded transom, a roll-edged reveal with a raised keystone, carved stone spandrels, and a moulded base to either side of the surround — all painted. Above ground floor level the walls are predominantly red brick, with projecting moulded stucco or stone string courses marking the first and second floor cill lines. The upper floor windows are set in segmental arched openings, two at each level and equally spaced, with moulded stucco surrounds; those at first floor have projecting hoods, and those at second floor have lugged surrounds. A projecting moulded eaves cornice sits on a plain frieze band between moulded string courses.

The roof is covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. A replacement red brick chimney stack with a concrete base is centred on the ridge of the main roof and carries multiple circular buff and red clay pots, shared with No. 14. A wide duo-pitched dormer with twin round-arched windows is centred at the front of the roof above the cornice; this appears to be contemporary with the rear extension, dating from around 2000. A further dormer and a modern skylight are present on the rear slope of the roof.

Windows throughout the south elevation are double-glazed replacement timber-framed sliding sashes with 1-over-1 panes. The dormer and rear extension have timber-framed top-hung casements. Rainwater goods are cast metal replacements where seen.

The rear (north) elevation was surveyed from Elmwood Mews, with no access obtained to the rear yard. The original rear elevation is largely obscured by a substantial extension. What little of the original fabric is visible shows red brick in English Garden Wall bond, matching the front. The north brick walling of the main building is also in English Garden Wall bond. The east elevation of the main building is abutted by No. 12. The east face of the extension is partly abutted by a mono-pitched return built at half-landing level belonging to No. 12, with the remainder a blank red brick gable wall. The west elevation is abutted by No. 14.

Entrance and Setting

The front door opens onto a broad platform approached by two stone steps with bull-nosed edges. A cast iron boot-scraper is fixed to the right side of the threshold. Low painted brick walls flank the entrance steps. The house is set back from the tree-lined street behind a parking area, with modern metal fencing enclosing a small garden with a young tree and hedge immediately beside the bay window. Hit-and-miss timber fencing aligns the boundary with No. 12, and mature hedging borders the opposite side adjoining No. 14. The rear extension aligns with the north boundary.

Alterations and Current Condition

A substantial four-storey over basement L-shaped extension, built around 2001, was added at half-landing level to the rear and spans the full width of the site to the rear boundary. This extension detracts from the historic character of the building. In connection with the same works, the interior was subdivided into four self-contained apartments, resulting in the loss of the original plan form. Some historic interior detailing does nonetheless survive. Grant aid was previously awarded in 1990 for external works, rainwater goods and works to the roof of the bay window. Replacement windows and rainwater goods represent further alterations to the fabric.

Historical Background

College Gardens takes its name from its relationship with Methodist College, completed in 1868, and was originally known as College Gardens Avenue. The street was laid out on land that had previously formed part of a series of strip farms running from what are now Malone Road and University Road towards the Bog Meadows. These farms, probably established in the early 17th century, were disrupted first by the cutting of Lisburn Road in 1816–19 and then by the construction of the Ulster Railway in 1837–39. Around the same period, more secure tenure from the Donegall estate encouraged the gentrification of the remaining farmland, with small country villas and demesnes being created within the old plots. The land immediately north and south of College Gardens had belonged to one such villa, Vermont, a house pre-dating 1770 that was possibly rebuilt or enlarged around 1815 and enlarged again in the 1840s, on that occasion by John Riddell, a Belfast ironmonger. The construction of Queen's College to the north-east in 1845 accelerated the suburbanisation of the area. In 1865 the Vermont grounds were sold for the building of Methodist College, which was completed in 1868, and a new private avenue was laid out on the lower ground immediately to its north, with building plots on the northern side. Development proceeded eastward along the street: Nos. 1–6 were built 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.

No. 13 belongs to the block of four built in 1877. Although the architect is unknown, the developer of this block and of all properties westward as far as No. 32 appears to have been the Reverend George Cron, then minister of the Evangelical Union Church in Wellington Place; his monogram is believed to appear on the entrance keystone of all properties in this particular block.

The first recorded occupant was Thomas Thompson, a linen merchant of James Thompson and Son. He was followed around 1891 by F.W. Smith, a land agent and accountant of 7 Donegall Square East. Smith died around 1896, and the 1901 and 1911 census records show his widow, Mrs. Hannah Smith, living there with a friend, Jane Walshe, and a domestic servant; the 1901 census describes the building as a first-class dwelling with 13 rooms in occupation. By 1918 the occupant was R.T. Martin, a solicitor, followed by a Mrs. Martin, presumably his widow, in 1924. Major Rupert Stanley is recorded as occupant in 1932. The property was renumbered No. 12a during the following decade, presumably for superstitious reasons. It was recorded as vacant in 1943, but by 1951 was occupied by Dr. Hugo Hall. By the end of the 1950s the building had become offices for the architects and engineering firm of W.D.R. and R.T. Taggart, who remained until at least the mid-1960s, when they were succeeded by the fellow architects and engineers Ferguson and McIlveen. By at least 1974 the building had changed hands again, with Belfast Progressive Advertising and A.F. Associates Ltd. sharing the premises; both were still in occupation in 1986. Stevenson Munn and Partners are named as sole occupant in 1996. No. 13 College Gardens was listed in September 1979.