694-696 ANTRIM ROAD, BELFAST

694–696 Antrim Road is a detached, asymmetrical, two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey former gate lodge and post office, built around 1892 in the Tudor Revival style using red brick and render. It sits in the townland of Green Castle, on an elevated corner site at the junction of Antrim Road and the access road to Belfast Castle, overlooking Belfast Lough. The building is now in use as a pair of private dwellings and carries architectural, historical and social interest to the locality. It has group value with Belfast Castle and the other listed structures associated with the castle estate.

Origins and History

The building was commissioned by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Lord Ashley, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury, whose family had come into possession of Belfast Castle in 1883 following the death of the 3rd Marquis of Donegall (the 8th Earl had married the Marquis's daughter in 1857). Belfast Castle itself had been built in 1868–70 and already had two gate lodges: one at the south-eastern entrance to the estate, built in 1870, and an Italianate-style lodge constructed around 1885 as the main northern entrance. This building served as the third gate lodge, permitting access to the estate from the north, and was first recorded in the Belfast Street Directories in 1892. The architect is unknown, though the building is regarded as an early example of the Arts and Crafts style in Ulster, a movement described by the architectural historian Dixon as deriving from William Morris's rejection of mass production and seeking instead the irregular but more agreeable qualities of handicraft, with simplicity of decoration and functional planning at its heart. Likely candidates for the design include early proponents of the style in Ulster such as Vincent Craig and James John Phillips.

Annual Revision records show that construction cost £1,160, with the completed building divided into two sections. No. 694 was valued at £12 and used as both a dwelling and a post office — known as the Cave Hill Post Office — while No. 696, the gate lodge proper, was valued at £17. The first recorded occupant of the post office was a Ms Mary Sampson, and the first gatekeeper at No. 696 was a Mr Charles West. By the 1901 Census of Ireland, No. 694 was occupied by a Ms Julia Armstrong and described as a second-class shop and dwelling with five rooms, while No. 696 was inhabited by Richard Nevin, a retired policeman, and described as second-class with four rooms.

The Shaftesbury family retained Belfast Castle and its outbuildings until 1934, when the 9th Earl granted the castle and its 200-acre estate to Belfast Corporation. The castle was officially opened to the public by the Lord Mayor on 9th July 1937, becoming a popular venue for wedding receptions, public dances and afternoon teas. No. 696 ceased to function as a gate lodge from the 1930s and became a private dwelling, with the adjoining laneway used as the main exit from the estate. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the former gate lodge — by then reduced in value to £12 — was leased by Belfast Corporation to a Ms Elizabeth Gillespie. The post office at No. 694, by then increased in value to £17, was occupied by the postmistress Mrs F. Beamish from the 1930s onwards. By the end of the Second General Revaluation, No. 694 had been raised in value to £38 while No. 696 remained at £12. No. 694 continued to function as a post office until around 1974, when the Beamish family vacated the premises.

Ownership of Nos. 694–696 passed to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in 1973, and the pair were listed in 1984. An extensive renovation was carried out in 2008–10, designed by Gordon McKnight Partnership, which included construction of a single-storey red brick extension to the north side of No. 696, the addition of new entrance doors, replacement of the original roof timbers, re-slating of the roof in Spanish slate, repointing of the brickwork, and installation of new timber window frames throughout. Photographs of the Antrim Road elevation dating from around 1920 confirm that few structural changes had been made to the building between the early 20th century and the time of this renovation.

Exterior Description

The building follows a T-shaped plan, with gables facing east and north and a series of single-storey bays forming entrance porches to the north-east, a single-storey extension to the south-west, and a further extension to the west. The roofs are steeply pitched and covered in natural slate, with terracotta roll-top ridge tiles, painted timber moulded bargeboards to the overhanging verges with exposed purlin ends and decorative finials. The eaves overhang with exposed rafter ends and a painted timber sheeted soffit. The two-stage chimneys are in red brick with carved stone string courses and copings, topped with circular terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are uPVC throughout.

The walls are in red brick laid in Flemish bond with a brick plinth course at ground floor level, while the gable apexes are in smooth render with applied timber framing, painted, giving the building its Tudor Revival character. Windows throughout are timber casements set in square-headed openings with ashlar sandstone surrounds, moulded stone drip moulds, and integral splayed sills, except where otherwise noted.

The north-east elevation features a canted bay with a steeply pitched pyramidal natural slate roof and a metal weather vane finial to the east, together with a projecting gable at the centre with a pitched roof. The canted bay has a carved stone surround built out at its base, with a six-panelled timber entrance door. Window openings face east and north. The gabled bay has a pair of square-headed openings at ground floor level, with diagonal timber framing to the gable apex.

The north elevation features a gable-fronted bay with a projecting rendered first floor supported on carved timber brackets, a mono-pitched single-storey porch to the east adjoining the north-east-facing gable, and a single-storey two-bay extension to the west with metal rooflights. A canted window at ground floor level has a projecting painted stone sill. The porch has a square-headed door opening with a moulded timber head and six-panelled timber door inset. The first floor of the gable has a square-headed opening with a pair of timber casement windows with painted timber surrounds and a moulded timber sill.

The west elevation consists of a single-bay projecting gabled extension to the north and a two-bay single-storey section with a flat roof adjoining a gabled return to the south. The extension has a square-headed door opening approached by brick steps, with a corner window returning to the south. The flat roof has timber sheeted fencing. Behind, at the main roof level, is a clerestory window with a chimney stack adjoining.

The south elevation has a single-bay, one-and-a-half-storey gable-fronted central bay with a projecting rendered first floor. To the east of this central bay, the projecting gable presents as three bays at single-storey height, with a pair of rooflights to its roof and part-rendered walls at ground floor level. To the west of the central gable-fronted bay is a single-bay mono-pitched extension, with a two-bay south elevation of a further projecting gable adjoining to the west. Square-headed openings at first floor level in the gable have pairs of timber casement windows with painted timber surrounds and moulded timber sills. The south elevation of the west extension has a square-headed window opening that extends to the west corner.

The east elevation to Antrim Road has a gable-fronted bay with a rendered apex and applied timber framing. To the south at ground floor level is a five-sided canted bay with a flat lead-covered roof, a moulded parapet, a painted stone sill, and nine-over-one or six-over-one timber casement windows. To the north at ground floor level are paired square-headed openings. The north-east-facing elevation, as described above, abuts the north side.

Setting

The building stands on the corner of Antrim Road, adjacent to the access road to Belfast Castle, with a red brick boundary wall to the north and east featuring chamfered cut-stone coping and metal railings above. Square-plan piers form entrances to the north-east and south-east, with rendered steps leading to the entrance doors. A rubble stone wall extends westward from the piers, curving to form the entrance to the rear, with square-plan piers, crenellated coping, and metal gates. A hedge boundary to the south encloses the private gardens, and there is brick paving to the west. To the west of the building, a pair of rock-faced coursed basalt piers stand adjacent to the site.