Whitevale, 18 Ballymaconaghy Road, Belfast, County Down, BT8 6SB

Whitevale is a detached two-storey four-bay farmhouse built around 1880, incorporating an earlier single-storey dwelling and stable block dating from around 1850 to the east. It stands east of the Ballymaconaghy Road in the borough of Castlereagh, on a large mature site that was once rural but is now substantially developed. The building retains its vernacular character along with a moderately well-preserved interior, though square-headed timber replacement windows inserted into round-headed openings, and recent modifications both internally and externally, detract from its overall character.

The plan is rectangular, with a projecting gabled porch to the front and a two-storey return to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles and bracketed timber eaves to the gables, carried on aluminium ogee rainwater goods fixed to projecting timber eaves. There are three rectangular chimneystacks with tall clay pots. The walling to the principal and gable elevations is ruled-and-lined painted smooth render over a smooth rendered plinth, with a deep stepped plinth to the west gable; the rear elevation is roughcast painted render. Windows are replacement timber-framed casements with projecting masonry sills, set in segmental-headed surrounds at first floor level.

The principal elevation faces north. A chimneystack positioned to the right of centre at the ridgeline divides the façade into two sections: the left section is three windows wide at each floor; the right section has one window at both first and ground floor. To the left sits the projecting gabled porch with overhanging eaves, containing a four-panelled timber door surmounted by a dog-tooth frieze and transom light, accessed via a half-round masonry step. The east gable is abutted by the single-storey former dwelling.

The south (rear) elevation is abutted to the right of centre by the two-storey return. To the left of the return there are three windows at first floor, one diminutive window and one multi-paned window at ground floor. To the right of the return there is a four-paned window at ground floor. The two-storey return itself has a window at both first and ground floor of its gable; a narrow timber casement window to the west elevation; and windows at first floor right and ground floor centre of the east elevation. The west gable has a multi-paned window at ground floor left.

The single-storey former dwelling has replacement windows throughout, cast-iron half-round rainwater goods, and a replacement timber-sheeted entrance door to the centre, with one window to the left and two windows to the right. Its east gable is abutted by the single-storey stable block, which sits at a lower level and is partially of mud-walled construction, with two timber-sheeted half-doors to its north elevation. The rear elevation of the former dwelling has a modern timber-panelled door to the right and two windows to the left.

The asymmetrical arrangement of the complex and the attached single-storey former dwelling and stable block together reflect the phased development of the property. The original entrance to the west retains two Ulster gate piers with pointed caps, which are of particular interest. There is a secondary shared entrance to the northwest. The site is bounded on all sides by mature trees and hedgerow, with a large landscaped garden and mature trees to the north, a paddock to the east, and a small lawned garden to the rear.

The history of the site extends back beyond the current house. An earlier dwelling on the plot is recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, at which time the farm formed part of a collection of buildings arranged around an open courtyard, one side of which was formed by a rath or earthwork fort. By the second edition map of 1858, the buildings to the north of the site and the rath had gone, the road had been realigned, but the dwelling to the south of the site remained. The farm does not appear in the Townland Valuation. Griffith's Valuation of 1856 to 1864 records the farm as the property of John White, who leased it from the Marquess of Downshire. The farm extended to over 35 acres, the buildings were valued at £4, and White paid an annual rent of £37. The valuation records describe a rectangular house of one and a half storeys, slightly decayed but in repair, together with two single-storey outbuildings not in good repair.

Henry White took over the farm between 1864 and 1867. In 1882 he built the current house on the plot adjoining the earlier dwelling, raising the valuation to £7. The 1901 census records Henry White living there with his wife Sarah, his adult children Teresa and William, and two young male farm servants. Henry White died in June 1903. His will reveals that in addition to farming land at Ballymaconaghy and a further farm at Ballylenaghan, he was also a pawnbroker, operating two partnership businesses — one with his son John White in Cromac Street, Belfast, and another with his son Edmund Henry White at 110–112 Falls Road — as well as a business in his own name in Divis Street. A further son held a farm at Knockbracken. Henry left his two farms to another son, William Rogers White, but made provision for his widow and unmarried daughters, stipulating that they should have the use of a parlour and two bedrooms with the furniture and effects therein, together with the garden in front of the house at Ballymaconaghy. He also bequeathed the pianoforte at Ballymaconaghy to whichever of his daughters should be the last to remain unmarried.

Pawnbroking was a flourishing trade in Belfast during the second half of the 19th century. In 1811 there were three pawnbrokers in Belfast; by 1836 there were 41, and by 1880 over 100. This expansion reflects both the rapid growth of the town and the precarious economic circumstances of many of its working inhabitants, in a place where wealth was very unevenly distributed.

William Rogers White is listed in the 1911 census as living at the house with his wife Mary, known as Minnie, and their two young children, alongside his father's widow who remained in residence under the terms of Henry's will. William became owner in fee in 1913 under land purchase legislation, but died in January 1914 in his late thirties. The house passed to his widow Minnie White in 1916. She sold off much of the surrounding farmland in 1940 and remained resident until at least 1957. The name Whitevale does not appear on Ordnance Survey maps until the edition dating from the 1960s and 1970s. The house continues in use as a domestic dwelling.