'Edenfells' 4 Lisburn Road, Hillsborough, Co Down, BT26 6AA

'Edenfells', 4 Lisburn Road, Hillsborough

This is a substantial detached two-storey, three-bay Edwardian villa with attic, built in 1905 to designs by the Dromore architect Henry William Edward Hobart. It was constructed as one of an identical pair of villas alongside its neighbour, No.2 ('The Lawn'), both built for George and Henry Bell, brothers who were grocers, meat curers and general merchants trading from premises elsewhere on Lisburn Street. The site, previously undeveloped as confirmed by the first (1835) and second (1862) Ordnance Survey editions, was leased from the Marquis of Downshire. The houses were designed and published by Hobart in the Irish Builder in 1903, though they first appear in the valuation records in 1905. Henry Hobart practised in partnership with Samuel Heron, with offices in the Scottish Provident Buildings, Belfast, and had an extensive output in the first decade of the 20th century including villas and housing terraces across Counties Antrim, Armagh and Down.

When No.4 first appears in the valuation records in 1905, it was occupied by George Bell, valued at £35 15s. The following year Bell is listed as a Justice of the Peace, having also served as a county councillor in 1900. His daughter, Miss Sarah Bell, also lived with him at Edenfells. By 1918 the resident is listed as Henry Bell senior, who remained in the later valuation revisions of 1928–30. Both houses had grass tennis courts in their gardens that were used by the local community during the early 20th century. The firm G & H Bell is listed in the provincial directory until 1980, reappearing in 1986 as insurance and investment consultants. The house has been in the family of the present occupants for approximately seventy years since around 1950.

The house sits on an elevated site within large self-contained private grounds on the east side of Lisburn Road, a short distance north of Hillsborough village centre, just outside the Conservation Area boundary. It is prominently positioned within undivided mature terraced gardens shared with the adjoining identical villa to the south.

Architectural Overview

The plan is irregular, organised around a T-plan ridge, with full-height canted bays to the principal west, north and south elevations, and a lean-to verandah to the west. There is a single-storey link block to the south-east connecting to a two-storey stable building to the east. The roofs are pitched and hipped, covered in natural slate, with stepped and pierced terracotta ridge crestings and finials over the canted bays. The valleys are leaded. The chimneystacks are rendered with corniced caps and stop-end chamfered arrises over party walls between the bays to the west and north pitches and over the south pitch. The verandah roof has fishscale banding. Original profile ogee gutters run over modillioned eaves to the main block and verandah; the link block has simple corniced eaves. Rainwater goods are cast iron throughout.

Walling is of ruled-and-lined unpainted render over a painted chamfered plinth, with string courses at ground floor ceiling level and first floor sill level. These string courses frame decorative floriated apron panels beneath the first floor canted bay windows. A further plain string course forms a frieze between the first floor windows and the cornice.

Windows and Doors

Original plain timber sash windows with horns are retained throughout the principal elevations, some with original glazing, though uPVC windows have been inserted at attic level to the east. Principal elevations have stop-end chamfered reveals; plain reveals are used to the rear elevation and link block. Stone sills are used throughout.

The front (west) elevation has a projecting canted bay to the left, with two openings to its right. The ground floor openings, including the central principal entrance, are sheltered by the verandah. This is an open three-bay framework of timber posts with panelled spandrel brackets on decorative corbels, bedded on cast-iron plinths, with a red quarry-tiled floor accessed by three full-width granite steps, and a timber boarded soffit over exposed rafters. The original varnished oak entrance door is set into a moulded reveal with a transom light above. It comprises six bolection-moulded panels with a beaded muntin, and retains its original polished brass knob and knocker, granite threshold, and original brass and enamel push-bell to the right reveal.

The north elevation has a central projecting canted bay; to its right is a window at each floor. To the left are two openings at each floor: obscurely glazed windows at first floor level and a secondary entrance door, which has four etched glass panels over two raised-and-fielded bolection-moulded bottom panels and a rectangular transom light, with two concrete steps to a granite threshold and a brass push-bell to the right.

The rear elevation is abutted at ground floor left by the link block. It has one window at ground floor centre, one set to the left at first floor, and a pair of windows at attic level. The link block has four windows to its south elevation; its north elevation is open to the left beneath a painted masonry lintel, with a window to the right. It is abutted to the east by the former stable building.

The south elevation has a canted bay to the left and a large semi-circular arched timber-framed stairwell window to the centre, with original leaded and stained glass above a ground floor window. The right bay is lower, with two windows at ground floor and one at half-landing level, all diminished in size. The link block projects to the right.

Stable Block and Link Building

The two-storey stable building to the rear has a central gablet over the former loading door, now replaced by a timber casement window. Its pitched slate roof has terracotta ridges and finials, simple projecting eaves, ruled-and-lined rendered walling, and generally retains original timber sash windows, with casement windows to the loft. At ground floor, the stable and harness room have tongued-and-grooved sheeted timber doors with transom lights, and there are double timber-sheeted garage doors to the right. The stable block, link block and main house combine to form a small courtyard, preserving a complete picture of the domestic workings of a house of this age, size and type.

Entrance and Setting

The roadside boundary is tree-lined, with an alcoved entrance comprising quadrant ruled-and-lined rendered walling with a moulded coping, terminated by piers at either end. The central gate piers are taller, with stop-end pole-moulded arrises, cross-ridged caps, and a pair of original wrought-iron gates, which were detached at the time of survey. Terraced lawns to the front are accessed by two flights of granite steps to the main entrance. A tarmac perimeter path leads to large L-shaped rear gardens enclosed by a hedge boundary, incorporating the now-lawned site of a former tennis court. There is a simple glasshouse to the east and a plainly detailed detached garage to the north-east.

The listing extends to the house, link block, outbuilding, entrance gates, gate screen and piers. Group value is considered particularly high: as an identical pair of detached villas of this quality, retaining a high degree of original fabric and authenticity, the combination is rare.