Studley House, 17 Cloughmore Road, Rostrevor, BT34 3EL

Studley House is a fine mid-Victorian Italianate villa of 1858–59, designed by the renowned Newry architect William J. Barre for David Stead, then of Seaview, Warrenpoint. It is a robust yet unfussy example of its type — asymmetric, relatively sophisticated, and largely original both externally and, it appears, internally. The survival of the house alongside its grounds, coach yard, and rubble boundary walling makes this a particularly noteworthy example, since buildings of this type, while not yet uncommon in rural areas, have become much rarer in the increasingly development-hungry outskirts of settlements.

Setting

The house sits within spacious, partially wooded grounds on the south side of Rostrevor, approximately 0.37 kilometres south-southwest of the village centre. A curving drive opens off Cloughmore Road to the east, and the plot is enclosed along this frontage by a rubble stone wall with stone coping, which appears to have been heightened at some point. The gateway, situated close to the southern end of this wall, has circa 1970s blue-grey brick piers and sheeted timber gates of similar age. Similar rubble walling appears to run along the other boundaries. A gate lodge originally stood at the south-eastern corner of the plot, just south of the gateway, but was demolished around 1888 to make way for the present Glenview Terrace. A yard with two-storey outbuildings lies to the east and west sides immediately to the rear of the house, at the northwest corner of the plot.

Plan

The plan is essentially square, but with a broad full-height projection to the southwest — which carries an attached single-storey porch and a canted bay — and a further full-height projection to the northeast.

Exterior

The house displays all the standard hallmarks of the Italianate villa genre: a hipped roof with overhanging dentilled eaves, square and canted projections (some with balconies), a rendered façade with ground-floor rustication, in-out quoins to the south, east and west elevations, an upper-level sill course, and a mixture of arched and flat-headed openings. Walls are finished with lined render, and window sills are of painted stone. Unless otherwise noted, windows throughout have two-over-two timber sash frames.

South (front) elevation: This is asymmetric, as are all elevations. A porch sits towards the centre, with the doorway set to its east side and a semi-circular arched window to the front. The doorway has a panelled timber door and semi-circular fanlight; the window has a replacement frame, though it originally had a double-sash frame. The porch is topped with a balcony fitted with decorative cast-iron railings. Immediately to the left of the porch is the full-height southwest projection, whose ground floor has a canted bay with paired flat-arch windows to the front and single flat-arch windows to each side. This bay was originally topped with a balcony matching the one over the porch, but the railings have since been removed. A photograph of around 1900 shows the building much as it appears today, but with this balcony still in place. To the first floor of the projection are paired windows with segmental-arch heads set within a shouldered and arched moulded surround. To the right of the porch is a three-light (tripartite) window with rendered mullions between each light. Directly above the porch is a single window matching those to the first-floor projection, though with a replacement timber frame, and a further pair of windows sits to its right. The east-facing side of the southwest projection has an arched niche to the upper floor, facing onto the balcony, of the kind designed to house a statue.

West elevation: This is a less formal arrangement. The far left bay rises through three levels — probably corresponding to rooms off half-landings — each with a semi-circular headed window. The centre and right portions have three windows on the ground floor matching those to the front, and three above matching those to the first floor of the front elevation, but without the moulded surrounds.

East elevation: The left half has two windows to each floor, broadly matching the front elevation but with moulded surrounds to the first-floor windows. To the right is a full-height square projection with a triple-light window to the ground floor and a paired window above.

North (rear) elevation: This is the least formal face of the building, with windows arranged at three levels. A tall rendered wall abuts the ground floor at centre-left, enclosing the east side of the yard. Ground-floor windows are generally smaller than those on the garden fronts, and many have six-over-six timber sash frames. To the left of this wall there are two windows at slightly differing levels, and two more to the right of it flanking a partially glazed rear door. At the middle level there are three windows in the central section; the outer two broadly match the ground-floor windows, while the one between them is a large semi-circular headed stairwell window with a conjoined-arch timber frame and decorative stained glazing. The glazing contains a pair of matching roundels each bearing what appears to be an earl's coronet above the letters or cypher "CF" or "FC". The top level has two central windows aligned with the smaller windows of the middle floor.

Roof, chimneys and rainwater goods: The roof is natural Welsh slate, hipped, with a central well and boxed eaves on dentilled brackets — except along much of the rear elevation. There are three tall rendered chimneystacks; the southern one retains its original arched chimney pots. Rainwater goods appear to be largely cast iron. A satellite dish is attached to the east elevation.

Materials: Walls — render; roof — natural Welsh slate; rainwater goods — cast iron; windows and doors — timber.

Yard and outbuildings

The rear yard contains a rectangular-plan two-storey outbuilding to the west, probably originally the coach house, with roughcast walls, a slated hipped roof, and an assortment of openings including a loft doorway set under a small gable. Adjacent to this is an enlarged window with a Crittall frame. A smaller outbuilding to the east side has similar walls, a half-hipped roof, and a chimney stack to the south. Its southern end has a relatively recent timber outside stair leading up to what appears to have been latterly used as a first-floor apartment or studio.

Historical background

The house was built around 1858–60 for David Stead to designs by William J. Barre of Newry. A tender for a "dwelling house, stable, offices, entrance and enclosure" was advertised in July 1858, and the "very handsome villa, elegantly finished" was complete by the time of the circa 1861 valuation. The valuers recorded that the property "cost about £1,450 to build [but] is considered cheap for the money," and noted that it was originally named "Steadly" — a deliberate play on the developer's surname. The valuation records the dimensions as approximately 6? yards × 16½ × 2 storeys, 6? × 15 × 2, 6? × 3 × 2, and 4 × 2 × 12 feet for the porch, with offices of 12 × 6 × 2 and a gate lodge of 12½ × 4½ × 1. The site appears to have previously been a productive garden, as shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834.

David Stead (1797–1886) was originally from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. In the 1830s he emigrated to Australia, married there in 1848, and built a house called Emly Park near Ballan, Victoria. He and his wife Mary returned to the United Kingdom around 1856. The Steads appear to have retained Steadly until 1871, when it was leased to William Love, followed by John Woods in 1875. In 1888–89 it was sold to Catherine Pinson (or Tinson). Around this time the name was changed to "Studley" and the gate lodge was demolished to make way for Glenview Terrace.

By 1896 Edward Robinson Durant, a Yorkshire-born retired merchant, is recorded as owner. The 1901 census notes him sharing the house with his wife Isabella, their two young children, a cousin Isabella Torrens, and two domestic servants; the building is described as a first-class dwelling with 16 rooms in use. William Brady acquired Studley in 1908 and his family retained it until 1931, when it was advertised for sale as "this most desirable residence." By 1936 it was in the ownership of William V. Hanna. Louis Roche is listed as householder in 1948; he died in 1952 and was a native of Cork and managing director of Armagh-Down Creameries of Newry, as well as the father of the noted architect Louis Adair Roche (1927–2014). The Roche family appear to have retained Studley for some years after his death, at least until around 1958.

The property was advertised for sale in February 1972, described as "a magnificent gentleman's residence" containing an entrance porch, large hall, cloakroom, lounge, dining room, morning room, spacious kitchen, five bedrooms, study/drawing room, two bathrooms, and two garages; a "separate flatlet" is also mentioned, possibly referring to the upper level of the eastern outbuilding. A Ms Petronella Maria Barter is recorded as an occupant in 1978.