Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/46/011

Address :
Barnageeha St Patrick's College 619 Antrim Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT15 4DZ

Townland:
Skegoneill

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
24/03/2016 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130-5

IG Ref:
J3328 7786

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Two storey three bay villa in a Classical Greek style, built c.1868 in the style of Alexander 'Greek' Thompson, Glasgow, possibly being the work of his student James Hamilton. Rectangular plan form facing East with large flat roofed single and two storey extensions to rear. Main building constructed from random-coursed buff sandstone with punched horizontal dressings to main facade and smooth faced dressings to window and door surrounds. Forming part of St Patrick's Secondary School complex the building is now completely surrounded by modern school buildings mostly of brick and precast concrete blocks with the original Antrim Road gate lodge now demolished and replaced by tarmaced parking bays. The building has a gabled replacement natural slate roof with shallow pitch and terracotta clay roll top ridge tiles. Squat rectangular section chimney, originally taller, is topped by a tall buff clay hexagonal chimney pot to S. Replacement timber barge board, facia boards and moulded soffit to heavy projecting eaves with rafters forming plane timber block modillions; replacement plastic ogee style guttering discharging to plastic circular-section downpipes. Principal elevation The East elevation has three bays; an off centre gabled porch with pediment and square headed doorway with fanlight; a rectangular slightly projecting single story tripartite bay window to right and paired windows to left hand bay. Facade constructed from buff sandstone, windows all straight headed with tripartite windows to FF central bay, double windows to GF left and FF right hand. GF windows are generally original 1/1 double hung sliding sashes with horns having smaller upper sash. Replacement timber three pane windows to FF with top hung opening. Upper windows have moulded architraves with egg-and-dart detailing to crest surmounted by anthemion detail. Right hand projecting bay window has three windows divided by pilasters with moulded lotus flower and anthemion capitals, dentilated cornice above. Geometrical Greek key decoration to GF frieze and plain stringcourse to GF at window head level. Plain banded cill course and stringcourse to FF. Original central lantern now reduced to roof level with base of window mullions still visible. Main door housed in gabled projecting porch, accessed via a flight of four sandstone steps flanked by dwarf stone walling. Beading and anthemion crest to main door surround with rectangular fanlight above having replacement safety glazing. Wide timber four panelled door with square upper panels having moulded rosette detailing. South elevation The southern elevation is dominated by a large projecting circular bay with five windows divided by engaged circular columns with moulded Greek Corinthian style capitals. Dentiled cornice to circular bay with flat leaded roof set behind low parapet. Double window with moulded architrave and anthemion crest to FF above circular bay. Two single square headed windows to east at FF. Double hung timber sliding sash windows to GF bay windows and replacement timber three pane windows with top opening light to FF. Building extends to W where modern, mainly single storey, flat roofed school building built in brown brick is attached to villa by a recessed glazed entrance by one bay of the original building's W elevation. West elevation West elevation is obscured by modern school buildings which abut the original structure. Two storey block houses modern staircase and single storey section houses additional school rooms. North elevation Composed of three main sections: original villa, two storey single bay flat roofed stair block extension and six bay single storey extension. Extension is of Flemish bond brown brick with asphalt flat roof . First bay to E of original building has exposed stonework, one double hung sash window and sandstone cill to GF, cement render and concrete cills to remainder of original building. Facade truncated by RWG and modern cast iron soil pipes. Roof: low pitched natural slate with terracotta roll top ridge tiles RWGs: replacement uPVC Walling: generally random-coursed ashlar buff sandstone Windows: generally original double hung sliding two pane sash with smaller upper sash to GF and replacement timber three pane top opening windows to FF

Architects

Hamilton, James

Historical Information

Barnageeha, a two-storey sandstone former merchant’s villa located within the grounds of St. Patrick’s College, was originally constructed in c. 1868. The house was built on land that was provided by the breaking up of the Fortwilliam Estate in the mid-19th century. Fortwilliam Park was laid out in c. 1864 between the Antrim and Shore Roads and swiftly became one of Belfast’s more affluent residential streets. Larmour states that many grand Victorian mansions were erected on the former estate in the 1860s and 1870s with Barnageeha and the neighbouring Walton House (see HB26/46/003) amongst the first villas to be built in the area (Larmour, p. 31). The architect of Barnageeha is not known with certainty. Larmour states that the building was designed in the manner of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson of Glasgow with ‘the arrangement of the bays, the form of the original chimneys and lantern, and the idiosyncratic use of Greek detail all characteristic of that celebrated Scot’s remarkable style.’ Larmour suggests that the building was not designed by Thomson himself but by one of his students or close followers. It is most likely that Barnageeha was designed by James Hamilton (c. 1826-1894), a fellow Glaswegian architect who carried out a number of contracts in Ireland between 1857 and the 1870s (Hamilton also won the contract to design branches of the Ulster Bank in Belfast, Sligo and Meath). Barnageeha bears a resemblance to the neighbouring Walton House which Larmour believed was designed by Hamilton in c. 1865. Further, the Dictionary of Scottish Architects confidently identifies Hamilton as architect of Barnageeha noting that Hamilton had emulated Thomson’s style in buildings such as the Allan Water Hydropathic building at Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire (DIA; DSA; Larmour, p. 31). Barnageeha first appears in the Belfast Street Directories in 1868 when John McFerran, a partner in Richardson Brothers (linen flax, yarn and grain merchants with premises on Donegall Place), was recorded as occupant. The house was first recorded in the Annual Revisions from 1870 when it was valued at £100. The valuer included a sketch of the newly completed dwelling which records that Barnageeha originally possessed a north-facing return and a range of outbuildings extending to the west of the house (now demolished and replaced with flat-roof extensions). The single-storey three-bay gate lodge located on the Antrim Road entrance to the site was constructed in c. 1873 and was valued at £2 and 10 shillings. John McFerran continued to reside at Barnageeha until the turn of the 20th century when Major General J. K. Millner was recorded as occupant. Joshua Kearney Millner (1847-1931) was a distinguished soldier in the Territorial Army and a skilled marksman. During the 1908 London Olympics Kearney achieved the (still current) record for the oldest Briton to win a gold medal at the games. Millner won a gold medal in the 1,000 yard free rifle event at the age of 61, having participated in competitive shooting events throughout his military career. Millner resided at Barnageeha whilst serving with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and , following the disbandment of his unit in 1908, he retired and returned to Dublin where he died in 1931 (Sports Reference – athletes list). The 1901 Census of Ireland recorded that Millner resided at Barnageeha with his wife and step-daughter with the accompanying census building return describing his property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a stable, coach house and barn amongst its outbuildings. When Millner vacated the site in 1908 a Mrs Geraldine Lepper took possession of the house. Lepper continued to reside at the address until c. 1920 when Walter Francis Clokey occupied the building. Clokey (1870-1930) was a local magistrate and prominent stained glass artist who had established the Clokey Stained Glass Studios in 1904. The NIEA Monuments and Buildings Record notes that Clokey’s stained glass firm ‘gained nationwide respect and was famed throughout Ireland for its beautiful church windows. Indeed, their designs were so highly valued that great pains were taken during the Second World War to remove them from Belfast and store them in the country for safekeeping. Remarkably few original designs survive today’ (NIEA MBR; DIA). Following Clokey’s death in 1929, Barnageeha passed to his widow Margaret. Barnageeha was acquired by the Holy Family Parish in c. 1948 and, with the passing of the Education Act (NI) in 1947, the parish sought to convert the site into a boy’s intermediate school. Larmour states that the modern school blocks surrounding Barnageeha were constructed between 1952 and 1955 to designs by McLean & Forte (an architectural partnership that had been formed in 1949 and which predominantly designed schools – DIA). The Irish Builder notes that the new school cost £250,000 to construct and was capable of accommodating 800 pupils (partially drawn from the obsolete Holy Family Boys and Earl Street Boys schools). The school was built by Orlit (N.I.) Ltd. and was described by Larmour in the following terms: ‘A strange looking affair, on an unconventional plan. Built in the Orlit system of precast concrete blocks which had already been used for some housing estates a few years before’ (Larmour, p. 31). The conversion of Barnageeha from a private dwelling into a school included the demolition of its north-facing rear return and original outbuildings and the construction of the single-storey flat-roof extension to the west side of the building. Following the construction of the school buildings the combined value of the site was greatly increased to £3,600. Field inspection of the building, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that Barnageeha House is currently utilised as an administration building for the staff of St. Patrick’s College. Resources Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/57/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857) 2. PRONI OS/6/1/57/4 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1901-02) 3. PRONI OS/6/1/57/5 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1931) 4. PRONI OS/6/1/57/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1936-38) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/5/8B-8F – Annual Revisions (1867-1897) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/H/1-7 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 7. PRONI VAL/3/C/3/11- First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-72) 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/16 - Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 9. PRONI ED/13/1/2446 – Parochial Property: Grants under the Education Act 1947 (1949-61) 10. Irish Builder (14 Feb 1953; 8 Oct 1955) 11. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1943) 12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (9 Dec 1929) 13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) 14. First Survey Record – HB26/46/011 (1985) 15. NIEA Monuments and Buildings Record (Clokey Collection) Secondary Sources 1. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Dictionary of Scottish Architects - http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/ 3. Sports Reference website – http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mi/joshua-millner-1.html

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior

Historic Interest

V. Authorship R. Age X. Local Interest T. Historic Importance Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance U. Historic Associations S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A two-storey former merchants villa in random-coursed buff sandstone with Classical Greek detailing, built c.1868 in the style of Alexander 'Greek' Thompson of Glasgow and possibly designed by his student James Hamilton. The E and S facades of the house survive almost intact retaining much of their original character and style. Despite the loss of some of the original interior including its original staircase, the quality and survival of the GF plan and detailing add much to the buildings interest. Now used as a school administration building for St Patrick's College, its original setting has been altered by the 2 no. large blocks of modern school buildings erected on the site c.1950. A building of significant architectural and historic interest with former occupants including Major General J. K. Millner, the Olympic gold medal winner and Walter Francis Clokey, the prominent Northern Irish stained glass artist.

General Comments

Date of Survey

13 October 2014