Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/12/005

Address :
Glenmachan Tower House Nursing Home (Former Glenmachan Tower Hotel) Glenmachan Road Belfast Co. Antrim BT4 2NN

Townland:
Ballymaghan

---

Survey 2:
B+

Date of Listing:
04/06/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Residential Home

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

---

OS Map No:
130-12

IG Ref:
J3927 7616

---

Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey ashlar sandstone house in Italianate-style dating from 1862 to designs by the Belfast-based architect Thomas Jackson. Irregular plan form with a three-stage tower to SW and a two-storey modern extension to NE. The building is located at the top of Glenmachan Road. Pitched natural slate gabled roof to the front part of the building and hipped to rear with lead rolled ridge and hips. Paired brackets support the projecting eaves, uPVC ogee guttering discharging to circular aluminium downpipes. Rectangular section ashlar sandstone chimney stacks with corbelled coping and red-clay chimney pots. Regular-coursed ashlar masonry of locally-quarried Scrabo sandstone with rustication to GF on a moulded plinth. Continuous string course between GF and FF. Square-headed window openings to GF with moulded architraves having double-hung 1/1 timber sashes (unless noted otherwise). Round-arched window openings to FF with moulded architraves and projecting keystone having double-hung 1/1 timber sash windows (unless noted otherwise). The three-stage tower has a square-plan to first and second stage with rusticated quoins and projecting cornice on brackets. Aedicule to first stage with panelled frieze above door and moulded cornice supported on brackets. Round-arched door opening to porch having a replacement glazed timber panelled door opening with infilled panel above, opening onto three stone steps. Paired round-arched windows to W face to first stage with a round-arch above and projecting keystone. Round-arched single windows to second stage to N and W face. A square-plan Renaissance-style balustrade supports the octagonal-plan third stage with overhanging eaves supported on moulded brackets. Round-arched windows with panelled aprons to all eight faces. The tower is topped by octagonal-plan decorative cast-iron railings. Principal elevation: The eight-bay wide principal elevation faces S and consists of a bay to W end, a three-stage tower immediately adjacent, then a recessed bay E of the tower, a projecting gabled bay and four bays to E. The bay nearest to the W end has no moulding around the GF window, unlike the other windows, which suggests that it may have been added later. Paired round-arched windows to recessed bay to E of tower with moulded depressed arched architrave. Two plain windows to FF with moulded cills on brackets. Breakfront to GF to the projecting gabled bay with panelled frieze and moulded cornice supported on brackets having paired windows with panelled aprons separated by an engaged Corinthian column. Paired round-arched windows to FF with moulded architrave and keystone over flanked by square pilasters at both ends which extend to the moulded cornice below. A smaller scale engaged column separates the paired first floor windows. A bull's eye window sits above FF, centred on the paired windows below with a moulded stone architrave and foliage detail to either side. Gable with moulded kneelers and projecting eaves on moulded corbels. Shallow projecting doorcase to next bay to E (along S elevation) with projecting cornice supported on moulded console brackets, in turn supported by moulded pilasters having a raised and fielded headed door opening. A square panelled timber door with a depressed round-arch fanlight sits above with pronounced keystone. Depressed arch opening to next bay with paired round arch windows having moulded hoods and projecting moulded cill on brackets. Above this door and window sits a round-arch window to each bay to FF, again with moulded stone architrave, square pilasters, impost, keystone, and cill on brackets. Aedicule window surrounds to GF to the last two bays to E with paneled frieze and moulded cornice supported on brackets having paired windows with panelled aprons separated by a Corinthian column. Paired windows to FF. West elevation: The W elevation consists of a projecting gabled bay to S abutted by the tower to S and a recessed bay to N end. The gabled bay has a three-sided canted bay to GF with pilasters to corners, and a bracketed cornice above. A modern glazed door is incorporated to the central bay window opening onto nosed stone steps. Tri-partite round-arched window to FF, with square pilasters to outer ends, Corinthinian capitals supporting a moulded stone architrave, with keystone above. Engaged round columns with varied Corinthinian capitals sit between these windows. A small bulls-eye window, with moulded stone architrave, the same as that used on the S Elevation, is centred above the tri-partite window. A shallow projecting breakfront to GF to the bay nearest to the N with paneled frieze and moulded cornice supported on stepped corbels having paired windows separated by a Corinthian column with panelled aprons below. Paired windows to FF; these are round-arched with the same moulded stone architrave, keystone and pilaster details that are employed to the tripartite window adjacent. North elevation: The N elevation consists of the original four-bay building to E abutted by the modern extension to W set to NE-SW axis. The third bay from W has a three-sided canted bay to GF; panelled frieze and stepped brackets to central bay supporting a moulded cornice. Paired windows with panelled aprons separated by an engaged Corinthian column and flanked by pilasters to the front (middle) of the canted bay with single windows to the two splayed ends; the one nearest to the new extension having been blocked up. Paired round arched windows to FF with moulded architrave, etc as mentioned previously to first floor windows. Shallow projecting bay with hipped roof over to W and a modern square-headed window opening to FF which appears to have been added in conjunction with the new extension. Single storey modern hipped roof extension to GF with a square-headed window to GF and a modern double-leaf square-headed glazed timber door facing W. A two-storey hipped roof modern block then adjoins the and projects some 15-20 meters beyond the face of the original house. East elevation: The E elevation has a gabled bay to S end with paired stone brackets to support the overhang. It is abutted by the modern two-storey hipped roof extension. Two square-headed traditional sliding sash windows to each floor with plain projecting cills. The stone to this facade is laid in a snecked squared rubble pattern. Setting: The building is located within its own grounds to the top of Glenmachan Road. Elevated site having a lawned garden to E with views towards Holywood Road and the Belfast Lough. A tarmaced parking area to S and another one to N. Two flights of stone steps lead to this lawn; the first comprising ten steps with intermediate landing and curved stone walling terminating in circular stone dwarf pillars at the base; the second comprising six steps with octagonal stone dwarf pillars at the top and stone walling each side. The South Elevation also has two flights of stone steps at the entrance, the lower set having six steps and the upper set having three steps; with dwarf circular pillars and curved stone stone walling to the sides. A disabled access ramp with rectaungular stone pillars either side of stone walling also leads to the South Entrance and shares the half landing between the two flights of steps. A two storey hipped roof modern extension abuts the NE of the building, dating from 1992 with double-leaf square-headed doors and square-headed timber sash windows. The site includes a modern two-storey wedge-plan church to NE, and two further rectangular-plan pitched roof buildings to E. Materials: Roof : Natural slate RWG: uPVC Walling : Ashlar Scrabo sandstone Windows : Double-hung 1/1 timber sash windows

Architects

Historical Information

Glenmachan Tower, a two-storey sandstone gentleman’s mansion located in the townland of Ballymaghan, was originally constructed in 1862. Larmour believed that the house is ‘the most splendid of a series built in the [Sydenham] area to the designs of Thomas Jackson’ (Larmour, p. 33). A number of secondary sources note that Glenmachan Tower was originally constructed for Thomas McClure, a merchant, landowner, local magistrate and M.P. For Belfast. Although it is clear that Glenmachan Tower was erected on land owned by McClure, the Annual Revisions and Ulster Town Directories note that he did not live at the property but resided at Belmont House in Ballycloghan townland from at least the 1850s (see Campbell College – HB26/13/003). The Dublin Builder states that the Italianate dwelling was constructed in 1862 to a design by the Belfast-based architect, Thomas Jackson (Dublin Builder, p. 112). The Dictionary of Irish Architects primarily describes Jackson (1807-1890) as a domestic architect ‘although he turned his hand to buildings of every type, commercial, industrial, educational and ecclesiastical.’ Prior to undertaking work in the Sydenham area, Jackson had been responsible for the early-19th century suburban development of North Belfast. Jackson took inspiration (and the name - Cliftonville) for the new North Belfast suburb from the development of Bristol’s Clifton Suburb where he had received training. Having established his reputation as one of the leading domestic architects in the city, and with the heavy industrialisation of Belfast from the 1860s, Jackson became the preferred architect to the town’s merchant elite. Between the 1860s and 1870s Jackson designed a number of suburban villas and mansions in East Belfast that included Glenmachan Tower, Craigavon (HB26/12/025), Glenmachan House and Lismachan House (HB26/12/002). The Dublin Builder notes that John Lowry of Great George’s Street was contracted to build Glenmachan Tower. For the masonry of the building Jackson employed locally-quarried Scrabo Sandstone (Dublin Builder, p. 112; Brett, p. 45; Dixon, p. 29; DIA; NSD). The Ulster Town Directories and Annual Revisions record that the first occupant of Glenmachan Tower (then known as ‘Glenmachan House’) was Thomas Jackson himself who resided there until (at latest) 1865 when Robert W. Gordon was recorded as occupant. The valuation sources note that Glenmachan Tower was originally valued at £180 in the 1860s. Robert Gordon, of Gordon & Co., a flax and tow spinning manufactory based on the Falls Road, leased the house from Thomas McClure from at least 1865 until vacating the property in 1870. In that year Glenmachan Tower was occupied by a Mr. James Kennedy who only briefly resided there until 1877. The Shillington family, who continued to live at Glenmachan Tower until the 1960s first came into possession of the house in 1877. John Johnston Shillington was a local magistrate and linen merchant who owned the firm, John J. Shillington & Co., based in the west of Belfast. Following John J. Shillington’s death in 1898 Glenmachan Tower passed to his son John Courtenay Shillington (PRONI Wills). In 1900 the Belfast Revaluation recorded that Glenmachan Tower had cost an estimated £5,855 to construct. The valuer included a detailed ground plan of Shillington’s dwelling. When compared with the current layout of the building, it is evident that the plan has not been altered since the early-20th century (apart from the addition of the two-storey north-east extension block in 1992). Thomas Courtenay continued to reside at Glenmachan Tower until his death in 1963 (Belfast Burial Records). Having been utilised as a private residence for over a century, Glenmachan Tower was converted into a licensed hotel known as the ‘Glenmachan Tower Hotel’ in 1968. The value of the hotel was increased to £580 at which it remained by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72). The Glenmachan Tower Hotel was listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records notes that the hotel and its lands were purchased in 1985 by Strandtown Church of God, a local meeting that had been established in the Sydenham area in the 1940s. The church converted Glenmachan Tower’s stable block (which were first depicted on the third edition Ordnance Survey map – 1902) into a Youth Hall and constructed a two-storey church hall to the east side of the stable block by 1986. The former gentleman’s mansion and hotel was used by the church for wedding receptions and social functions but by 1990 the building had been converted into a private nursing home with the construction of the two-storey modern extension in 1992. The renamed Glenmachan Church of God opened a new 800 seat sanctuary to the east side of Glenmachan Tower in 2008 (NIEA HB Records; Belfast Newsletter; Glenmachan Church website). References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1858) 2. PRONI OS/6/3/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1902) 3. PRONI OS/6/3/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1919-20) 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2A-2H - Annual Revisions (1863-1897) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/N/1-9 – Annual Revisions (1897-1930) 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/13/20 – Belfast Revaluation (1900) 7. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/20 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) 8. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/46 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 9. Dublin Builder (1 May 1862) 10. Belfast Street Directories (1863-1943) 11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) 12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (24 Oct 1898) 13. Belfast Burial Records (28 Apr 1963) 14. Belfast Newsletter (29 Mar 1985) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Belfast: 1700-1914’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1985. 2. Dixon, H., ‘Honouring Thomas Jackson’ Belfast: Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1970 77. 3. Haines, F., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001. 4. Larmour, P., ‘Belfast: An illustrated architectural guide’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1987. 5.First Survey Record – HB26/12/005 (1978) 6.First Survey Image – HB26/12/005 (No Date) 7.NIEA HB Records – HB26/12/005 Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie 2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=2511 3. Glenmachan Church of God website - http://www.glenmachan.org/#/history/4553659366

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 J. Setting

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity U. Historic Associations Z. Rarity W. Northern Ireland/International Interest V. Authorship

Evaluation

An excellent example of a two-storey ashlar sandstone house in Italianate-style dating from 1862 to designs by the Belfast-based architect Thomas Jackson, who is known to be the first occupant of the house. A three-stage square tower with later octagonal top gives the building its distinctive appearance. The building is impressively situated on an elevated site, within its own grounds to the top of Glenmachan Road with views towards Holywood Road and Belfast Lough. The original plan of the building is largely intact at GF level, despite having been converted into a hotel in 1968 and then converted again in 1992 into a nursing home when a modern extension was added to the NE. This later extension detracts from the original composition. The property was purchased by Strandtown Church of God in 1986 and a new church was erected in 2008 within close proximity to the original house. In spite of this, however, Glenmachan Tower remains an important and relatively rare building by Jackson who at the time of its construction was the leading domestic architect of the city.

General Comments

Date of Survey

15 April 2014