Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/08/001 D

Address :
6 McMaster Street Belfast County Antrim BT5 4HP

Townland:
Ballymacarrett

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
19/03/1987 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/14

IG Ref:
J3570 7432

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Owner Category

Private

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey-with-attic single-bay late Victorian terrace built c.1898 by John McMaster to designs by J. Frazer and Son, located on the east side of McMaster Street, East Belfast. Roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles, central rooflight window on west slope, modern red brick chimney stack at south side; painted ogee profile cast-iron rainwater goods supported on projecting polychrome brick eaves course on ovolo moulded corbel course. Walls are English garden-wall bonded red brick laid with alternating courses of headers and stretchers with three polychromactic brick string courses (including a continuous brick and sill course at first floor) and decorative detailing above first floor windows; windows are replacement uPVC casements and door is replacement uPVC, windows and door contained within camber headed reveals with polychromatic brick chamfered reveals and voussoirs, projecting masonry sill. (All polychrome brickwork now painted with exception of that above first floor windows). Principal (west) elevation contains entrance door at left comprising replacement uPVC glazed door with square headed transom light accessed by terracotta tiled threshold; entrance flanked by window at right; two windows at first floor offset slightly to right. North gable is abutted by No.4 McMaster Street Rear (east) elevation is abutted at right by single-storey flat roof extension. (Access to house and yard not provided and remainder of rear elevation not visible from entry at east). South gable is abutted by No.8 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001F). Setting: Located at the north end of the east terrace (two-storey-with-attic block) the house faces onto McMaster Street. The wide street formerly cobbled is now largely concrete with small cobbled area remaining at each end. The house opens directly onto a wide pavement with granite kerbs and original lamp posts and electric lighting (former gas lights). Original tiled street signage at north and south. Rear elevation is enclosed by high level stretcher bonded modern red brick walling with painted vertically sheeted timber entrance door at centre, assessed via narrow entry which runs north-south between back yards of Lendrick Street and McMaster Street. The street narrows towards Major Street at south. Roof: Natural Slate Walling: English garden-wall bonded red brick Windows: Replacement uPVC casements RWG: Ogee profile cast-iron

Architects

Frazer. J & Son

Historical Information

No. 6 McMaster Street first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map for Belfast in 1902 which only depicted nos 6 to 14 on the eastern terrace of the street at that time. The Belfast Street Directories indicate that all the houses on the western terrace (nos 1-37 McMaster Street) were constructed together in 1898; however the remainder of the eastern terrace (nos 16-52) was not added until 1908. The Annual Revisions and the 1901 Census indicate that a Mr. William John Galloway, a 48 year old Methodist Engine-works machine man, was the first occupant of No. 6 McMaster Street. In 1899 the house was valued at £10 10s. and was let to Galloway by a Mr. John McMaster. McMaster had originally owned the plot of land on the south side of the Newtownards Road on which he constructed the present street. The Belfast revaluation of 1900 recorded that No. 6 McMaster Street was a two storey house with attic and measured 13.6 ft in width by 25 ft depth and 24 ft in height; the house was fitted with gas lighting and cost an estimated £131 to construct. McMaster let the house to William John Galloway at a monthly rent of £1 8s. 4d. (£17 annual). The 1901 census described the house as a 1st class dwelling which possessed eight rooms, however by the 1911 census the house was noted as a 2nd class dwelling and now possessed seven rooms (this change was repeated on the Census Building Returns for nos 6-14). Over the years the occupants of No. 6 McMaster Street, like the majority of residents of the street, were employed in the nearby shipyards or ropework industries; in 1907 Henry McNeill, a plater in the shipyards, came into possession of the house residing there until 1910. In 1911 the census records that a widowed Mrs. Wallace lived in the house with her four sons, who were each employed in the shipyards as an iron turner, patternmaker, boilermaker and engine smith. The next occupant, a Mr. John Brownlie, was also employed in the yards. By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of the house remained at £10 10s., however by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 its value had increased to £14 10s. when a Mr. D. McKee was in possession. McKee inhabited No. 6 McMaster Street during the 1930s and in 1940 a Mr. James McKee, a labourer, was recorded as occupant. McMaster Street escaped damage during the 1941 Belfast Blitz when the Luftwaffe targeted the Belfast Shipyards and caused huge destruction to buildings and residential terraces along the Newtownards Road (Haines, p. 44). At the end of the war the government carried out the second revaluation of property in Northern Ireland; this revaluation recorded that ownership of the street had passed from John McMaster to an L. McMaster (unknown relative) and that No. 6 McMaster Street had increased in value to £15. Later occupants of the address included a Mr. William Grierson who was employed as a civil servant and lived there in the 1960s, and more recently William J. Dawson who lived there between at least 1970 and 1990 and was employed as a plater during the declining years of the shipbuilding industry (Belfast Street Directories). Nos 6-14 McMaster Street were constructed in 1898 a year before nos 1-37 were constructed in 1899. The Department of the Environment Conservation Area plan for the street records that McMaster Street was designed by John Frazer & Sons; the Dictionary of Irish Architects states that Frazer was active between the 1890s and the second decade of the twentieth century and also designed a number of other terraced streets in Belfast including Chadwick Street and Meadowbank Place which are similar in design to McMaster Street. Chadwick Street was built in 1899 around the time McMaster Street’s first phase of construction had finished (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The land owned by John McMaster was wedge shaped and so when the terraces were built they progressively became narrower, and the gardens became smaller, as they were constructed towards the end of the street; No. 6 McMaster Street is therefore one of the largest houses and possesses one of the larger yards on the street. The parlour houses on McMaster Street were constructed to new housing and planning regulations which were designed to improve the standard of living in Belfast and so the terraces were amongst the first late-Victorian industrial houses in Belfast to be supplied with running water and flushable toilets; this was made possible due to the construction of a new city drainage system. Further, the piping of gas into each house to provide lighting was a new technique which along with the increased sanitary facilities set McMaster Street apart from the more squalid housing which was common around Belfast during the early Victorian period. Haines records that electricity was not introduced to the street until the 1930s (Haines, p. 44). During the 1970s the Ballymacarrett area was extensively redeveloped with the demolition of many redbrick terraces similar to McMaster Street. Due to this redevelopment the preservation of McMaster Street, an intact remnant of late-Victorian working class housing, was desired and in 1987 No. 6 McMaster Street was listed along with the rest of the terrace. In 1994 the neighbourhood was designated a conservation area by the DOE. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1902 4. PRONI OS/6/3/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1920-21 5. PRONI OS/6/3/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1931 6. PRONI VAL/7/B/8/4 – Belfast Revaluation Field Books 1900 7. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/A/28 – Annual Revisions 1897-1905 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/4 – Annual Revisions 1906-1914 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/43/L/8 – Annual Revisions 1915-1930 10. PRONI VAL/3/B/3/11 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1935 11. PRONI VAL/4/B/7/28 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland 1956-1972 12. Belfast Street Directories (1901; 1907; 1908; 1910; 1918; 1930; 1940; 1950; 1960; 1970; 1980; 1990) 13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) Secondary Sources 1. ‘McMaster Street Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1994. 2. Haines, K., ‘East Belfast: Paintings and stories from harbour to hills’ Donaghadee: Cottage Publications, 2001. 3. First Survey Record – HB26/08/001 (1984) Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting K. Group value

Historic Interest

R. Age X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey-with-attic single-bay late Victorian terrace built c.1896 by John McMaster to designs by J. Frazer and Son, located on the west side of McMaster Street, East Belfast. Having survived the German Blitz in 1941 and the widespread demolition during developments of the 1970s the terrace is part of a complete street of late Victorian terraced housing. The terrace retains much original character, including polychromatic brick string courses and camber headed window openings. Built close to Harland and Wolff ship yards, this terrace provides a link with Belfast’s industrial past and is of further significance as it was originally designed to new housing and planning regulations, intended to improve the standard of living for working class people in Belfast at the turn of the twentieth century. Number 6 has group value with the other listed buildings in McMaster Street and is of local interest.

General Comments

Date of Survey

07 April 2011