Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB26/08/001 J

Address :
12 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:
130/14SE

IG Ref:
J3570 7431

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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 polychromactic 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 square headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes and replacement timber panelled glazed door with square headed transom light, windows and door contained within camber headed openings with polychrome 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 accessed by original tiled threshold; entrance flanked by window at right; two windows at first floor offset slightly to right. North gable is abutted by No.10 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001H). Rear (south) elevation is abutted at right by two-storey extension with pitched roof with uPVC rainwater goods. (Access to house and yard not provided and remainder of rear elevation not visible from entry). South gable is abutted by No.14 McMaster Street (HB26/08/001L). 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 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 square headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes RWG: Ogee profile cast-iron and uPVC downpipes

Architects

Frazer. J & Son

Historical Information

No. 12 McMaster Street first appears on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map for Belfast in 1902 which depicted that only nos 6 to 14 had been constructed 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 in 1898; however the rest of the eastern terrace (nos 16-52) was not added until 1908. The Annual Revisions and the 1901 Census indicate that the first occupant of No. 12 McMaster Street was a Mr. Thomas Murphy, a carpenter by trade. In 1899 the house was valued at £10 10s. and was let out to Haywood by a Mr. John McMaster who originally owned the land on the south side of the Newtownards Road on which he constructed the present street. The Belfast revaluation of 1900 recorded that No. 12 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 Thomas Murphy at a monthly rent of £1 8s. 4d. (£17 annual). The 1901 Census Building Return described the house as a 1st class dwelling which possessed eight rooms, however on the 1911 Census the building was now noted as a 2nd class house which possessed seven rooms (this change was also repeated on the Census Building Returns for nos 6-14). The 1907 Belfast Street Directory indicates that by 1907 No. 12 had passed to Robert Calvert, a Methodist shop keeper who had previously lived in the adjoining No. 14 McMaster Street in 1901 and whose son, like many of the occupants on McMaster Street, was employed in the local shipyards as an apprentice (Blacksmith). By 1918 the house had passed to a Mr. Robert Drysdale who was employed as a boatman in the yards; Drysdale continued to reside at this address until the 1960s when he was still occupied in the shipyards as a fitter. By the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930 the value of No. 12 remained at £10 10s., however by the First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland in 1935 its value had increased to £14 10s. 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). With 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) although the value of No. 12 was not changed between 1956 and 1972. By 1970 Robert Drysdale had vacated No. 12 McMaster Street and over the next thirty years a number of different occupants resided at the address (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 when 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 constructed they progressively became narrower, and the gardens became smaller, as they were built towards the end of the street; No. 12 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 practice which along with the increased sanitary facilities set McMaster Street apart from the more squalid housing common in 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. 12 McMaster Street was listed along with the rest of the terrace. In 1994 the neighbourhood was designated a conservation area by the DOE and criteria was put in place to ensure that additions to the terrace were sympathetic with the original design and fabric of the late-Victorian street; a sympathetic two-storey return has been added to the rear of the house c. 2000. 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) 14. Belfast City Council: Town Planning Committee minutes (2 March 2000). 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 12 has group value with the other listed buildings in McMaster Street and is of local interest.

General Comments

Date of Survey

07 April 2011