Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/18/002

Address :
Cultra Manor Ulster Folk and Transport Museum 153 Bangor Road Holywood Co Down BT18 0EU

Townland:
Ballycultra

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
17/02/1975 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Gallery/ Museum

Former Use
Gallery/ Museum

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
115/13

IG Ref:
J4250 8008

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Owner Category

Public Body

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey over basement, multi-bay Edwardian manor house dated 1902 to designs by Graeme, Watt and Tulloch. Principally rectangular in plan form with adjoining subservient wing to the east, car ports and former courtyard, now a modern two-storey infill. Located in the grounds of Ulster Folk & Transport Museum off the Belfast to Bangor Road. Pitched lead covered timber framed roof to principal building with leaded finials throughout. Pitched slated roof with lead ridge, valley and hip flashing details; overhanging eaves details with timber soffits to subservient wing. The rainwater goods are cast-iron with down pipes painted black throughout. Ogee section cast iron gutters painted white to subservient wing and concealed leaded gutters behind sandstone cornice to principal building. The chimneystacks are sandstone, crowned with projecting cornice details and serve multiple flues with short plain clay pots. The walling is primarily rough-coursed basalt stone with red sandstone quoins, string courses, and mouldings throughout, rising to a sandstone cornice at eaves level with balustrade over. Windows are single glazed 1/1 timber sliding sash painted white with horns, with sandstone heads, cills and surrounds. Cill courses to principal building, chamfered to ground floor, ogee to first floor. The front double leaf door comprises eight chamfer-stop panel, to each leaf; embraced by sandstone ashlar Ionic portico with full dentilled entablature with balustrade. The principal (garden) elevation faces northwest. To the left is the service wing set back with a modern upward extension over the original service yard at left; the north elevation of the wing comprises a canted bay over two storeys offset right of centre with windows to either side arranged asymmetrically; light-wells to basement level; the left hand section of the main house has one window at ground floor and two narrow windows at first floor. On the right, the main section is symmetrically arranged with a large central two-storey projecting curved bay forming the main feature; three windows with curved frames and glass to ground and first floors. Additional horizontal sandstone banding to bay, between ground and first floor windows; sandstone frieze detail over first floor windows. Two windows at ground and first floor at either side of the bay; that to left of bay on ground floor has been converted to a door. The northeast elevation of the main house is mostly abutted by the service wing; and is asymmetrically arranged with central Palladian window over the stairwell to first floor; abutted by a two-storey link-block on the right, further abutted by a two-storey L-shaped service wing comprising; natural slate hipped roofed with lead hips and finials; basalt walling with red-sandstone ashlar dressings; single glazed 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with simple detailing to surrounds. The former courtyard located at the outer angle of the service wing, and enclosed by a single-storey wall, has been infilled by a 20th century timber addition. The northeast elevation of the wing is painted basalt; single-storey wall extending to the right with modern timber structure over; various window and door openings throughout. The southeast and southwest elevations are asymmetrically arranged with variety of windows. The south face of link block is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey flat-roofed projection, five windows wide; three symmetrically arranged windows to first floor. The south entrance elevation of the main house is symmetrically arranged with the central section flanked by two projecting gable ends with large sandstone pediments. Each has a canted single storey projecting bay with sandstone entablature and balustrade forming a balcony above with a pair of windows at first floor level. The central section is asymmetrical at ground floor level with the entrance offset centre to the right hand side. The entrance porch is made up of sandstone plain ionic columns and entablature over. Adjacent to the entrance is an enclosed sandstone colonnade, with soffit mouldings matching cornice details, with three windows to main façade and one to the porch; the central window of the three has been sympathetically adapted to form a door. Four symmetrically arranged windows to first floor level. The southwest elevation has a projecting flat roofed two storey box bay offset to left of centre. Pairs of windows to the ground and first floor with side windows to bay cheeks. Ground floor right side window changed to an escape door. Setting Set in mature grounds on a levelled platform on the hillside with terraced ground below. Views of the building are screened by mature trees. The principal elevation overlooks Belfast Lough. To the rear is a car park leading to the backdrop of a rising landscape with further mature trees beyond. Roofing: Natural slate Walling: Basalt/red sandstone ashlar Windows: timber RWG: Cast-iron

Architects

Campbell, Ian and Partners Graeme, Watt and Tulloch

Historical Information

‘Cultra Manor’ is first shown, captioned, on the fourth edition OS map of 1919-31 on a previously vacant site. The coastal areas of Cultra had, by this time, been reasonably heavily developed and building further inland allowed Robert Kennedy to benefit from a very large landscaped plot on which he could site one of the last substantial mansions to be built in the area. The Irish Builder of 22 May 1902 announced that, “Mr Hunter, Scottish Provident Buildings, Belfast...is also engaged on quantities for a new manor house on the Cultra Estate of R J Kennedy Esq D.L, C.M.G. near Belfast. The approximate cost is £10,000 and tenders will be taken by limited competition only. The design is a fine one, and executed in blackstone with red sandstone dressings, the architectural treatment being a free Ionic. Messrs Graeme, Watt and Tulloch are the architects”. The house enters the valuation records in 1904 as the property of R.J. Kennedy in fee and is shown on the fourth edition OS map of (1919-31) captioned ‘Cultra Manor’. It is valued at £220 and accompanying valuers’ notes tells us that it cost £9,300 to build. A plan and dimensions are given and it is of ‘squared rubble masonry’. The stone used was local greywacke with Locharbriggs sandstone dressings. (www.stonedatabase.com) The diocesan history notes that, “Sir Robert Kennedy...was a prominent figure in the British Foreign Service, culminating in his appointment as Ambassador to Uruguay; he retired in 1912 to Cultra Manor, which he had built in 1902.” The Kennedy family’s former residence was Cultra House which had passed out of their ownership in the 1870s. (Auld, Holywood, p.37; Clergy of Down and Connor, p.113) Kennedy’s wife the Hon Bertha, Lady Kennedy, third daughter of Viscount Bangor became the ‘perfect British Embassy wife’ and was, “the outstanding Ulster adventuress of the Edwardian age and the first European woman to enter Khorassan and Afghanistan” (Auld, Holywood, p.36) In 1933 the house is listed as the property of Robert J Kennedy in fee. The valuation is reduced to £200, probably as the result of an appeal. The valuer comments, “Well built house of local limestone faced with Aberdeen Red Granite. Fine position on high ground, good views of lough – surrounded by plantations and charming glen with waterfall. Land immediately facing main entrance now planted temporarily with turnips but this is to be sown down to grass for lawn. Plantations laid out with pleasure walks. Carriage drive metalled with material from quarry adjoining, which being impregnated with sulphur is impervious to weeds and renders upkeep approximately nil. Well appointed house with a minimum of offices. Acetylene gas lighting – own plant. Private water supply with oil engine pump. Septic tank with overflow to river.” Dimensions are given for the house and motor house but the plan of the house is missing. (First General Revaluation) The Kennedys died within a few months of each other in 1936 leaving their four daughters to inherit the estate. After the Second World War the family found the maintenance of the big house increasingly overwhelming and a smaller neo-Georgian house was built for them in the grounds. The manor and pleasure gardens were sold in 1961 to the Ulster Folk Museum and a conversion of the building was undertaken by Robert McKinstry in association with Ian Campbell. This consisted of re-allocating the main rooms as exhibition areas, the servants’ quarters as workshops and library and extending the garages for use as an administration block. The museum opened to visitors in 1964. At the time of writing, the building was undergoing a major scheme of refurbishment and restoration. (Auld, Holywood, p.37, Architectural Review) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31 2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41 3. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/11A-C – Annual Revisions (1888-1930) 4. PRONI VAL/12/D/3/1 – Annual Revisions Maps (1888–1930) 5. PRONI VAL/12/E/93/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1919-c1935) 6. PRONI VAL/3/D/4/4/A/7 – First General Revaluation; Valuers’ RV Binder (1933-57) 7. Irish Builder, Vol 43, 22nd May 1902, p.1254 8. Architectural Review, May 1965, p.387-91 Secondary Sources 1. Auld, C. “Holywood Co Down, Then and Now” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002 2. Auld, C. ”Forgotten Houses of Holywood, Co Down” Holywood: Con Auld, 2003 3. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996 4. www.stonedatabase.com

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 X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A two-storey Edwardian manor house built 1902 to the designs of Graeme, Watt and Tulloch. The external style and proportions are of robust character with detailing of Victorian classicism. Much of the historic fabric survives and the extension infilling the courtyard is by Ian Campbell in 1963. The house is a good example of the type, associated with a significant historic figure, Sir Robert Kennedy, and retains most of its historic character and detailing. It is also of interest in representing the continuing development of this area after the arrival of the railway.

General Comments

Date of Survey

20 April 2010