ALEXANDRA PARK
Alexandra Park Gate Lodge, 19 Castleton Gardens, Belfast
1997, gutted by fire
Restored as a family home
Alexandra Park was laid out over some ten acres and opened to
the public in 1887. The land originally belonged to Sir John Preston,
the York Street Flax Spinning Company and the Jennymount Flax
Spinning Company, and the companies retained water rights as the
ornamental lake in the Park supplied water to the mills. The name
of the park marked the visit to Belfast in 1885 of the Prince
and Princess of Wales. The gate lodge is contemporary with the
park, and was probably designed by J C Bretland.
In recent years the park had suffered from considerable vandalism,
and despite the hard work of the city's Parks Department there
had been a marked deterioration in its amenity. About 1990 the
lodge was burnt out in an arson attack but Hearth Revolving Fund
subsequently acquired it from the City Council.
The lodge is a small two-storey rubble-stone building with steeply
pitched roofs and tall stone chimneys, and the windows are plain
sashes with an unusual shouldered design. The fire had destroyed
the staircase, first floor, and most of the roof, and no internal
doors survived, although some windows remained in scorched and
rotted condition. The structure was generally sound, but the stonework
had been repointed in hard mortar at some stage, leading to deterioration
of some of the soft Scrabo stonework.
Restoration of the building involved new slate roofs and cast
iron gutters, and new windows and doors throughout. A considerable
amount of stone was replaced where the original material was badly
spalled or damaged by the fire and ongoing deterioration. Internally,
a new staircase was put in, and flooring was replaced throughout.
There was no evidence of ornamental ceiling roses after the fire,
but it is very likely that the house had roses, and new ones were
provided. Originally there would have been three bedrooms upstairs,
but one has been made into a bathroom.
Client: Hearth Revolving
Fund Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: McNally Contractors (Randalstown) Ltd
Restored: 1997-98
Accommodation: One two-bedroom house
Assisted by loans and grants from: N I Housing Executive, Environemnt
& Heritage Service through the Tourism Sub-Programme (EEC),
and own capital.
