WOODBINE COTTAGE
130-132 Antrim Road, Belfast
 |
 |
|
1995 |
After restoration |
Woodbine Cottage was built about 1850 as a free-standing cottage
on the Antrim Road going north out of Belfast, which at that time
was little developed. At first it seems to have been known simply
as Antrim Road Cottage, and then possibly as Ivy Cottage, but
by 1870 it had become Woodbine Cottage. In 1880 it was occupied
by a tea merchant named John Whitten.
In 1896 a painter called James McKenzie moved into what was then
114 Duncairn Street (as the section of Antrim Road up to Duncairn
Church was known for about 30 years), and his family remained
there till the 1970s. In 1934 James McKenzie (presumably the son
of the original James) took sole control of what had become a
partnership with his brother and their mother. In its heyday the
firm employed forty painters. They used to mix up paints in the
sheds, clean paint-tins in tubs of caustic in the yard and dry
them on a pot-bellied stove in another shed before putting in
new colours. The ground floor ceiling of the office was studded
with nails to hold the pots of mixed paints for matching in repairs.
Mosaic tiling in the pavement at the front door still carries
the name J Mackenzie & Sons.
The house is two-storey and double-fronted, but modest in scale.
It is finished with coursed smooth-render, with pilasters at each
corner and moulded architraves to windows on the front elevation.
A shallow Doric portico leads into a small hall, with three rooms
on the ground floor, the front ones being complete with folding
shutters, moulded cornices and panelled doors. The kitchen and
scullery also lead off the hall. The staircase has a steeply curved
handrail and moulded balustrades. In the garden at the rear was
a small stable block (now demolished) and a well-glazed two-storey
tin-roofed structure, which was formerly the office of the painting
firm.
For a number of years the house had been essentially abandoned,
and was getting steadily vandalised. In January 1995, youths broke
in, stole the newel-post and set a fire at the back of the house;
while the actual fire damage was localised, the risk of further
arson leading to more extensive destruction was very high. Hearth
reached agreement with the owner to take over the building and
was able to start work in advance of full legal ownership. The
house has not been altered, but extensive making good after dry
rot treatment and fire damage was required. The tenant has chosen
to purchase this house in accordance with the Assocation's sales
policy.
Client: Hearth Revolving
Fund (sold to Hearth Housing Association)
Architect: Hearth
Main Contractor: Annadale Building Contracts, Belfast
Restored: 1995-96
Assisted by loans and grants from: Historic Buildings Branch DoE
and own capital
Accommodation: One three-bedroom house
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