Hearth is always looking at ways of improving its service to its tenants, and it is always considering new buildings at risk across Northern Ireland. This page contains information about recent issues.


 

College Green House opened (Jan 2006)

Five years ago, when Hearth had just acquired a long lease on the building, College Green House was unlisted, in poor condition and about to be put under a closing order because it didn't meet the regulations for a house in multiple occupancy. It had been a substantial private house at one time, but been converted into flats in the 1930s and gradually declined. Seventy years earlier its elevation to College Green had been hacked about when picture windows were inserted and many rooms were subdivided, and to many people passing it casually it would have looked a fairly banal building. However its Botanic Avenue elevation was complete and it was obvious that it had the potential to be restored once again as a fine building in a very important conservation area.

Hearth carried out research on the building, and we were able to make a case for having the building listed, then sought funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which was granted in 2003. Once planning permission had been received we were able to start work in the autumn of 2004 and the building was opened in January 2006 by Dr Garret FitzGerald and Dame Jennifer Jenkins.



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New Hearth brochure (Dec 2005)

 

Every five years Hearth brings out a quinquennial report (just as the owners of many other historic buildings do), and our new report is now available. Now covering over 25 years of work, the new brochure runs to 80 pages with most of the buildings we have worked on illustrated in it in full colour. Copies are now available from us at £2.50 including postage and packing (UK only).

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Death of Sir Charles Brett (Dec 2005)

The death of Sir Charles Brett on 19 December marks the end of an era for Hearth, as for many other organisations with which he was involved. He was Hearth's first Chairman and when he returned after a spell looking after the NI Housing Executive, he also became its third. He was involved for many years in both Hearth's parent bodies (the National Trust and the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society), and long after he stood down from the committee he remained deeply interested in Hearth.

Hearth's twin aims of restoring historic buildings and providing good quality housing came directly from Sir Charles' interests in aesthetics and in socialism. He was inspired to set up Hearth by looking at the work of the Little Houses scheme set up by the National Trust for Scotland, but his dual enthusiasms would almost certainly have led him to the same conclusion in any case.

His many books were always published under the name of C E B Brett, but he was universally known as Charlie Brett. The familiarity reflected the fact that, however daunting Sir Charles may have appeared to people who did not know him, to his friends in the fields of housing and architectural conservation Charlie was unfailingly supportive, often very kind, and mischievously humorous.

Charlie left his mark on many aspects of life in Northern Ireland, and he did so because he believed passionately in the value of local places and people. He may have had an intellectual range that spread from Paris to the Crimea and from the ancient classics to contemporary literature, but he never despised the buildings and the people that were around him in his everyday life. He was a great humanitarian as well as an aesthete, and we are all much the richer for having known him.

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Portrush Town Hall restored (Nov 2005)

Five years after Hearth joined the campaign to save Portrush Town Hall the restoration of the building has been completed by Hearth in association with Coleraine Borough Council. The project cost around £1.5m and was assisted by a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The building has been extensively renovated, including re-roofing, replacement of weathered brick and stonework, demolition of a 1950s extension and addition of a new gable in more appropriate style. Internally, the building has been replanned to increase green room space and improve the facilities for drama groups using the theatre in the former assembly room. The insertion of a lift and increased toilet facilities, and restoration of the former council chamber and meeting rooms, means that the building will serve its community for many years to come. For details of the building works, click here.

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Court Street planning appeals (Sep 2005)

When we restored our two houses in Court Street Newtownards it was our hope that they would set an example that might be followed by other owners to bring back one of the best terraces of houses in the town. Unfortunately quite a number of the buildings had been unsympathetically altered into shops, and as part of the Second Survey of listed buildings currently being undertaken in the province, it was recommended that a large proportion be de-listed as no longer of sufficient quality. While accepting that many of the houses are not individually of listable quality, we believe strongly in their group value and have been trying to argue that they should remain listed as such.

At the same time as the argument about their listing goes on, a developer known as Castlebawn Ltd is proposing to convert the historic bawn at the rear of the houses into a shopping centre, and seeking to get access to it by demolishing parts of the Court Street frontage. Hearth has been represented at a number of planning appeals over the group, most recently one this autumn. Two good houses (on the left in the above picture) beside Hearth's pair have been acquired by the developers and outbuildings behind them were demolished without authorisation; this appeal concerned the possibility of development to their rear. While not arguing that all the houses in the street should remain residential, Hearth is concerned that the street should remain pleasant to live in - our houses have an attractive and very secluded long garden behind them (see below) - and that the context of our (still listed) houses should remain unaltered.

Jan 2006 - The Planning Appeals Commission in its finding on the September hearing has recognised that the street is still listed and that the proposal to develop at the rear of the neighbouring houses was inappropriate. The battle will continue as further applications are submitted, but the importance of context in protecting the remaining listed buildings in Court Street, the neighbouring Priory and the scheduled bawn wall has been established.

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Curfew Tower Awards (Aug 2005)

Although Hearth no longer owns the Curfew Tower in Cushendall which it restored in 1993, we remain its ground landlord and are happy to assist its owner, Bill Drummond, in placing artists in it and helping to maintain the building which is now an artists' residency. One of the conditions of artists staying there is that they should leave behind a part of their work, and this year for the first time there was an exhibition of the work and the chance for local people to vote for their favourite piece of artwork. Given the range of the work from conceptual to musical and computer work to photography, the choice was never going to be easy, but one day in August the First Annual Exhibition of work at the Tower took place. The prize, which was won by Peter Richards for a stunning image of the Tower made by a large pinhole camera, was a bronze sculpture of the tower designed by Rosemary McAlister of Cushendall. Peter was later presented with the award at a ceremony at the National Trust's Patterson's Spade Mill (another Hearth restoration) when its wooden base was branded with specially designed tools.

 

More McMaster Street history (July 2005)

We have been particularly fortunate in being given historic photographs of McMaster Street (see Patricia Massey's photos which were given to us on completion of the project). Another former resident of the street, Yvonne Burrows, e-mailed us from Canada where she is now living and has provided more photographs from her album. Read more about them by clicking here.

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Castle Upton receives RICS Award (April 2005)

We were delighted that our scheme at Castle Upton won a Commendation in the recent RICS Conservation Awards at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. The standards at such competitions can be very high, and inevitably the judges will tend to be more impressed by larger and more expensive projects, and our lodges at Castle Upton are almost invisible from the street and very modest in scale.

The scheme also featured as 'Development of the Week' in the national magazine Inside Housing in July.

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Wallace Park lodges completed (Mar 2005)

The gate lodges at each end of the linear Wallace Park in Lisburn have now been acquired from the City Council and restored by Hearth. The Belsize Lodge had been modernised about fifteen years ago but then deteriorated and had been vacant for a number of years; the Magheralave one was burnt out in 2000 after being vacant for some time and required more extensive works includng partial rebuilding. Around the time work started there was controversy about a local hockey club building new pitches at one end of the park - innocuous enough you might have thought, but the pitches would have been surrounded by floodlights and high fencing, so we joined with the objectors. Fortunately the club was able to find other premises, and Lisburn City Council is now planning further restoration of the Wallace Park in view of the increased public profile it has developed.

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Research assistant (Jan 2005)

We are pleased to be able to provide a work placement for Edel McElduff, a student doing the MSc in Rural Development at the Gibson Institute for Land, Food & Environement at Queen's University. During her stay of about three months Edel will work on a questionnaire to our tenants and help with historic research on some schemes.

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Hair jewellery (Feb 2005)

The internet throws up some unusual connections. A jeweller in Mississippi contacted us about a piece of "hair jewelry" which she had come across, wanting to know more about Castle Upton where we had restored the gate lodges and wondering if a museum might be interested in purchasing the piece. The slightly macabre festoon of hair had belonged to Caroline Upton, youngest daughter of Henry Third Viscount Lord Templeton, who died in 1874. We were able to put the jeweler in touch with the present occupants of the house, and also with the Ulster Museum which has a large collection of Irish jewelry.

Around the same time our Director, Marcus Patton, encountered a letter written by the then Lord Templeton to one of his ancestors, HF Thomas, thanking him "for the pocket handkerchief he had been called to recover by the kind attention of Mr Thomas". It's the kind of thing you might think twice about putting in an e-mail nowadays, but in 1882 one posted a letter to say thank you for such a trivial incident.

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Guide to Lisburn Historic Quarter (Dec 04)

From time to time Hearth is asked to undertake projects which are not directly building-related. One such was the commission to prepare a Conservation Guide for the Historic Quarter of Lisburn. The initial plan from Lisburn City Council was to have a design guide, but it was argued that that suggested a plan for new buildings rather than an analysis of what made the old buildings distinctive, and the brochure also had to cover some of the common isues regarding repair and mainenance of historic buildings. The guide was launched at a ceremony in Lisburn's Linen Centre in December.

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Assistant Director appointed (Sep 2004)

Following a review of Hearth's plans for the future, the Committee has decided to appoint an Assistant Director with a view to expanding our capabilities on both the housing and the architectural fronts. A challenging specification was drawn up and we are pleased to welcome Siobhan Brown to the new post.

Siobhan is an architect with conservation experience and a particular interest in sustainable technology. She also has a strong interest in the people who live in her schemes and was drawn to Hearth's twin aims of restoring historic buildings and providing social housing. She comes to us from Consarc where she had been working in the conservation team, and while her primary job will be developing new schemes, she will also be very much involved with maintenance and housing issues.

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Crab apple jelly (Aug 2004)

When planning the gardens round our buildings we often carry out research into the kind of plants that might have been available at the time the building was constructed, but never have we planted for edibility. However we were delighted when one of our tenants at Camden Street presented us with a jar of translucent crab apple jelly made from the fruits on the little apple tree we planted there twenty years ago. If there are any tenants out there interested in making quince jam, rhubarb tarts or nettle soup do let us know!

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Mill Cottage (February 03)

Work has started to restore Mill Cottage, a small cottage just outside Downpatrick. Another building that was once intended for the Rural Cottage Holidays project, its owners decided to proceed with the restoration on their own and hope to open it as a holiday cottage later in the year. Although a modest and simple building, like every old building it has a story to tell; for further details, click here.

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Tillie & Henderson's (December 02)

On the night of 4 December a masssive fire raged through the B+ listed former shirt factory of Tillie & Henderson in Londonderry, and for some weeks it dominated the news in the city. Could it be restored or would it have to be pulled down, changing for ever the face of the city as you arrive into it from the Waterside? Would the developers get their approval for a new hotel on the site by fait accompli, or would the planners listen to the views of engineers who said the buildinjg was still structurally stable? Would the unanimous views of Derry City Council and the Historic Buildings Council who called for the building to be restored be heeded, or would the cry of Roads Service that they couldn't open roads round the factory until it was made safe take precedence?

Hearth joined in discussions with the local Foyle Civic Trust and others interested in forming a building preservation trust for the city, and we were firmly of the view that the building was capable of restoration. We offered to act as a caretaker till the local trust could be set up, by initiating a feasibility study into possible uses for the building, exploring the most practical ways of carrying out holding repairs and seeking funding for its restoration. Sadly, at the beginning of January the developer moved bulldozers in, and without having obtained listed building consent has demolished the entire building. This raises a lot of political questions which are not Hearth's area, but further details can be found on the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's website.

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Sentry Hill finishes (November 02)

The restoration of the Victorian farmhouse at Sentry Hill for Newtownabbey Borough Council moved steadily through the year and finished ahead of time thanks to the smooth management of main contractors Martin & Hamilton. Hearth's work here was essentially a first phase of the restoration, with the Council using its own labour to carry out the final decoration and specialist conservators on wallpaper and furniture being employed directly by their Museums staff.

The building is getting plenty of time to dry out and stabilise before the furniture is put back in the house and it is not planned to open it till the end of 2003. For further details, please click here.

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Blackhead Light House (October 02)

Having acted as architects on the Irish Landmark Trust's first project in Northern Ireland at Ballealy Cottage, Hearth was pleased to be asked to look after their second scheme at Blackhead Light House, which in true Irish fashion is situated just north of Whitehead, in Co Antrim. However while Ballealy is situated in a secluded wooded location, Blackhead is completely open to the elements on an exposed cliff face, and contractors J S Dunlop are having to face severe exposure to the elements in re-roofing the lighthouse-keepers' cottages which are being converted into holiday homes. For further details of the building, click here.

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A Topiary Challenge (September 02)

It's always fascinating to come across old photographs of a building you know, and the new owners of Ivy Cottage were delighted to be able to get copies of photographs showing their house as it had been some fifteen years ago, when it was still occupied or not long empty.

Although a formal porch has replaced the rambling rose that used to climb round the front door, the building itself has changed little in its renovation, but the garden had become completely overgrown, and we had not been aware that it formerly boasted a splendid piece of topiary in the shape of a large corkscrew bush, probably a yew. Although it took longer than expected, the house has been finished in less than two years - but putting the yew tree back will probably take more like two hundred! However, the gauntlet has been thrown down and no doubt they will rise to the challenge...

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A Hat Trick of Awards (May 02)

It is thirty years since the DoE established its first survey of listed buildings, and to mark the occasion Environment & Heritage Service:Protecting Historic Buildings, as the former Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch of the DoE is now known, made awards to thirty recent restoration schemes. Dermot Nesbitt, Minister for the Environment, presented certificates to the thirty building owners, and Hearth was delighted to receive awards for two of its schemes - College Square North and Curry's Cottage - while also being able to share in the glory of the Irish Landmark Trust's scheme at Ballealy Cottage, for which Hearth had been architects. Click on the scheme names for further details.

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History isn't always pretty (Feb 02)

Seaforde tenant Mrs Marie McCormick has embarked on writing a history of the village, and has told us of a grim story from the early days of Seaforde, when John Gallagher who had worked for the Forde family was killed in 1870, and his neighbour, who lived in the gatelodge to the estate, was found guilty of his murder. The newspapers of those days gave very detailed accounts of the news, and the full gory details can be read here.

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Sentry Hill (Jan 02)

In 1999 Hearth prepared a report for Newtownabbey Borough Council on the possible restoration of Sentry Hill, a mid-19th century farmhouse near Carnmoney. This became part of an application by the Council to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and in due course led to the restoration project which went on site in January 2002. For further details click here.

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A new face in the architectural department

Hearth has often taken on year-out architectural students interested in conservation work, and for 2001-02 Eva McDermott, who is from Dublin, joins us before returning to Queen's University in the autumn of 2002. She will be working primarily on the computerisation of our scheme drawings, which will simplify the preparation of repairs and improvements in the future.

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A clachan near Downpatrick (Oct 01)


Some years ago, Hearth restored a number of derelict dwellings in the Glens of Antrim for the NI Tourist Board's Rural Cottage Holidays scheme. Although they are no longer developing their own projects, RCH has fostered a number of private projects where farmers are restoring their own property as holiday cottages. Hearth has just started on site with one such group at Ballydugan near Downpatrick. For further details click here.

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Restoration at Kilwaughter (Aug 01)


Hearth carries out occasional projects for private clients who want to restore neglected buildings that may otherwise have been lost. One such scheme has been an unlisted farmhouse on the hills above Kilwaughter, near Larne, which had lain empty for about ten years. Its restoration has just been completed.

While very plain and simple externally, the house has a long history. The client, an artist and historian and his American wife, had researched the story of the building and found that it stands on a former main roadway that has become only a lane leading into nearby fields. Part of the building (now a store) was constructed in rough fieldstone and almost certainly dates back to the structure shown on an early 18th century map. At the other end stands a two-storey barn that was probably built a hundred years later, while the main house is of a different construction again and is the most recent portion, having been rebuilt when the house was "riz up" to two storeys about 1900. Nevertheless it has an attractive kitchen with the traditional wide fireplace that has been restored as the frame for an oil-fired range.

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Memories of McMaster Street (June 01)

Following the publicity which the open days at McMaster Street received, Hearth was delighted to hear from a former resident of one of the houses it is restoring in McMaster Street. Patricia Massey, who has been living abroad for some years, called in with a great collection of photographs of her family at the house, and vivid recollections of how the house had been furnished. Her story is a reminder of how much housing standards have changed since the 1950s, yet she has very fond memories of the house, and when she saw round the finished building she thought it was still charming - just a lot smaller than she had remembered it!

To read Patricia's story, click here.

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McMaster Street open days (May 01)

On 11 May Hearth and the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, in collaboration with the Environment & Heritage Service of DoE, held an open day for local schools at the nearly-finished houses Hearth is restoring at McMaster Street.

Why should people want to see two perfectly ordinary two-up two-down houses in East Belfast? Mainly because although they were once very common, these simple terrace houses with their gaily-coloured brickwork are becoming quite a rarity, and when they do survive they are rarely complete - windows, doors and fireplaces will have been changed, and the old division of the ground floor into kitchen and parlour has usually been eroded.

Belfast Lord Mayor, Cllr Sammy Wilson, launched the day with great enthusiasm and children danced to traditional fiddle music, listened to stories, and played Victorian street games. They also discussed the niceties of kitchen houses versus parlour houses, why some floors were tiled and others timber, how many children would have slept in the back bedroom, and whether the coal used to be kept in the yard or in the coal hole under the stairs.

Some of them thought the houses were so interesting they should be kept open as a museum, but Hearth's philosophy is to restore the architectural character as much as possible and then to let the houses for people to live in and make into homes. One thought this was a waste of an interesting building!

A second open day was targeted at a different audience, the tenants or owners of similar houses who are thinking of improving their own home. They were reminded how attractive the houses can be made with fireplaces, plasterwork and tiles restored, and they were interested in the combination of restoration and improvements which had been achieved.

To read about the houses, click here.

To read about the work carried out on site, click here.

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Sash windows upgraded (Feb 01)

One of the most frequent comments made by tenants responding to our recent questionnaire was that the old windows looked right but were draughty. This was discussed by our management committee and it was decided that as finance became available the Ventrolla system should be applied to our windows.

This is in effect a draught proofing system, but also includes an overhaul of the pulleys, weights and general operation of double-hung sash windows, making them much easier to operate. It is not cheap, but much less expensive than replacement of windows, and allows the maximum amount of original fabric to survive. It will not generally be installed as an item on its own, but only when projects are undergoing other major repairs at the same time.

The first of our schemes to benefit from this was Clifton Villas, where almost all of the original 1830 windows have survived, but the sheer size of the windows means that any air leakage is considerable. At the same time the old back boilers were being replaced with gas-fired boilers. Inevitably this has been disruptive for tenants, but they are delighted with the result. Next to benefit from this major work will be Camden Terrace.

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A Pinhole Camera at Cushendall (Oct 2000)

The Curfew Tower in Cushendall is now an artists' residency. A recent incumbent was Peter Richards, who produced a weird image of the tower using a wheelie bin as a pinhole camera. For more details, click here.

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Best Value (Sept 2000)

One of the cornerstones of present government policy is that public bodies should offer "best value". This really means value for money, but includes also an element of customer choice, best value being both economical and providing what the end user wants. Housing Associations were invited this year to participate in a pilot project on best value, and Hearth decided to take part in the exercise. We chose to explore best value in the area of environmental issues.

All our tenants were circulated with a questionnaire about three specific issues: the impact of television aerials, the design of windows, and the re-use of old buildings. We were delighted with the response, with nearly 75% of tenants returning the questionnaire, and very encouraged by the level of interest shown in our buildings and the preservation of our built heritage generally. Although only a quarter of our tenants applied to us because we provide historic houses:

For a detailed analysis of the questionnaire, click here.

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Heritage Open Days, Septembers

Since 1997, there has been a European Heritage Open Days weekend in Northern Ireland. There are similar events in most European countries, many long established, and they provide an opportunity for people to visit buildings that are not normally open to the public. Some of the buildings are grand, like the Belfast Harbour Office or Armagh Courthouse, and others are extraordinary, like the St John's Point Lighthouse near Killough or Sinclair Seamen's Church in Belfast - but some are very modest homes that happen to be old or unusual, like Margaret Gallagher's thatched cottage at Belcoo. If you want to see how our ancestors lived a hundred years ago, Margaret lives exactly that way now and can show you!

Each September a number of properties Hearth has restored are open as part of the Open Days. In September 2000, for example, you could have visited seven properties with Hearth connections:

Alexandra Park Gate Lodge
Curfew Tower, Cushendall
Ballealy Cottage, Randalstown
Patterson's Spade Mill, Templepatrick
Sharp's House
48 High Street, Comber
Curry's Cottage, Derrylin

Each year different buildings are open: look out for the distinctive narrow brochures giving details of what you can visit each September.

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For a copy of our most recent Tenants Newsletter in Acrobat format, click here.

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