[Extracts from the Bangor: An Historical Gazetteer, by Marcus Patton, published by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in 1999 (revised and enlarged edition of 1984 List).]
The Gazetteer also covers Carnalea, Conlig, Copeland Islands, Crawfordsburn, Groomsport and Six Road Ends.
1897-9, by Vincent Craig:
Picturesque two- and three-storey red brick clubhouse with five-storey
square tower above entrance. Red-tiled roof well equipped with
finials and chimneys, half timbered gables and dormers. An eyecatcher
at the head of its peninsula set on a commanding headland, surrounded
by an attractive whinstone wall, with clusters of New Zealand
flax on its Seacliff Road boundary and veronica bushes at its
Clifton Road side.
A wonderfully varied building in what the Irish Builder called
the "old English style of architecture", in tuck-pointed
Laganvale bricks and Peake's red roofing tiles, with Arts and
Crafts windows set in segmental-headed openings and a verandah
overlooking the bay. A recent barrel-roofed front porch addition
(by Tony Wright) unfortunately obscures the carved stone entrance.
Inside, there is a very rich Edwardian interior, complete with
billiard room, elaborate stair case carved with ships and flowers,
the tiller from Lord Cantelupe's 84-ton yacht Urania (which was
wrecked on the shore nearby in 1890) and splendid "Anti-Fouling
and Non Contagious Closets" in the gents.
In 1866, the Marquess of Dufferin & Ava (as he was to become),
recently returned from a spell as Under-Secretary of State for
India, decided to revive the Ulster Yaeht Cluh which had been
founded in Bangor in 1806. The Marquess, who had taken his yacht
Foam to Iceland and Spitzbergen in 1856 (as a result of which
experiences he published his Letters from High Latitudes) was
an experienced yachtsman; on his 1856 voyage he had tried a wide
range of cures for seasickness including prussic acid, opium,
champagne, ginger, mutton chops and tumblers of salt water. Presumably
he found something effective, since his enthusiastic commodoreship
of the club led to its receiving a Royal Charter in 1870, and
becoming the centre for yachting near Belfast Lough.
In 1889, a young architect called Vincent Craig became a member
of the club, and after lengthy discussions Craig eventually became
the architect for a new "Club House, Office Houses and other
erections". Messrs McLaughlin & Harvey's tender for the
work was accepted, and the building opened on 12 April 1899, having
cost £6396 12s 1d (50% over tender price!) with furnishings
amounting to £1362 3s 2d.
By the end of the century the club's annual regatta attracted
"all the crack boats in British waters", including those
of "that boating grocer", as Kaiser Bill called Sir
Thomas Lipton, who was blackballed from the Royal Yacht Squadron
and therefore issued his challenge for the America's Cup from
the Royal Ulster in 1898. His yacht Shamrock I lost, but Lipton,
undaunted, issued four more challenges from the RUYC, his last
being in 1929. The Club has an interesting room of Lipton memorabilia.
(See also Seacourt in Princetown Road).
Refs: Eakin; Hogg 17; IB 15 Apr 1899; Lawrence 2361, 3876, 9533;
Minute Books in PRONI (D.2747/1/3); Spectator 20 April 1989; Welch
36-40.
Go to Publications
or to Index
c.l860: Pair of substantial two-storey semi-villas with shallow
Regency-glazed bow windows looking towards the sea; in red brick
with stucco dentils under eaves, a fringe of dormer windows, moulded
window surrounds and quoins; large brick porches and blind windows
to the road. No.97 has unfortunately been rendered. At the time
of writing, this fine building, one of the earliest in Bangor
and still comprising two good family homes, is sadly under threat
of demolition. [Demolished February 1999.]
Refs: Eakin; Lawrence 3876; Seyer p.27; Spectator 10 and 17 Dec
1998, 7 and 14 Jan l999.
[Note: The demolition of Ardmara raised considerable outcry,
and the redevelopment of the site was the subject of a planning
appeal in 2000.]
Go to Publications
or to Index
c.l890-1900: Three-storey terrace of six stucco houses accessed
from a lane between 82 and 88 Princetown Road, but looking directly
over Bangor Bay. Paired three-storey bow windows; iron balconies
at nos.3 and 4, which were built about a decade before nos. 1,
2, 5 and 6 were added for Samuel Crosbie by Young & Mackenzie.
Sometimes spelt Lorely, latterly most of the terrace has been
the Tedworth Hotel. Following a recent planning appeal decision,
demolition of all but the facade is likely to take place in the
near future.
Refs: App 15; Bldgs at Risk.vol 3 p.52; Eakin; IB 15 Aug 1898;
Lawrence 9538; Spectator 18 Sep 1997.
Go to Publications or to Index
Heart Foundation, Bingham Mall, Winemark, JJB Sports, Halifax:
c.1975: A collection of new shops built after the 1972 car bombs.
Nos.53-55 were formerly W & A Gilbey Ltd's fine Victorian
premises, with colonnaded upper storeys and elegant shop, while
nos.57-63 were three-storey stucco buildings. The replacements
tend to the brisk, bright and cheap.
Go to Publications or
to Index
(Photograph taken by Peter O Marlow shortly
before its demolition in 2000)
Nos.256-262: The Ballyholme: c.1890: Terrace of three-storey
stucco houses with conical roofs to full-height bow windows; paired
doorcases with corbelled entablatures. Now a nursing home, it
was used for a while (1900-1905) by Dr Connolly's Intermediate
School, forerunner of the present Grammar School (see College
Avenue), hence its original name of College Gardens,
and until recently it was the Ballyholme Hotel.
See Lawrence 11224, 11229.
The Society also publishes a brochure on Clandeboye House.