Nairn House (Richmond House), Belfast

Image: © Rossographer Taken: 8 Jan 2010

A fine old house on the Malone Road in Belfast, now part of Victoria College school. The house was originally occupied by the Richmond Lodge High School for Girls which moved to this location in 1911 (the school was founded in the 1880s firstly being located at 28 Elmwood Avenue and then 13 Stranmillis Road before finally settling here). The school remained here, latterly to be known as Richmond Lodge School, Belfast, until an amalgamation with nearby Victoria College in 1987 and it is still in use today. Prior to being used as a school, this was a substantial farmhouse sitting in much larger grounds than today, on what was then the outskirts of Belfast. c1890 the name was changed to Rupert Lodge and was being let to various tenants (in 1900 the house was occupied by a Jane M. Murphy; the Belfast Street Directory of 1908 records that the house was occupied by a solicitor called P. Macaulay). Around that time the old farmhouse was enlarged to create the substantial building that still stands today. The name Nairn House has been acquired sometime in the early 20th Century as a tribute to Miss Violet Nairn, headmistress of Richmond Lodge 1911-1920.

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