86 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic mid-terrace house with adjoining shop, built c.1850 as two terraced dwellings, with double-height corner shopfront added in 1916. Rectangular on plan with single-storey flat-roof extension to rear of shop.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack to northeast gable; modern timber roof-light and two modern timber gabled dormers. Plastic rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render. Replacement timber casements throughout in plain reveals with projecting painted sills; continuous sills to canted bay windows; large plate glass windows to shopfront.

The principal elevation faces northwest and has irregularly arranged openings incorporating house and shop. House at left comprises three-storey canted bay windows and original doorcase at ground floor right. Entrance comprises replacement four-panelled timber door with semi-circular glazed top panel and transom light; flanked by plain pilasters and foliate console brackets supporting a corniced canopy. Three irregularly arranged windows to third floor, over double-height traditional-style shopfront with entrance door to west corner, accessed from Bath Street by three concrete steps.

Shopfront wraps around corner of building and is dominated by a corner pier with supports upper floor over canted corner entrance. Large plate glass windows on painted render stall risers with slender column-style timber frames; divided at ground floor and gallery by painted timber fascia with painted lettering. Enclosed at northwest and southwest by highly decorative reconstituted stone pilasters with ornate console brackets to fascia; square pier with decoratively carved painted timber panels to west corner; recessed corner entrance is fully glazed with modern metal entrance doors surmounted by narrow transom light; porch laid with modern stone tiles. Plain fascia has moulded cornice and traditional gilded lettering painted lettering reading Kennedy & Wolfenden; attached modern metal strip lighting.

The northeast elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The southeast (rear) elevation of house has two windows at upper floors (those at left are smaller); bipartite timber window and half-glazed timber door to ground floor right. Abutted at left by a full-height gabled return (not in same ownership) and by the single-storey flat-roof extension, having roughcast rendered painted walls and without window openings.
The southwest elevation has two small timber framed windows to attic, and a regular window to second floor right. Shopfront as described above.

Setting:

Prominently sited on the corner of Bath Street and Main Street in Portrush town centre, forming part of a mid to late-nineteenth century terrace made up of both residential and commercial units. Yard to rear enclosed to southeast by a tall rubblestone wall.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined painted render
Windows: Replacement timber frames
RWG: uPVC

Historical information

The current building, now a shop and attached house, was originally a semi-detached pair of boarding houses, dating from c1850, and was converted into a shop in 1916. Buildings are shown on the second edition OS map of 1853 and Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) lists the occupier of Number 1 Bath Street as John Coleman while resident in number two was Alexander Adamson. Both houses were leased from Samuel Perry and valued at £14. In the 1870s the buildings were raised a storey with a consequent rise in valuation to £19 and £18 respectively.

The houses subsequently passed through various occupiers and Rebecca Rogers ran number one as a boarding house with her sister from the late 1880s. The seven-room dwelling house was designated 2nd class in the 1901 census. William McCullagh lived in the eight-room house next door, also designated 2nd class. He was a fish and provision merchant who lived with his wife and three children, the oldest of whom had been born in the United States. The family employed a Scottish servant girl, 18-year-old Kate Gentles. The 1911 census records both buildings as boarding houses, number 1 being run by Sarah Kennedy a Scottish widow who had two young children. Number two was empty at the time of the census.

In 1916 the two buildings were taken over by Thomas Sinclair and a new shop constructed within number one by removing the first floor and turning it into a space twenty feet high. The cost of construction was £500 and the annual rent £100. The resulting jeweller’s shop was in a ‘very good position’ according to valuer’s notes and the valuation of number one was raised to £65 as a result. Rooms over the shop were added to the adjacent house at number two which was revalued at £25. The shop was taken over by Thomas Johnston in 1928 and the adjoining house by the Davey family in the same year.

In 1933 the shop and house were bought by Saul Bercott for £2,500 and the shop was used as a summer auction room. A store was added to the rear in 1938. The dwelling accommodation at this time comprised two receptions, six bedrooms and five attics, a kitchen, pantry, bathroom and WC. Bercott charged a rent for the house of £70 yearly and the tenant had the use of a stable to the rear. In the 1950s shop and house were taken over by W J Mason and Sons (Valuation records). The building continues in use as commercial premises with adjoining bed and breakfast.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/2/1 First Edition OS Map 1831-2
2. PRONI OS/6/1/2/2 Second Edition OS map 1853
3. PRONI OS/6/1/2/3 Third Edition OS Map 1906
4. PRONI OS/6/1/2/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1921-31
5. PRONI OS/6/1/2/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1946-50
6. PRONI OS/8/42/1-2 – Town Plans of Portrush (1895-6)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/30B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2A-E – Annual Revisions (1859-1895)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22A-D Annual Revisions (1895-1930)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/30 First General Revaluation 1933-57
11. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/15/A/5 First General Revaluation 1933-57

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic mid-terrace house with adjoining shop, built c.1850 as two terraced dwellings, with an unusual double-height shopfront, with classical motifs, added in 1916. The high quality shopfront with an elaborate square corner column and similarly detailed pillasters is of particular interest as a rare example of an early twentieth-century shopfront design. The addition of the shopfront adds to the historic interest of the building, illustrating the commercial development of Portrush during the first part of the twentieth-century. Prominently sited on the main thoroughfare in the town, the building is of local interest and is one of the most significant commercial buildings in Portrush.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; and S - Authenticity also apply.