6 Bath Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered terraced house and commercial premises with dormer to attic; built c.1860 and located to the south side of Bath Street in Portrush town centre. Square on plan with three-storey canted bay to front; three-storey return and two-storey extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with rendered chimneystack. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on modillioned eaves. Walling is painted smooth render with plain frieze under eaves. Windows are replacement uPVC with projecting painted sills, continuous to first floor; gabled dormer to attic.

The principal elevation faces northwest; full-height canted bay to right; left bay has window to upper floors and classical-style doorcase at ground floor. Doorcase comprises replacement panelled-and-glazed timber door with transom light in timber panelled reveal; flanked by panelled pilasters with mid-level circular motif; surmounted by Greek-key frieze and dentilled pediment on foliated consoles. Door is accessed via a set of seven sandstone steps, enclosed by decorative cast-iron balustrade; to right is a set of stone steps leading down to basement, accessed via a modern timber-sheeted semi-glazed half door.

The northeast elevation is fully abutted by adjoining building; HB03/10/016B.

The southeast (rear) elevation was not viewed (see surveyor’s comments). Abutted at right by the three-storey return, forming a gable with return of adjoining building (HB03/10/016B). Abutted by two-storey extension (of no interest).

The southwest elevation is fully abutted by adjoining building.

Setting:

Street-fronted and situated between Main Street and the coastal path in the town centre. Terraced to both sides, Bath Street is made up of residential and mixed use buildings, dating from the mid-Victorian period. To northwest corner site is a twenty-first century three-storey modern apartment block. Enclosed rear yard.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: uPVC
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

This semi-detached pair in Bath Street, Portrush was completed in 1861, not long after the opening of the railway line to the town and the ‘splendid marine residences’ were advertised for sale in April of the same year. (Belfast Newsletter) The developer, Constantine Dornan, of Portrush had erected the buildings ‘at considerable expense, with all the Modern Improvements in Buildings’. The houses had ‘every accommodation suitable for a gentleman’s family and have only to be viewed to be appreciated’. Accommodation comprised; ‘Front and Back Drawing-Rooms and Dining-Rooms, Eight Bed-Rooms, Two Water-Closets, Shower and Plunge Baths, Butler, Housemaid and Mistress’s Pantries, Kitchen, Servants’ Hall, Larder, Wine Cellar and Coal Vaults’. A coach-house, stable and hay-loft had been built to the rear, ‘with a never-failing supply of pure Spring Water and sewerage direct to the sea”. It was expected that the buyer of the houses would let them out and a rent of £52.10s per year was suggested. (Belfast Newsletter)

The semi-detached pair is first shown on the 1896 town plan of Portrush with steps and railings to the front and a stable block and yards to the rear. The bay-fronted houses had a rear return also accessed by a flight of steps. Griffith’s Valuation records the site as a building ground leased by ‘Cornelius [sic] Dornan’ and it is not until Annual Revisions of 1863 that the buildings are recorded at £36 each. Constantine Dornan is noted as the occupier initially, the houses apparently still unsold but they are later both occupied by Robert Erskine.

By 1882 number six had been let to Mrs Dodds who advertised her ‘excellent accommodation’ as far away as Glasgow, offering a ‘splendid sea-view’ and moderate charges. (Glasgow Herald) In the late 1880s the house was let to Mrs Dimsdale and at the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Thomas Wray, a 50-year-old Poor Rate and Income Tax collector and Insurance Agent living with his Canadian wife and keeping a single domestic servant. An 80-year-old woman boarded at the house which was designated first class and had thirteen rooms.

The 1911 census records both dwellings as boarding houses, but only number six was occupied at this date by Sarah A Lynn, widow and boarding house keeper together with her niece, 22-year-old Norah Dugan. The houses passed through a succession of tenants until 1932 when two-storey extensions were added to the rear of both houses and as a consequence the valuation was increased to £48. A motor house was built to the rear of number 6 and valued separately at £5.

In the 1930s the house was occupied by Mabel Nicholson and the accommodation comprised three receptions, 10 bedrooms and three attic bedrooms, a kitchen in the basement, scullery, pantry, bathroom and WC. The house was described as a ‘Good class boarding house’.

The building was listed in 1983 and by 1988, when a change of use was applied for, the building was a private dwelling with two rooms used as a dentist’s surgery. The basement was then altered to a florist and craft’s shop and new entrance steps were constructed. In 1993 the basement shop was changed to a tearoom and in 2011 permission was sought to change the building into a hostel for surfers, although it is currently in use as a shop. All the windows were replaced with uPVC in the 1980s. Girvan notes the ‘excellently detailed pedimented doors’ to this semi-detached pair.

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
12. HB File – 03/010/016
13. Belfast Newsletter 1st April 1861
14. Glasgow Herald 7th June 1882
15. 1901 census
16. 1911 census

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in North Antrim including the towns of Portrush, Ballymoney and Bushmills” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1975

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A refurbished two-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered terraced house and commercial premises with dormer to attic; built c.1860 and located to the south side of Bath Street in Portrush town centre. Despite some inappropriate replacement fabric including uPVC windows and entrance door, which detracts from the original character, the building still possesses much historic detailing externally and internally. There is also group value with number 8 (HB03/07/016B). Despite their alterations, the pair remain amongst the best examples of mid-Victorian townhouses in Portrush.

General comments

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