11 BRIDGE ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Substantial six bay, three-storey rendered building, built c.1890. On corner of Bridge Street and Shore Street in the centre of Cushendall. Turns the corner with chamfered corner entrance bay and shop unit to the ground floor. Otherwise rectangular on plan

Natural slate roof, hipped to the corner with black clay ridge tiles and three large rendered chimneystacks without pots. Replacement metal guttering supported on corbelled eaves course and steel downpipes. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with projecting rendered plinth course. Square-headed window openings with replacement concrete sills and replacement horizontally-glazed 1/2 timber sliding sash windows with ogee horns and secondary internal glazing.

Principal three-bay southwest elevation has a large fixed-pane timber-framed display window to the left and a square-headed door opening to the right with replacement timber panelled door and overlight opening onto two concrete steps.

The chamfered corner entrance bay has a square-headed door opening with glazed timber door.

Secondary two-bay northwest elevation has a further shop display window, as above.

Northeast side abutted by adjoining two-storey building (no.1 Shore Street).

The southeast elevation is abutted by adjoining building no.9 Bridge Street (HB05/02/023D), with a full-height stepped section projecting beyond the adjoining building at the rear. This elevation has unpainted cement rendered walling and replacement horizontally-glazed top-hung timber casement windows.

Setting:
Located at main crossroads at the centre of Cushendall village at the junction of Bridge Street and Shore Street. The rear entrance opens onto a flight of concrete steps and passageway enclosed by rubblestone wall.

Materials
Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement metal
Walling Ruled-and-lined cement render
Windows Replacement timber sliding sash / replacement timber casement

Historical information

No. 11 Bridge Street, a three-storey corner-site building possessing three bays on Bridge Street and two bays on Shore Street, was constructed c. 1890. Originally a Temperance Hotel, it was extended c. 1895 to take in the adjoining site, no. 9 Bridge Street (see HB05/02/023D). The Temperance Hotel is one of a number of local commercial buildings which were erected in Cushendall as a result of the village’s development into a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the coast road during the 19th century. The 1901 Ulster Town Directory noted that Cushendall’s hotels were ‘comfortable and well conducted’ with the village providing ‘an excellent centre for making excursions from to view the far-famed scenery of the Antrim Coast’ (UTD).

The Annual Revisions record that three houses were demolished in 1887 to make way for the construction of no. 11 Bridge Street by 1890; the completed building was first included in the Annual Revisions in that year. The valuer set the total rateable value of no. 11 Bridge Street at £16 and noted that the site was leased from the Turnly family to a Mr. Henry Chard. The 1901 Census of Ireland notes that Chard was a retired English Naval pensioner who resided with his wife Mary on High Street. Chard’s Temperance Hotel was greatly extended with the construction of the adjoining no. 9 Bridge Street in c. 1895. Henry Chard died in 1904 at which time his property including the hotel passed to Mary Chard (PRONI Wills). The Temperance Hotel at nos 9-11 Bridge Street was administered by Mary’s daughter Catherine under the 1911 Census which described the buildings as a 1st class hotel that consisted of 21 rooms and possessed a number of rear outbuildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, boiling house and a store. Despite the construction of the adjoining no. 9 Bridge Street, the Annual Revisions continued to record the buildings separately and maintained the value of no. 11 at £16 until 1929. The Ulster Town Directories note that a shop located on the ground floor of the building was utilised as a general grocer's (UTD).

Chard’s Temperance Hotel continued to operate from the site until the 1920s (Catherine Chard died in 1922) but by the 1930s nos 9-11 Bridge Street was occupied by Joseph Spence. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of nos 9-11 Bridge Street was combined at £50. The valuer noted that Spence did not maintain the Temperance Hotel but had converted the building into a café and entertainment hall. Nos. 9-11 Bridge Street was divided into two separate buildings in 1956. In that year a Mr. Patrick McCambridge converted no. 11 Bridge Street into a dwelling and shop resulting in the revaluation of the building to £32. McCambridge purchased the building outright from the Turnly estate in 1967 and continued to reside at the address until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the value of the building remained at £32.

In 1972, the UAHS 'List of historic buildings ... In the Glens of Antrim' described nos. 9-11 Bridge Street as ‘similar tall three-storey stucco houses with dentils at the eaves, and Regency-style glazing bars’ (UAHS, p. 32). The buildings along Bridge Street were subsequently included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975, only the second conservation area in the province to have been designated at that time, ‘testimony itself to the special qualities of the village.’ In that year the village was also chosen as one of Northern Ireland’s four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 11 Bridge Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that nos 9-11 Bridge Street underwent an extensive internal and external renovation in 2005 which included the installation of modern ground floor retail units, the conversion of the upper floors into apartments, the restoration of the roof and the replacement of the rainwater goods of both buildings. The restoration of the buildings resulted in the loss of the original Regency-style glazing bars which were replaced with sliding sash window frames (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guides).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
4. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
7. PRONI VAL/12/E/24/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1906-c. 1935).
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
9. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (4 Nov 1904; 18 Aug 1922)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/02/023 (1971)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/023E

Secondary Sources
1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings and areas of architectural importance in the Glens of Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Brett, C. E. B., ‘Buildings of Co. Antrim’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1996.
3. Dallat, C., ‘The road to the Glens’ Belfast: The Friar’s Bush Press, 1989.
4. ‘Cushendall Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1975.
5. ‘Cushendall Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1993.

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
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Substantial six bay, three storey rendered building prominently located on corner site at the central crossroads of Cushendall, with elegant canted entrance bay facing Turnly’s Tower (HB05/02/001). Built c. 1890 to replace three buildings. Originally a Temperance Hotel, it was extended c. 1895 to take in the adjoining site, no. 9 Bridge Street (see HB05/02/023D). The hotel was one of several buildings erected in Cushendall as a result of the village’s development into a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the coast road during the 19th century. It operated as a hotel until the 1920s. The building later became a general grocer's, and during the mid 1900s a café and entertainment hall. No.11 Bridge Street retains group value with no.9 due to their shared history as the hotel. While much of the interior has been modernised, the exterior retains historic fabric. Its varied social history, particularly as a Temperance Hotel, adds to its interest within the historic setting of Cushendall village centre.