4 BRIDGE ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Terraced three-bay two-storey with attic rendered former house, built pre 1859 (possibly c.1830) with shopfront and large two-storey with attic rendered extension to the rear, built c.2000. Rectangular on plan with the rear extension set at a 45 degree angle. Lining the southwest side of Bridge Street and set below street level. Built as a pair with No.2 Bridge Street (HB05/02/023F) which abuts to SE.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and two rendered chimneystacks (that to the north embedded in the adjoining building HB05/02/023H). Cast-iron guttering to moulded eaves course and cast-iron downpipe. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling (plain cement rendered to rear extension). Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and replacement hardwood horizontally-glazed sliding sash windows.

Three-bay two-storey front elevation with a square-headed door opening to the left with replacement hardwood panelled door and stucco shopfront to the right side of ground floor level. Shopfront comprises a hardwood shop display window with entrance to the right side, with an additional square-headed door opening on the left side of the window, centrally located on the front elevation, both of these doors are framed within fluted pilasters with string course and hood moulding over. The central door opening has a replacement hardwood panelled door set in an original frame with original fanlight opening onto terrazzo step. Three window openings to first floor level, aligned with door openings below, all 2/2 horizontally-glazed timber sliding sash windows.

Rear elevation obscured by gable-ended extension. Extension is full width of property with modern doors and windows. Pair of doors to ground, four windows to F/F and single window to apex of gable.

NW side abutted by No.6 Bridge Street (HB05/02/023H).

Setting:
Built as one of a pair with No.2 Bridge Street (HB05/02/023F) which abuts to SE. Part of a continuous terrace lining the southwest side of Bridge Street and set at a lower level than the street with pavement enclosed by rendered retaining wall and replacement steel railing. Small concrete paved yard to rear.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted ruled-and-lined render
Windows Replacement hardwood sliding sash

Historical information

No. 4 Bridge Street, a two-storey three-bay early-19th century building, was constructed prior to 1859 (possibly c. 1830). The building may be referred to in the 1834 Townland Valuations. It is difficult however to identify specific structures in that source due to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. The property was first recorded with certainty on Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which noted that No. 4 Bridge Street was initially valued at £8 and was leased by the Turnly family to a Mr. Daniel Rice. The building appears on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1903 which depicted it along its current layout but noted that the building originally possessed a small rear return (this has been replaced by a modern two-storey return).

Rice continued to reside at No. 4 Bridge Street until c. 1868 when the property passed to a Mr. John McBride, a local merchant and restauranteur. In c. 1896 the value of the building was increased to £9 and 15 shillings following the construction of the adjoining No. 6 Bridge Street. The Census of Ireland notes that McBride’s widow, Margaret McBride, resided at the house and operated a restaurant from the premises in 1911. In that year the census building return described No. 4 Bridge Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of five rooms and possessed a piggery and fowl house as its sole out offices. c. 1913 the house was occupied by Daniel McCollum, a local building contractor whose family remained at the site until the 1960s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 4 Bridge Street was increased to £17. Following Daniel McCollum’s death in 1951 the property passed to Patrick McCollum who continued to reside at the address until 1969. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) No. 4 Bridge Street had been further increased in value to £27 and was occupied by a Mr. Desmond Patrick.

In 1972 the UAHS publication for the Glens of Antrim described nos 2-6 Bridge Street as ‘a continuous terrace of two and three-storey houses, with most glazing-bars complete, of no especial interest, but pleasant and coherent; the dip in the pavement level lends unusual interest to what might otherwise be a little dull’ (UAHS, p. 31). 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. 4 Bridge Street was subsequently listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 4 Bridge Street was converted from a private dwelling into an amusement arcade in 1980 and underwent an extensive renovation c. 1983 which included reslating in Bangor Blue slates, the installation of new sliding sash window frames and cast iron rainwater goods. No. 4 Bridge Street was utilised as office premises from the mid-1980s until 2004-2007 when a second renovation was carried out. At this time the building was converted into commercial premises with self-contained apartments occupying the upper floors; the conversion included the construction of a modern rear return (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 (20 Mar 1951)
13. First Survey Record – HB05/02/023 (1971)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/023G

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
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Mid-terraced three-bay two-storey with attic rendered former house, constructed prior to 1859 (possibly c. 1830). Located on the south west side of Bridge Street and built as one of a pair with its neighbour to left hand side, No.2 (HB05/02/023F). It sits below road level and is accessed off the sunken footpath of Bridge Street, behind a wall and railings. Despite the construction of the large rear extension and alterations to the original internal layout and detailing, the former house retains its early nineteenth-century character including fluted pilasters to the shopfront. Together with its neighbour, No.2, with which it has group value, No. 4 forms an intrinsic part of the historic setting of Cushendall village centre.