Lynns Shop

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached three-bay two-storey over concealed basement rendered commercial building, built c.1909, with shopfront to ground floor extending into single-storey over basement wing to the northeast (built c.2001) and large extension to rear on the northwest side, built c.2010. Rectangular on plan facing southwest on the north side of Coast Road with the River Dall running along its northwest elevation.

Pitched natural slate roofs with black clay ridge tiles and rendered profiled chimneystacks with clay pots rising from either gable end. Ogee moulded cast-iron guttering to moulded eaves course and cast-iron downpipe. Painted rendered walling with painted rusticated render quoins. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills and single-pane sliding timber sash windows with slender ogee horns.

Three-bay two-storey front elevation has hood mouldings to the first floor windows and full-span shopfront to the ground floor. Central glazed door opening flanked by fixed-pane uPVC display windows each framed by fluted rendered pilasters and projecting plaster box fascia extending across the single-storey wing to the left. Three 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to first floor level.

The northwest side elevation is abutted by a single-storey over basement wing, built c.2001, having uPVC windows and painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with no windows to the side elevation.

Rear elevation now obscured by two large extensions, the left side extension built c.2001, and the right side extension built c.2010. The rear is comprised of two gabled wings with a single large opening to each at basement level. The extension has pitched artificial slate roofs, rough-cast cement rendered walling to the southeast, smooth cement rendered walling to the rear with both openings opening onto a large bitmac paved loading and parking area to the rear.

Three-bay two-storey gabled side elevation (SE) with three window openings at first floor level and a steel gate providing access to the rear car park.

Setting:
Located on the north side of Coast Road with a small raised cobblelock area to the front enclosed to the footpath by steel railings. The northwest elevation overlooks the River Dall.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate & artificial slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 2 Coast Road, a two-storey three-bay Edwardian building possessing a modern single-storey extension to its north-west side, was constructed in 1909. The building is one of a number of structures in Cushendall which were erected as a result of the village’s development in the 19th and early-20th century as a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling along the Coastal Road. The building was erected on land administered by Dixon Estates Ltd., a Belfast-based shipping and property firm operated by Sir. Thomas Dixon (1868-1950), a merchant and politician who served as High Sheriff of Antrim in 1912. No. 2 Coast Road was initially constructed as a dwelling and garage for a Mr. Daniel Lynn. The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of the property at £10 whilst the contemporary Annual Revisions Town Plan (1906-c.1935) depicted the building as a simple square-shaped structure (the single-storey northern-western extension was not constructed until c. 2001). Contemporary photographs of the building shows that the façade of the building has remained relatively unaltered since the early-20th century; the building retains its original quoins and drip mouldings to windows, however the pilastered double shopfront has undergone some alteration (Cushendall Conservation Area Guide, p. 19).

The 1911 Census of Ireland records that Daniel Lynn was a Roman Catholic cycle merchant who resided at No. 2 Coast Road with his wife Sarah and his brother William (who was employed as an apprentice cycle trader). The census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling which consisted of eight rooms and possessed a number of farm buildings including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery and a fowl house. The Cushendall Conservation Area Guide (1993) records that during the early decades of the 20th century there was ‘an explosion in the popularity of cycling, the formation of cycle touring clubs and the birth of the Youth Hostel movement.’ A cycling merchant such as Lynn would have benefitted from this social development as ‘for the first time, the recreational possibilities of the Glens were brought within reach of almost everyone’ (Cushendall Conservation Area Guide, p. 20). In 1926 Lynn opened a general store and tearooms at the site for local residents and tourists who passed through the village. The value of the building was subsequently increased to £80 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland. Daniel Lynn remained at No. 2 Coast Road until his death in 1955 at which point the building passed to his son Joseph Lynn (PRONI Wills). By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) No. 2 Coast Road continued to be occupied by Joseph Lynn and had been increased in value to £94.

No. 2 Coast Road was 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 chosen as one of Northern Ireland’s four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 2 Coast Road was also listed in 1976. The NIEA HB Records note that the current shopfront was installed in c. 1994 whilst the building’s single-storey north-western extension was constructed in c. 2001 (NIEA HB Records; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
3. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/19E-F – Annual Revisions (1902-13)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/13A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
6. PRONI VAL/12/E/24/1- Annual Revisions Town Plan (1906-c.1935)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1910-1918)
10. Census of Ireland (1911)
11. PRONI Wills Catalogue (6 Jan 1955)
12. First Survey Record – HB05/02/025 (1971)
13. NIEA HB Record – HB05/02/025

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Cushendall Village Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1975.
2. ‘Cushendall Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 1993 – including Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1932.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached three-bay two-storey over concealed basement rendered commercial building, built c.1909, facing southwest on the north side of Coast Road with the River Dall running along its northwest elevation. Much renovation has taken place internally and little historic fabric or detailing remains. Externally, large modern extensions to the rear detract from the original historic character. As such, the building does not have sufficient architectural and historic interest to be considered special.