18 Shore Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace two-storey three-bay late-Georgian style dwelling. Built c.1830's. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces South-East, built on the North west side of Shore Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles with three smooth rendered chimney stacks with circular terracotta pots; ogee cast iron guttering supported on moulded cornice terminating to circular cast iron downpipe to right of centre on front elevation. Small original cast iron rooflight to left side of roof just below ridge.

Principal elevation is of smooth render with banded plaster quoins to each end; ground floor level is comprised of a square headed door opening to left side with replacement sheeted painted timber door with square glazed vision panel and narrow plain fanlight above, door opens onto threshold one concrete step up from ground level projecting into the pavement. To the right is a coupled pair of 2/2 timber sliding sash with exposed box and to the right side is a square-headed coach arch with replacement modern roller shutter door. First floor consists of three bays with 2/2 exposed box timber sliding sash windows. All window openings are square-headed on masonry sills; bays on ground floor are not aligned with windows on floor above; above all with plaster hood mould.

South-West side abuts adjacent property No.16 Shore Street (HB05/02/029B) with gable projecting above No.16 roofline of upainted smooth render.

North-West elevation to rear has former coach arch to left side with lean-to tin roof creating car port and two-storey lean-to return to right side. Smooth render to walls, no surrounds to windows. Window on GF of rear elevation at right side of former coach arch is 1/1 timber sliding sash. Two 2/2 horizontal timber sliding sash windows to FF.
Kitchen window to GF of rear return is 1/1 timber sliding sash. Back door is replacement timber with square glazed panel. Bathroom window to FF of rear return is timber replacement top-hung.
Single storey monopitch outbuildings abut rear return, tin roof, blockwork and render walls, timber casement windows. Garden is enclosed to sides and rear by tall walls; exposed rubblestone to NE & NW sides.

North-East elevation abuts adjacent property No.20 Shore Street with gable projecting above No.20 roofline of upainted smooth render.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast iron
Walling Render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Setting:
Mid-terrace Georgian-style townhouse, forming part of a terrace of similar houses lining the North west side of Shore Street fronting directly onto the pavement. Set within the Cushendall Conservation Area.

Historical information

No. 18 Shore Street, a two-storey three-bay building (possessing coach arch - now garage door) located on the north west side of Shore Street, was constructed prior to 1859. The majority of the buildings located along Shore Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family. Cushendall’s proprietor Francis Turnly had travelled to China in 1796 where he raised a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 Turnly used this money to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family at a cost of £24,000; Turnly subsequently renamed the settlement Cushendall. Brett states that Turnly was an eccentric character who ‘effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property.’ Cushendall consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge at the time of the purchase however, due to an increase in the number of tourists travelling through the area (on the way to the Giant’s Causeway) the village was developed into a coastal resort with the erection of hotels (such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street) and numerous commercial properties (Dallat, p. 45; Brett, Buildings of Co. Antrim, p. 288; Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

No. 18 Shore Street is likely to date from the early-19th century as a row of buildings were depicted along the northern half of the street on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). The buildings along this row may have been included in the contemporary Townland Valuations (1834), however it is difficult to identify specific buildings in that source due to the loss of the Townland Valuation Town Plan (c. 1834). No. 18 Shore Street was first recorded with certainty in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which set the total rateable value of the building at £6 and 15 shillings. The valuer noted that the building also possessed extensive rear outbuildings (utilised as timber stores throughout much of the late-19th century) which were valued at £4. The entire site was initially leased by the Turnly family to Daniel McAlister, a local timber merchant, however the valuer noted that McAlister utilised the building as a lodging house for visitors travelling along the Coastal Road. The lodging house at No. 18 Shore Street continued to operate until c. 1905 when the house was occupied by Archibald McKeegan, a general labourer; the timber stores to the rear of the building continued to be utilised by McAlister throughout this period. McKeegan continued to occupy No. 18 Shore Street during the 1911 Census of Ireland which described the house as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of two inhabited rooms and possessed a fowl house and shed amongst its rear outbuildings. The McKeegan family remained at the address until c. 1928 when No. 18 Shore Street was acquired by Daniel McCollum, a local building contractor. The McCollum family continued to reside at the site until at least the 1970s and under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the house was increased to £17. John McCollum, a local joiner, purchased the site outright from the Turnly family in 1967 and by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 18 Shore Street had been further increased to £19 and 10 shillings.

In 1972 the UAHS Guide for the Glens of Antrim described the north side of Shore Street as ‘a miscellany of two and three-storey houses, stuccoed, rendered and pebble dashed’ (UAHS Guide, p. 33). The buildings along Shore Street were 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 (Cushendall Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/1/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1832)
2. PRONI OS/6/1/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1857)
3. PRONI OS/6/1/20/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1903)
4. PRONI OS/6/1/20/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1921)
5. PRONI OS/8/84/1 – Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1903)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/148 – Townland Valuations (1834)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/1/40B – Griffith’s Valuation (1859)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/7A-F – Annual Revisions (1864-1923)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/2/12A– Annual Revisions (1923-29)
10. PRONI VAL/3/C/1/14 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/1/10 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)

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

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

Evaluation

Mid-terrace two-storey three-bay rendered Georgian-style townhouse, built c.1830's, located on the north west side of Shore Street; this row of buildings was depicted along the northern half of the street on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). The majority of the buildings located along Shore Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family. No. 18 operated as a lodging house for visitors travelling along the Coastal Road from the mid 1800s until c.1905. It is abutted on its south west side by No. 16 Shore Street (HB05/02/029B) and has group value with its neighbours. Despite the modern roller shutter door to the former coach arch, the exterior retains much historic character and style such as timber sliding sash windows and plaster hood moulds. Internally the original plan form has largely been retained. Its setting is authentic within the town centre; the building makes a valuable contribution to the Cushendall Conservation area.