10 Shore Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terrace two-storey three-bay late-Georgian style dwelling. Built pre 1859, probably c.1830. 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.

Principal elevation is of pebble dash with banded plaster quoins to each end; all window openings are square-headed on masonry sills with smooth plaster surround; bays on ground floor are not aligned with windows on floor above; square-headed coach arch to left side with replacement modern roller shutter door, ground floor coupled windows are 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sash with square headed door opening to right side of ground floor level, slightly recessed with replacement painted timber door with two glazed vision panels and two panels below, door opens onto threshold one concrete step up from ground level.
Three 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sash windows above with smooth plaster bands and continuous smooth plaster sill course.

South-West side abuts adjacent property No.8 Shore Street.

North-West side to rear is of pebble dash render, artificial slate to rear roof slope, replacement timber top-hung windows, and flush timber back door with single glazed panel, PVC rainwater goods and thin concrete cills. Two storey mono-pitch return to left side with single-storey lean-to out-house to rear of return. Both return and lean-to have artificial slate to roof. Former coach arch to right side with modern metal garage door to street. Underside of archway with exposed rubblestone wall to left side. Opposite wall of archway has deeply recessed modern flush door leading to adjacent property No.8 Shore Street to SW side.

North-East elevation abuts adjacent property No.12 Shore Street (HB05/02/047) with gable projecting above No.12 roofline of pebble dash with small square-headed window at attic level with exposed box 1/1 timber sliding sash window .

Materials
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast iron to front / PVC to rear
Walling Pebbledash render
Windows Timber sliding sash to front / timber top-hung to rear

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. 10 Shore Street, a two-storey three-bay building (possessing coach arch) 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. 10 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. 10 Shore Street was first recorded with certainty in Griffith’s Valuation (1859) which set the total rateable value of the building at £8. The valuer noted that the private dwelling was initially leased by the Turnly estate to an Alice Black who remained at the address until the 1870s. The Annual Revisions note that No. 10 Shore Street was occupied by William John Stevenson, a local grocer, c. 1876. Stevenson continued to occupy the site during the 1911 Census which described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms and possessed two cow houses, a piggery, fowl house, a turf house and a store amongst its rear outbuildings. No. 10 Shore Street was increased in value to £8 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) which noted that the property was leased by the Turnly estate to a Mr. Archibald Dowling. No. 10 Shore Street was purchased outright in 1967 by Daniel McAlister, a local auctioneer who leased the building out to other tenants. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of No. 10 Shore Street stood at £18.

In 1972 the UAHS publication 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 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

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, pre 1859, most likely earlier c.1830, located on the north west side of Shore Street. The majority of the buildings located along Shore Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family and a row of buildings was depicted along the northern half of the street on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1832). No. 10 is abutted on its north east side by No. 12 Shore Street (HB05/02/047). Despite the roller shutter and squared off opening to the former coach arch (the original rounded opening remains to the rear), the exterior retains significant historic character and style with an eclectic and distinctive disposition of chimneys and openings across the facade. Quirky original window to exposed gable, visible from a distance across adjacent lower roofs. Georgian glazed sash windows are of note. Authentic setting within the town centre; the building makes a special contribution to the Cushendall Conservation Area.