22 Dunluce Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey building in a terrace with a shop to the ground floor.

Entrance faces north. Entrance elevation two windows wide to first floor. Roof of asbestos slates in regular courses. First floor wall painted smooth cement render, lined and blocked, with rusticated quoins to extremities. Projecting eaves course, platband above windows, and string course at cill level. Cast iron gutter with square cast iron downpipe to left hand extremity, holed near bottom. Windows rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 1 over 1, with horns; moulded surrounds painted green same as woodwork. Across front above first floor windows is a cluster of electrical cables. Ground floor has full width shop front between rusticated quoins at extremities; comprises large plate glass window below two large panes, brown painted framing, return at angle to right hand side to recessed porch area; upper pane of angled side to porch has poor quality depiction of bull’s head in floral surround, not original. Across front and angled side of porch below wooden cill, glazed tiles depicting bull’s heads in floral surrounds within rectangular panels, original. Right hand wall within porch tiled, with colourful Art Nouveau dado panel at bottom; white diagonally tiled panel above that with bull’s head in floral surround in centre, and above that a frieze of coloured tiles depicting a garland, with swags, ribbons and shamrocks.

Porch floor tiled in geometric pattern in black, white and blue with black tiled step. Front doorway rectangular with rectangular double doors, panelled and glazed, wired glass to right hand leaf, clear glass to left, later replacements for originals damaged in nearby terrorist bomb explosion. Over doors, rectangular fanlight in form of open cast iron grille of scrolling pattern, original. Ceiling of porch timber panelled, with chamfering to frames.

Above shop front glazing, a wooden frieze with shop and owner’s name painted on; fluted brackets to extremities of frieze with moulded cornice above. Iron brackets for shop awning mounted to each side of frieze.

To right hand extremity of roof, red brick chimney in poor condition.

Rear elevation of building: cement rendered wall; rectangular window to first floor with later rectangular timber fixed light with top hung vent; rectangular window opening to ground floor now blocked up with concrete blocks; cast iron gutter; PVC downpipe. Side wall of return similar finish and replacement window; roof of rear return, corrugated asbestos; walls cement rendered; roof of refrigerated room is corrugated iron.

Setting: the building stands in a terrace of shops on the south side of a street within the built-up area of the town. It is flanked by a taller three-storey stuccoed building to the left and a two-storey building of similar height to the right. The street outside the shop is finished with modern brick paving obscuring original line of pavements.

Historical information

The building appears for the first time on the OS map of 1857; date of present shop front and interior not known but stylistically is a work of the early 1900s; shop front damaged by nearby terrorist bomb c 1980 when framing and glazing destroyed along with frieze of ornamental iron grilles. Photographs taken in 1955 in possession of owner show original form of shop front.

References - Primary

1. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 40.
2. Photographs taken in 1955 in possession of owner in 1998.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This is a building of early Victorian appearance overall, distinctly proportioned with its upper floor fenestrated in a traditional domestic manner but its ground floor filled entirely with a shop front of late Victorian or Edwardian date. The shop is notable for its original tiling both inside and outside, consisting of a geometric pattern to the floor, and decorative features to the walls, comprising a frieze of garlands, swags, ribbons and shamrocks, medallions depicting heads of cattle, and a dado of Art Nouveau floral ornamentation. Despite the loss of some elements it retains much of its original features and stands as a rare example of a largely unaltered original butcher’s shop.