24-26 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 2-storey gabled house with a single storey lean-to extension to the east end. Main entrance faces south.

South elevation: main block is 2-storey, 4-bay; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; three chimneys, one to left-hand gable is of new red brick, other two are of old red brick; stub pots.
Walls rendered with wet dash; window reveals smooth rendered. Cast iron gutter and downpipes. Windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 4 over 8, with horns, to first floor, and 8 over 8, with horns, to ground floor. Extreme left ground floor window is a new insertion, in place of an original window further to the left, now removed, and an original doorway slightly to the right, now removed. Concrete cills to new window, stone cills to remaining windows.
Doorway, in third opening to right, in original opening, contains a new rectangular timber-panelled door, surmounted by the original rectangular fanlight with looped glazing bars.

Extending to the right is a small single-storey lean-to extension, originally a shed, but now incorporated into the main accommodation. Wall in same plane as main block, rendered as main block: plain wall, blind, but originally contained a small rectangular window, now removed; timber bargeboard, new addition, where originally there was a plain verge.

West elevation of main block is a plain gable, blind, of roughcast painted white.

Rear elevation: 2-storey; roof slated as previous; wall rendered as previous, with modern concrete cills to windows. Metal rainwater goods. Four first floor windows, one to left of projecting rear return, and three to right of it, in original positions but of modern top-hung type, with 12 panes each, instead of original timber sliding sashes, vertically hung, 3 over 3, with horns, and 1 over 1 with horns. Ground floor windows in main block are as follows: one to left of rear return, in original position but of modern fixed light and top-hung type, 6 over 6, with horns, instead of original timber sliding sashes, vertically hung, 3 over 3, with horns; and to the extreme right-hand end, a pair of modern coupled windows of similar pseudo-sash type, but actually fixed lights with top-hung vents, each light 8 over 8. To the left of that on the ground floor, immediately to the right of the rear return, is a pair of French windows, each leaf 12-paned, a new insertion in place of an original window opening which had a modern fixed light with top-hung vent. Between the French windows and the coupled windows is an area of blank walling, a new insertion in place of the original rear doorway. Rear return comprises a gabled block with roughcast walling to the ground floor surmounted by a glazed and framed first floor which includes modern gable-glazing. Gable of rear return contains a doorway flanked by a small window each side, all small-paned, in place of two larger windows, each sashed 2 over 2 with horns, with no doorway. Extending to the left-hand end of the main block is the single-storey lean-to extension which contains a new window of pseudo-sash type; walling and bargeboard as previous to south elevation.

East elevation: blind gable of main block, rendered as previous walls, with single-storey ground floor projection which has lean-to roof slated as previous. East wall of lean-to contains two windows, one a coupled window, all small-paned of pseudo-sash type.

SETTING: The building stands facing the main street, set back slightly from it and slightly elevated above it, with a small garden in front. Front boundary formed by low rubble stone retaining walls with hedges beyond, both wall and hedge returning with a curve at the east end, and returning in front of the main entrance to border a flight of six stone steps leading up to the doorway; steps lined each side by modern tubular steel railings. To the east of the building is a gateway leading to the rear yard, with a pair of flat-iron gates mounted on a rectangular roughcast pier with concrete coping, and on the gable of the adjacent Orange Hall. Driveway and rear yard gravelled with crushed stones, but area immediately along rear of house to right of rear return has a raised patio covered with modern tiling on a curved plan. In rear yard, facing the driveway is a 2-storey outbuilding, with slated roof, walls of roughcast render in place of previous rubble stonework to ground floor with red brickwork above, and containing modern windows of pseudo-sash type, as well as small-paned top-hung vents, in place of original sashed windows. Boundary to east formed by gable and screen wall of Orange Hall; boundary to west formed by rubble stone walling of the neighbouring house to the west and its screen wall.

Historical information

Precise date of building not recorded but the present configuration of the building, including the outbuilding, appears on the OS map of 1908. An L-shaped building is shown on the OS maps of 1834 and 1860 but its relationship to the present building is indeterminate. It may be taken to date from at least the third quarter of the 19th century. Renovated c 2000.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1834, Co Armagh 8.
2. OS Map 1860, Co Armagh 8.
3. OS Map 1908, Co Armagh 8.

Secondary Sources
1. DOENI, Loughgall: A Conservation Village (Belfast, 1993), p 28.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

H-. Alterations detracting from building

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a house of probable 19th century date which has undergone a number of alterations to its original exterior appearance and to its interior layout and finishes. The building is of no special architectural or historic interest other than presenting an image of a traditional architectural appearance to the main street front which includes an original fanlight.