22 Railway Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid terrace three-storey redbrick former house, built c.1850. Rectangular on plan with rear return, forming part of a terrace of four similar houses lining the east side of Railway Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and pair of shared brick chimneystacks with clay pots. Plastic guttering on steel brackets to dentiled brick eaves course. Redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond with cement pointing, rendered ground floor and rubblestone walling to rear elevation. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills, 6/6 timber sash and uPVC windows.

Front elevation is two windows wide with a late twentieth-century shopfront to the ground floor, extended across the elevation of the adjoining building No.20 (HB19/13/026C). To the left bay is an original square-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door and rectangular overlight opening onto three concrete steps. First floor timber sash windows are possibly original with uPVC to the second floor.

North side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.24 (HB19/13/027). The second floor of the north gable rises above the adjoining house, surmounted by replacement brick chimneystack having rubblestone walling to the rear half and redbrick walling to the front half with a single uPVC window.

Rear elevation has rubblestone walling and redbrick linings to all openings and is abutted by a gable-ended two-storey rendered return. The wall to the second floor is partly rebuilt in redbrick with square-headed window openings having concrete lintels and replacement timber or uPVC windows. Tall rendered wall encloses small rear yard.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining house No.20 (HB19/13/026C).

Setting:
One of a group of four similar former houses set among a terrace of various dates and heights lining the east side of Railway Street.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Plastic
Walling Redbrick / rubblestone
Windows Timber sash /uPVC / timber casement

Historical information

No. 22 Railway Street first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map for Lisburn (1857) along with the neighbouring buildings on the terrace which date from the same period (HB 19/13/026A-D). The building was constructed sometime after 1830 as it does not appear on a detailed map of the town centre by Thomas Pattison c. 1830; field research would support a construction date of c. 1850 when the extended terrace first appears on the Ordnance Survey maps.

No. 22 was originally used as a private dwelling and was occupied in 1901 by Mrs. Jane Charley, a 42 year old widow who derived her income from money-lending and lived at No. 22 Railway Street with her two teenage daughters.

Mrs. Charley left the house some time before 1910 when a Mr. Arthur Mussen took over possession of the building. Arthur Mussen, who had previously worked as a wool draper with his brother James (recorded in his mother’s will, PRONI Wills Catalogue – 11/11/1875), was a 69 year old Insurance Agent in 1911 when he resided at No. 22 Railway Street with his wife Gertrude Jane Mussen, a District Nurse, and their son William Arthur Mussen who was employed as a book binder.

The 1911 census building return describes the house as a 1st class dwelling which consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a slated roof. The out office return of 1901 had indicated that No. 22 possessed a shed and a turf house amongst its out offices; however, by 1911 these were not recorded.

In 1969 Brett described the houses on this terrace (Nos. 4 to 24) as ‘good three-storey Georgian brick or stucco houses with glazing bars intact ... the backs of [which] are of stone’ (Brett, p. 13). The Georgian style windows have survived on the first floor, however in the last 30 years a modern shop front has been added to the ground floors of nos. 20 and 22 which has been converted into a hairdresser’s salon; the upper floors of No. 22 have recently been converted into a pair of apartments.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI MIC/664/1 – Picture of Lisburn by Thomas Pattison c. 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First edition OS map 1833
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second edition OS map 1857
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third edition OS map c.1900
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth edition OS map 1920
6. 1901 / 1911 Census
7. Ulster Towns Directory (1910)
8. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1875)

Secondary Sources

1. Brett, C. E. B., ‘List of historic buildings, buildings of architectural importance in the Borough of Lisburn’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1969).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Mid terrace three-storey redbrick former townhouse, built c.1850. The last of a group of four similar former houses, the building retains some of its original late Georgian/early Victorian character and forms part of a historic terrace in the heart of Lisburn. Although interesting, the building is not considered to meet the criteria for listing, as it has extensive alterations to the ground floor and shopfront, which extend into the building next door and detract from the integrity of the house and the group value of the terrace.

General comments

This record was completed without access to original source material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.