Spiritus Beauty

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End of terrace three-storey redbrick building, built c.1880, with oriel window, shopfront and integrated carriage arch. Rectangular on plan facing east and forming part of three buildings lining the west side of Railway Street, Lisburn with flat-roofed extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and pair of large rendered chimneystacks to either end with clay pots, shared to south with adjoining building. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on decoratively moulded paired eaves brackets and cast-iron downpipe. Rendered plinth course and redbrick walling laid in Flemish bond, replaced at ground floor by modern redbrick. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and 2/2 timber sash windows with margin lights.

Symmetrical front elevation is three windows wide with a central three-sided canted oriel window having lead-lined roof and single-pane timber sash windows framed by slender colonettes to a dentilated frieze and resting on a continuous sill with diagonally-sheeted panels below. The base of the oriel has a heavy moulded cornice resting on the central doorcase below. Decorative doorcase comprises original four-panelled timber door with raised and fielded panels, arched to the upper panels with rectangular overlight flanked by pair of decoratively panelled pilasters and elaborate scrolled console brackets with stepped geometric lintel cornice to the base of the oriel window above. The modern shopfront has a replacement timber surround with pilasters imitating those of the doorcase with a fixed pane display window and fascia over. Carriage arch is also detailed as the shopfront.

South side elevation abutted by adjoining building No.33.

Rear elevation has cement rendered walling and is abutted by a gabled-ended two-storey return and a flat-roofed extension to the ground floor with square-headed window openings, stone sills and uPVC windows. To the centre of the rear elevation at the second half-landing is a lunette opening with a fixed-pane Georgian interlacing tracery light.

North gable has pebbledash rendered walling with a pair of modern square-headed window openings to the second floor.

Setting:
Street-fronted and forming part of a terrace of three brick buildings lining the west side of Railway Street.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Redbrick / render
Windows Timber sash / uPVC

Historical information

Railway Street, which had been known as Jackson’s Lane before the arrival of the railway in 1839, was gradually developed during the course of the nineteenth century. (McCutcheon, p.104; Neill) A building is shown on the site on the first edition of 1833. Although the present structure has a Victorian appearance and might initially appear to be a rebuild, the presence of features such as the lunette window to the rear elevation suggests heavy remodelling rather than replacement.

It is listed in Griffith’s Valuation as a ‘house, workshop and yard’ valued at £23. Measurements are given for the house gateway, return and workshop and it is noted that the rent of £32 plus taxes ‘seems very low for such a fine private house’. The occupier is James McKay and then James Maze, McKay then becoming the lessor. A later advertisement in the Belfast Newsletter states that the lease of the property was held for 99 years from 1857, a likely construction date for the dwelling house. In the 1860s the valuation was raised to £26, reflecting some improvements to the property. The town plan dating from 1877 to c1898 shows that an addition has been made to the rear of the property which appears to have survived.
In 1874 the house was divided into two lots, the stabling and yard to the rear being rented separately by James Rice Junior and valued at £13. The main house was the residence of Rev D J Clarke, minister of Railway Street Presbyterian Church (The minister is listed as J D Clarke in street directories of the period but the church history refers to him as David John Clarke) and thus became the manse for a time.

According to the church history, Rev David John Clarke was installed as the first minister of Second Lisburn Presbyterian Church in 1861 when the congregation was meeting temporarily in a store or hayloft on Castle Street. Rev Clarke oversaw the building of the new church in Railway Street, which was opened in 1864 and subsequently built, in 1869, a manse at what is now 31 Railway Street, together with a small house adjoining, now number 33 Railway Street. These two houses adjoin the present property and were built at a cost of £917. According to the church history, Rev Clarke lived in the smaller house for a time, but the house intended as a manse was never so used and was let to tenants. By 1874, Rev Clarke appears to have been living in the present house and was resident in it until his death in 1878, after which time his widow continued to occupy the house. (Kelly, p.3-7; Will of David John Clarke)

In 1894, a report of the sale at auction of the current ‘dwelling-house and premises’ was carried in the Belfast Newsletter. The house had been held by Mrs Clarke on a 99 year lease from November 1857. There were three bids but these were deemed insufficient and the house was withdrawn from sale, subsequently being sold to Mr John Butler for £425. John Butler is listed as the owner of the house in valuation records of 1896 and the same year, the stabling and yard to the rear of the property are added back into the valuation bringing it to £29. The external appearance of the building suggests that the front facade may also have been remodelled at around this time. John Butler describes himself in his 1901 census return as a ‘retired draper’ of 72 years. He lived with his wife, unmarried daughter and a young servant girl of 17. (1901 census) John Butler died in 1907 and by the time of the 1911 census his widow Ellen Butler was living in the house with a nurse. Her daughter, now married, was visiting with her two young grandsons. The house is of the first class, comprising eight rooms and a stable to the rear. (Will of John Butler; 1911 census)

By 1913 the house was occupied by William Drake and the same year the valuation was reduced to £26. There are no further changes to valuation records in the period up to 1924 and it appears that the house was a private residence throughout this period, suggesting that the shopfront was a later addition. The building is now in use as a beauty salon.
References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second Edition OS map 1857
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third Edition OS Map c1900
4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1921
5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/61C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/9A-T – Annual Revisions (1863-1924)
8. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/1/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1877-c1898)
9. PRONI Will of Rev David John Clarke, died 24th November 1878
10. PRONI Will of John Butler, died 6th September 1907
11. Belfast Newsletter, 18th January 1894
12. 1901 census online
13. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources
1. McCutcheon, W.A. “The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland,” London: HMSO, 1980.
2. Neill, T., ‘Lisburn: an illustrated history and companion’ Lisburn: Cottage Publications, 1996.
3. Kelly, J A “Footprints on the Sands of Time, A History of Railway Street Presbyterian Church, Lisburn, 1860 to 2008” 2008

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

End of terrace three-storey redbrick building, built c.1880, with oriel window, shopfront and integrated carriage arch. The decorative facade treatment to this former house may be a late Victorian remodelling of an earlier Georgian townhouse. The interior has been largely remodelled with only the staircase and some window linings remaining. Whilst of interest, the building has lost a significant amount of its historic character as the result of alterations and does not meet the criteria for listing.