Manse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey redbrick and stucco former Manse, built c.1885. L-shaped on plan including gable-ended two-storey return and lean-to extension to the re-entrant angle. Facing west and located adjacent to the north side elevation of the Methodist Church (HB19/16/018A) on the east side of Seymour Street.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and profiled red brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots to either gable end. Moulded steel guttering to timber fascia resting on polychromatic moulded brick eaves cornice and steel downpipes. Redbrick walling laid in English garden wall bond with black brick flush courses below eaves and moulded render plinth course. Segmental-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and uPVC windows.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with pair of decorative slightly advanced stucco bay windows to ground floor comprising; torus-moulded segmental-headed opening, stop-chamfered surround, terracotta tiled panel below sill and dentiled cornice above. Central square-headed door opening with replacement hardwood panelled door and rectangular overlight set in similarly advanced stucco surround comprising; pair of pilasters and moulded plinth blocks with pair of foliate console brackets supporting plain frieze and dentiled cornice above. Door opens onto two concrete steps to black and red tiled footpath to front garden.

Gabled north side elevation surmounted by slightly corbelled out brick chimneystack rising from slightly advanced redbrick chimney flues. Three window openings to this elevation with black and redbrick segmental heads.

Cement rendered rear elevation with gable-ended two-storey return and lean-to single-storey extension to the re-entrant angle. Pair of round-headed window openings to the return with uPVC windows.

Gabled south side elevation detailed as per north elevation with smaller square-headed window openings to the south side elevation of the return.

Setting:
Set on a slightly elevated site adjacent to the north side elevation of the Methodist Church, located on the east side of Seymour Street with a small front lawn enclosed to the road by replacement brick wall with iron railings and matching pedestrian gate. Enclosed rear yard with modern garage structure. Site encircled to the north and east by bitmac car park with concrete paved footpath leading to the front entrance of the church.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement metal
Walling Redbrick / render
Windows uPVC

Historical information

In November 1874, the Irish Builder announced the laying of the foundation stone of Seymour Street Methodist church and added that the site on which it was built was ‘one of the best in the town…Ample space will be afforded for two manses for the ministers’.

In the event only a single manse was built and its exact date of construction is not known. Orr suggests that the building date was sometime after 1880 and it is first shown, captioned ‘Manse’ on the third edition OS map of c1900. The 1901 census gives the occupier as Alexander Egan, Methodist minister, who lived with his wife, three children and a general servant. Egan had been born in County Kildare and his children in Waterford and Dublin. His wife was from Fermanagh. By 1911 the manse had passed to minister Edward Hazelton of Wicklow and his Dublin wife. They also kept a general servant. Hazelton’s elder son was an apprentice in the linen trade. (1901, 1911 census)

In 1912 railings were fitted to the wall enclosing the church grounds. At the same time a front gate for the church and a gate for the manse were fitted. (Orr, p.50) In the period 1925-30 the disused stabling at the rear of the manse was removed and in 1954 a garage was erected for the use of the minister. (Orr, p.50) In 1960 ground adjoining the manse to north was bought from Lisburn Cathedral for £800. ‘Widows Cottages’ had been maintained on the site by the Cathedral Select Vestry and a photograph of the church shortly after opening shows the cottages to the north of the church. (Orr, p.54; Mackey p.32) By 1960 the cottages were empty and falling into disrepair and were levelled during the next year or so. In 1970/1 this ground together with the former manse garden became the church car-park. A new manse garden was reserved along the Belfast Road boundary. In 1971 heating was installed in the manse by an anonymous donor. (Orr, p.50)

The manse was rewired in 1982, and in 1987 substantial renovations were carried out. The kitchen was refurbished, a new breakfast room was created out of the former pantry and a larder and a toilet and shower room were added on the ground floor.(Orr, p.86).

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third Edition OS Map c1900
2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1921
3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939
4. Belfast Newsletter, November 12th, 1874
5. Irish Builder, November 15th, 1874
6. Belfast Newsletter, December 8th, 1875

Secondary Sources

1. Orr, George E “Methodism in Lisburn, the First Two Hundred and Fifty Years” 2000
2. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey redbrick and stucco former Manse, built c.1885. Although the replacement door and windows detract from the building's architectural interest, its principal design elements including the polychromatic brickwork remain intact and relate to its associated Methodist church next door (HB19/16/018B) and the adjacent terraced houses in Victoria Crescent. Together they have group value on a prominent site terminating several aspects from the centre of Lisburn.