31-35 Bridge Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay three-storey mid-terrace former house, now commercial premises with integrated square-headed archway; built c.1850 and located north of Bridge Street in Lisburn city centre. Rectangular on plan with full-height gabled return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and brick chimneystacks having four terracotta pots; rendered chimneystack to gable of rear return. Walling is Flemish-bonded red brick with painted smooth render to ground floor to numbers 31-33; painted smooth render to number 35 and rear elevation. Windows are replacement 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash with horns (horizontally divided) to first floor and diminished 1/1 to first floor; all with brick flat arches and projecting sills.

The principal elevation faces south and is five windows wide to upper floors (unequally spaced). Shop-front at ground floor left, integrated square-headed archway to right with modern cast-iron gates and cobbled yard. Shop-front comprises panelled and glazed timber door to centre, flanked by bipartite plate-glass windows to sill level at either side. Full-length fascia with modern applied lettering and cornice. Number 35 shop-front comprises tripartite plate-glass window at right; modern six-panelled timber door at left; all surmounted by corniced fascia.

The west elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The north (rear) elevation is abutted at right by the full-height gabled return; to right is a window to upper floors and the square-headed archway. Return has a window to second floor and two to first floor at the gable; the east elevation has two asymmetrically arranged windows to second floor level; a window to first floor and two modern timber-sheeted door to ground floor. Number 35 (at left) has a raised ground level; two windows at first floor, a window at ground floor left and a modern door to ground floor right.

The east elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

Setting:

Situated in the centre of Bridge Street, with Market Square to west; recessed to adjoining terrace to west. Through the cobbled yard to right are a set of masonry steps leading up to landscaped garden enclosed by an early rubble stone and brick wall to north, an English garden wall-bonded brick wall to west and a modern timber fence to east.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Flemish-bonded red brick
Windows: Timber-framed sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Houses in this part of Bridge Street were built in the second half of the nineteenth century and are first shown on the third edition OS map of 1902. The land on which they are built was formerly the property of the Marquess of Hertford and according to the memoirs of Mrs George Wilson, in 1835 was planted with ‘a fine row of chestnut trees with an old lawn which ran up to Castle Gardens. The lawn was called ‘Heron’s Folly’ and there were a few stones and a little bit of wall where some man had begun to build but could not finish.’ (Turner, p.14) The brick building comprising numbers 31 to 35 Bridge Street was the first nineteenth century building to be constructed in the street. (Turner, p.59)

The current building was originally two separate premises, known as 31 and 33 Bridge Street. In 1901 number 31 was a saddlers shop occupied by Robert Baillie, harness maker. He lived with his wife and two sons who were a student of theology and a draper. Also staying with them at the time was Agnes Ellison, a shop assistant. By 1911 the shop had been taken over by Elizabeth Holland, clothier. Elizabeth Holland was a widow from London and kept a domestic servant of 62, also from England. In the 1930s and 40s the premises was a second hand furniture shop run by Joe and Dolly Lewis. The Lewis’s lived to the rear and above the shop with their daughter Norma. (Turner, p.59)

In 1901 the smaller house, number 33, was the home of Charles McFadden, a Master wood turner who notes on his return that he ‘cannot read’. He lived with his wife and three young children, together with a widow and her young daughter and two servants, carpenters, who presumably assisted him in his business. The premises at this time had three windows to the front facade and comprised five rooms. By 1911 the occupier was Minnie Hardy and her sixteen-year-old brother, both born in County Louth and able to speak Irish. No occupation is listed for Minnie and her brother. In the 1930s and 40s the McClatchey’s occupied the house. Mr McClatchey was a bricklayer and his wife was a dressmaker. Their son repaired lambeg drums in his spare time. Their granddaughter recalls that the family were well-known in the area, “People came from everywhere to [33 Bridge Street]. They used to come to get things made, even wedding frocks, curtains everything. She was actually a tailoress, for all the big shops in Belfast, and then she started to make stuff at home. People would have stopped and left their orders there if they were in town shopping. And my Daddy was known for the drums...and even yet if I’m anywhere and people are talking about drums they mention him. It was only a hobby, not a full-time job, but he was interested in them and he would have tightened them, and put skins on hoops and painted them, and he went to the drumming matches. He was supposed to be one of the best.” (Turner, p.46)

Numbers 31-35 were restored in 2006 by the Lisburn Buildings Preservation Trust. A picture in Turner’s history of Bridge Street shows the building before restoration with separate entrances to both premises. (Turner, p.59)

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. 1901 census online
7. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000
2. Turner, Brian S “Voices from the Street - Bridge Street and the Quay of Lisburn” Lisburn City Centre Management, 2006
3. Ulster Star 20/04/2007

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A mid-terrace three-bay three-storey red-brick former dwelling, now sub-divided into commercial premises, built c.1850 and located north of Bridge Street in Lisburn city centre. Restored in recent years it retains some architectural features; altered to ground floor to include modern shop-fronts and square-headed archway. Situated on Bridge Street, the most important thoroughfare in the city during the 17th and 18th centuries, the buildings are part of the latter 19th century development of the street and are of social and historic interest. Although numbers 31 - 35 contribute to the overall historic character of the street they are not considered to be of sufficient quality to merit listing.