63-65 Bridge Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A three-bay three-storey end-terrace commercial unit; built c.1850 and located north of Bridge Street in Lisburn. Rectangular on plan with single-storey return to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and replacement red-brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods. Walling is painted ruled and lined render. Windows are 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash having horizontal glazing bars and horns in segmental-headed surrounds with projecting sills; modern plate-glass windows to shop-fronts.
The principal elevation faces southwest, and is five windows wide to upper floors; ground floor has three modern shop-fronts (that to centre is narrower and set back) each surmounted by corniced signage board with painted lettering. Shop-fronts to left and right with four-panelled timber door set back into porch with access to shop to right through modern glazed timber door.

The northwest elevation is abutted by adjoining building.

The northeast (rear) elevation has five asymmetrically arranged windows to upper floors; ground floor is fully abutted by modern return (of no interest).

The southeast gable has a window to left and right at first and second floor.

Setting:

Located at the southern end of Bridge Street at the Linenhall Road roundabout. To rear is a car-wash yard enclosed to south by early rubble stone wall.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled and lined render
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)

Numbers 63 and 65 were originally two separate premises, separately occupied. In 1901, number 63 was the home and workplace of John McCoubrey, baker, who lived with his wife and two daughters, one of whom was an assistant in the shop. By 1911 the family had an elderly lodger, a spinster of 74 who was unable to read.

In 1901 number 65 was a private dwelling, the home of William Boyd, a retired grocer, and his wife Mary, both from Londonderry. William Boyd died in 1904 and his widow continued to live in the house with her widowed sister and her niece who had been born in the USA. (Will of William Boyd; 1901, 1911 census)

The building is depicted in a photograph from the Green collection taken in the early 1900s. Number 63 is fitted with a shopfront over which are the words ‘J McCoubrey, Bridge Street Bakery’. There is an entrance door to the left and a carriage arch in the centre of the building. To the right is number 65 which is still a dwelling house at this stage with a door to the left and two small windows to the right. (Turner, p.21)
A photograph taken in 1983 shows that the building underwent remodelling around the middle of the twentieth century which included squaring off the window openings and the installation of casement windows. The carriage arch is shown. Number 65 still appears to be a dwelling house but now the double Victorian window has been replaced by a single casement window. (Turner, p.53) Today the building is a single shop and shopfronts have been inserted in the carriage arch and in the former dwelling house at number 65. The remaining window openings have been restored to their former, Victorian appearance.

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 Will of William Boyd, died 18th November 1904
7. 1901 census online
8. 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 three-bay three-storey end-terrace commercial unit; built c.1850 and located north of Bridge Street in Lisburn. Restored in recent years, the proportions are typical of the period and the building retains some of its early character. The interior has been fully refurbished with alteration to the internal floor-plan. 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 63 - 65 contribute to the overall historic character of the street they are not considered to be of sufficient quality to merit listing.