49 High Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A 3-storey, 5-bay gabled block in an Italianate style with the ground floor shopped. Main entrance faces north.

North elevation: pitched roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; one modern flush rooflight; two chimneys, smooth rendered and painted, with modillion cornice; red stub pots. Walling is smooth rendered, painted, with raised quoins to extremities, plain cill course to second floor, moulded eaves cornice, and a full-width fascia to ground floor with dentil cornice. Windows are rectangular timber, of two panes, partly fixed light and partly opening, set in moulded lugged and heeled surrounds which have shaped pedimental tops and floral ornamentation to the first floor.

Ground floor: smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with panelled pilasters to left-hand extremity and to each side of main entrance; pilasters have foliated capitals. Full width moulded cornice with dentil course breaking forward slightly at main entrance; moulded plinth. Entrance contains a panelled double-leaf door with plain rectangular fanlight. Entrance flanked by a large shop window to each side, glazed with plate glass; timber frame; concrete cill. There are modern rectangular shop signs over each shop window and over entrance. To the extreme right-hand end is a vehicular doorway containing a pair of timber sheeted doors leading to an alley to rear of building. Cast iron downpipe.

Rear elevation: 3-storey; roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; one modern rooflight. Wall rendered, wet dash; at left-hand side at ground floor level is an open carriageway; above it on first floor is an arched recess; looks like pvc gutters and downpipes.
Windows are modern small paned timber fixed lights with top-hung vents, and single pane fixed light with top-hung vent.
Projecting from first floor is a short rear return of mono-pitch roof and wet dashed walls with similar window to previous, carried on an iron beam with steps to rear entrance recessed below.
To west of that is a single storey rear return; to east of it is a gabled 3-storey rear return, with one original sashed window, 3 over 3, with horns; projecting to south of that is a long 2-storey return with modern fixed lights and opening vents.

SETTING: The building stands within a terrace of shops and houses facing the main street, with the rear plots overlooking the river.

Historical information

Precise date of building not recorded; a building appears on the site on the OS map of 1857 but its date is indeterminate. Stylistically it looks like a work of the third quarter of the 19th century.
The building stands in the area of an ancient monument, SMR no. ANT 183.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 50.

Secondary Sources
1. UAHS, Antrim and Ballymena (Belfast, 1969), p 9.
2. J. Hanna, Old Antrim (Catrine, Ayrshire, 2002), pp 4, 5, 7.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a mid-Victorian building which has a decorative front façade. Despite some inappropriate alterations the building is of special architectural and historic interest.