2-6 Main Street, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 3AB

This group comprises a substantial two-storey rectangular five-bay building in classical style alongside a lower two-storey curved block to the north. The rectangular block (No 2 Main Street) has stucco-finished walls and a hipped slated roof, while the curved block (Nos 4-6 Main Street) extends with nine window bays. Both entrance elevations face east onto Main Street.

Rectangular Block (No 2 Main Street)

The entrance front presents a symmetrical composition, five windows wide at first floor level. The hipped roof is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses and sits behind a parapet; there are no chimneys. The walls are smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with rusticated quoins at the extremities. A deep projecting plinth, now mostly covered by later ramped concrete paving, runs along the base. A plain projecting platband divides the floors, and above sits a moulded projecting cornice with a plain blocking course or parapet.

The first-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, 6 over 6 panes with horns and narrow glazing bars. Each sits in a projecting moulded surround with lugs, crowned by a projecting frieze and moulded triangular cornice. Four modern uplighting lamps are fixed to the façade, one between each first-floor window.

The ground floor has been remodelled to accommodate a large shop window on each side of a wide central entrance. Plain broad piers separate the ground-floor openings, which have plain reveals. The large sliding windows are glazed with plate glass in brown varnished modern timber frames, with similar woodwork to the entrance bay containing a rectangular 2-panel glazed door. Horizontal tongued and grooved boarding forms a fascia recessed within the openings, topped by a sheet steel frieze carrying the shop signs.

To the right extends the lower two-storey curved building. To the left, set back slightly, stands a rendered screen wall and gateway leading to the rear premises. The gateway comprises a pair of large square piers, rusticated on their outer faces, with moulded cornice and projecting plinth continuous with the main building. The base of the right-hand pier has a concrete humped protective bollard at the corner. Modern gates of corrugated iron sheeting on a steel frame fill the opening. The screen walls are smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with plain projecting stone coping. The short screen wall to the left abuts the gable of an adjacent property—a terrace house at The Parade.

The south elevation is two-storey with a hipped roof slated to match. The rendering continues as before, with a lower two-storey projecting bay near the centre that breaks through the platband and plinth. A projecting eaves course runs along the roofline, but the moulded cornice and blocking course return only briefly from the entrance front. A cast iron gutter and disconnected downpipe sit above the projecting bay. One window appears on the right-hand side of the first floor, similar to those on the entrance front but set in plain reveals without surrounds; the platband acts as the cill. A circular extractor fan opening sits to the left of the window. The projecting bay has a flat roof with plain rendered walls lacking lining or blocking, finished with a plain projecting concrete coping. The base is painted to suggest a plinth. A cast iron soil pipe and downpipe are present. Two modern rectangular metal fixed lights with top-hung vents and projecting painted stone or concrete cills light the bay.

The rear elevation is two-storey, but the entire original ground floor is obscured by a long single-storey extension. The main block's roof is hipped at the right-hand end and gabled at the left, slated to match. One chimney rises on the left-hand gable—smooth rendered with plain projecting platband and cornice and one pot. The wall is smooth cement rendered with rusticated quoins at the extremities and a projecting eaves course. What appears to be a cast iron gutter runs along the eaves with a cast iron downpipe. Three windows match the entrance front sashes but sit in plain reveals with recessed cills. Two large rectangular sheeted timber sliding doors have painted sheet metal pelmets. The ground-floor extension is a modern flat-roofed structure set back slightly to reveal part of the ground-floor quoining.

The north elevation as viewed from the front is mostly obscured by the lower two-storey curved block. It is smooth rendered with rusticated quoins at the left-hand extremity, with moulded cornice and plain parapet returning from the entrance elevation until meeting the pitched roof of the curved block. The rectangular block's roof is hipped and slated to match. At the rear, the ground floor of the north elevation is obscured by a later extension to the curved block. The first floor comprises a gable rendered to match the entrance front, with rusticated quoins at the right-hand extremity and projecting plain stone copings to the gables continuing across the chimney base. Part of the left-hand side of the gable is obscured by the lower curved block abutting it.

Curved Block (Nos 4-6 Main Street)

The entrance front spans nine windows in width. A pitched roof of double-pile form sits behind a low parapet, covered in Bangor blue slates in regular courses; there are no chimneys. The wall is smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with rusticated quoins at the right-hand extremity. A low projecting plinth runs along the base, with a plain projecting platband at first-floor level and a moulded projecting cornice with blocking course above. A concealed gutter sits behind the parapet, with an original rectangular-section cast iron downpipe.

The first-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, 6 over 6 panes without horns. The sashes are bowed to follow the curve of the main wall, with glass panes set flush. Rectangular projecting moulded surrounds frame the windows, rising from the platband which acts as cill.

The ground floor contains two doorways: at the third bay from the left and the sixth bay from the left. The first door is an old rectangular timber glazed and panelled door topped by a rectangular fanlight containing a bottom-hung vent. It has a projecting moulded surround and painted stone step. The second doorway has a similar surround but now contains a modern rectangular timber slatted and glazed door with a similar fanlight.

The ground-floor windows, from left to right, comprise: two windows glazed to match the first floor and set in similar surrounds with projecting painted stone cills bowed to the front; three windows in similar surrounds and cill but with replacement sashes consisting of large rectangular fixed lights topped by panels of leaded glazing of 1920s appearance, set in a flush plane; and at the right-hand extremity, a large modern rectangular shop window occupying two original window bays, comprising a 2-pane fixed light in timber framing set flush.

The end elevation to the right is mostly obscured by an adjacent abutting building. Rusticated quoins and a short return of cornice and blocking course from the front elevation appear above the adjacent building; the gable above is smooth cement rendered.

The rear elevation has its ground floor absorbed into a later extension with a flat roof surrounded by a concrete-coped parapet. The first floor presents a curved wall, roughly rendered and painted, beneath a curved roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. A painted lead gutter with cast iron downpipe runs along the eaves. A raised stone coping crowns the gable at the left-hand end. Four openings appear from left to right: a small rectangular timber sliding sash, 4 over 4 panes without horns, modified to contain a metal flue outlet in an asbestos panel, with projecting stone or concrete cill; a large rectangular timber sliding sash, 6 over 6 without horns, with projecting painted stone or concrete cill; a pair of modern rectangular timber double doors, 2-panel and glazed with modern handle and matching cill; and another large window sashed to match.

Setting

The buildings stand within the main street of the town, facing the roadway with a pavement in front. Directly opposite lies the river and road bridge. The gateway to the south leads to a large rear yard surfaced in concrete. This yard is bounded to the east by a painted basalt rubble retaining wall behind a terrace house; to the south by a long single-storey 19th-century outbuilding of no special interest; to the west by a 20th-century outbuilding of no special interest and by a two-storey flat-roofed and rendered late 20th-century rear return of an adjoining property.