Demesne House, Kilmore Road/ Antrim Road, Lurgan

Demesne House is a large gentleman's residence built in 1910 to a design by James Hanna, a prominent architect whose authorship is recorded in the Dictionary of Irish Architects. It stands on the north-eastern outskirts of Lurgan, facing roughly west, and was built for Thomas B. Johnston, a linen merchant and partner in the weaving firm of Johnston Allen & Co. According to historian Kathleen Rankin, Johnston wanted a sizeable house partly to accommodate visiting trade representatives, as no hotel was available in Lurgan at the time. The house is a fine and largely intact example of the Edwardian Free Tudor style, and its significance lies in its architectural quality, the survival of most of its original interior finishes and contemporary outbuildings, and its mature setting within grounds that were formerly part of the Brownlow House demesne.

EXTERIOR

The building is two and a half storeys in height, constructed almost entirely in finely pointed red brick with diaper work in darker brick to some of the gables. Cut sandstone is used for dressings to the entrance bay and some of the windows. The plan form is irregular, essentially a cube-like main block with assorted — mainly full-height — gabled bays and single-storey protrusions to all sides, plus a large single-storey return to the east containing a double garage and store rooms.

The roof is relatively steeply pitched with an overhang, plain bargeboards, and exposed purlin and rafter ends. One gable to the north departs from this pattern, having a parapet with kneelers, stone coping, and a ball finial. The roof covering is green-hued Cumbrian slate, and the roof carries several flat-roofed dormers and a variety of lofty brick chimneystacks — some with conjoined octagonal stacks, others with square versions set in diamond formation. The rainwater goods are cast-iron and include rectangular hoppers embossed with various motifs, mainly Tudor roses, with the cypher 'CW' or 'WC' on the spout brackets, and decorative curling brackets supporting the guttering.

Window openings vary in size — those to the garden fronts being relatively large — but are uniform in character, most having metal mullion and transom frames with leaded panes, sandstone lintels, and slim, unobtrusive sills, some of which are painted.

The front elevation is asymmetrical. The left-hand bay is recessed and the centre has an uneven gable. Set marginally off-centre is a broad single-storey porch projection with bevelled ends, a castellated parapet, and sandstone quoins. The entrance itself is centrally positioned within this, set in a shallow gabled bay, and consists of a panelled and studded timber Tudor door surrounded by a moulded sandstone reveal with spandrel panels and a dripstone over. Above this, rising to the apex of the gable, is a square panel that appears to have been designed to receive an armorial, though there is no evidence that one was ever installed. The entrance bay is flanked by continuous windows running across the remainder of the porch.

The north elevation of the main block has a projecting gable at the centre and a broader gable to the right that projects further still. The central gable contains a side entrance, while the broader right-hand gable has a single-storey hipped-roof bay window with sandstone mullions and transom and pointed-arch upper lights. To the left, this elevation merges with the garage and store return. The garage has been extended northwards in a flat-roofed manner at some point, and its frontage consists of large folding timber and glazed doors.

The south elevation is made up of two large symmetrical gables on the left-hand side, with attic-level windows. To the right, the facade is recessed, topped with a hipped roof, and built in brick of a slightly different hue that is not entirely bonded with the neighbouring brickwork. The internal wall thicknesses and documentary sources both support the conclusion that this portion is a later addition, most likely built in or just before 1915, when the valuation of the property rose from £80 to £85. In external detailing, however, this addition blends successfully with the rest of the building, including a canted bay window similar — though not identical — to that on the north side. The remainder of the south elevation faces the yard and includes part of the main block and the rear of the garage and store range, which contains a side entrance; the main block portion is topped with a large flat-roofed dormer, while the garage rear has a plain appearance and has been extended further with a flat-roofed section.

The rear, eastern elevation is made up of the hipped-roof addition to the left and a large gable with attic-level windows to the right, along with the end of the garage and store range, which is partly gabled and partly flat-roofed. At the eastern side of this elevation, a basement-level doorway leads into the boiler house.

OUTBUILDINGS

A few metres north of the garage stands a small freestanding single-storey building in a style similar to the house. It has brick walls laid in American bond and a slated, overhanging pyramidal roof with decorative finials and the same decorative gutter brackets as those on the house. Its east and west elevations are symmetrical, each with two windows flanking a doorway. Its original function is uncertain.

To the north of the house, between the formal garden, the former tennis courts, and the rear drive, is what appears to have been a large productive garden. At its mid-point on the north side is a single-storey building that may have been a shed. It has brick walls and a hipped roof originally covered in red asbestos tiles, though it has been partly destroyed by a recent fire. To the front, the south face, there is a central gable containing an elliptical-headed arch that passes through the structure. To the right of the arch is a wide window opening with a timber mullioned frame, now largely covered over, with a similar window to the western face of the building.

Set parallel to one another close to the entrance on Kilmore Road are two one-and-a-half-storey outbuildings. These were originally linked on their north side by a longer but lower lean-to wing that backed directly onto the pavement, though this has recently been demolished. The two remaining buildings are of similar size and construction, with brick walls and roofs that are part hipped and part gabled, covered in asbestos tiles. The western building has a relatively large timber ventilation cupola with a lead-covered roof, while the eastern building has a tall chimneystack to its north end. All openings to both structures have been covered over, though the western building appears to have had a large vehicle entrance and a pedestrian doorway to its inner eastern side, with several pedestrian doorways to the inner face of its neighbour. The eastern building also has some small window openings to its east side. Both buildings have loft doorways to their gables.

GATE SCREEN AND BOUNDARY WALLS

The original gate screen at the head of what was the main drive along Antrim Road remains in place. It is inserted into the original demesne wall and has sweeping quadrant walls with square gate piers and outer piers. All are constructed in squared dark stone, possibly basalt, with dressed limestone courses, bases, and caps to the gate piers; the coping and base course of the walls are in similar stone. The outer piers have lost their caps and the gates themselves have been removed. The original site road boundaries are enclosed by a prominent rubble basalt wall approximately two metres high, part of which along Kilmore Road has recently been demolished. A further section of stone walling along Kilmore Road to the north — part of the original demesne wall dating from the later 18th or early 19th century — has also been demolished.

INTERIOR

A 1911 entry in the valuer's notebook, which describes the house as built of first-class materials with first-class workmanship and design, records that it contained three reception rooms, nine bedrooms, and two bathrooms. The principal rooms on the ground and first floors had oak floors, with wainscoting of halls and stairs in similar materials, and hot water radiators throughout. The total construction cost was noted as approximately £3,000, exclusive of a private electric light installation. The interior retains much of this original high-quality detailing and finishes.

Internal changes were made to the property at some point in the 1960s or 1970s — the present owner believed the latter decade to be more likely — when additional rear staircases were installed, thought to have been part of a scheme to subdivide the property to accommodate various members of the Johnston family.

SETTING AND GROUNDS

The house stands within grounds that originally amounted to approximately 15 hectares, being part of the former demesne of Brownlow House. Various sales over the past century have reduced these grounds to a small area of less than half a hectare immediately surrounding the building. The entrance from Kilmore Road has a modern metal gate, and the drive is largely tree-lined, leading to an expansive tarmac-covered forecourt directly in front of the house. To the west is an irregularly shaped area of lawn, with another lawn to the south beyond which — and relatively close to the house itself — lies the course of Lurgan Golf Club, which acquired land to the south in 1923 for a nine-hole course and extended to 18 holes in 1970, bringing the course to within a few metres of the south side of the building. A narrow strip of lawn spans the rear, eastern side of the building. To the north lies a formal garden with hedging. Further to the north, east, and west, the garden remains largely untouched. Land to the west was sold off at some point to make way for a separate property, Forest Glade, built around 1960.

HISTORY OF OCCUPATION

The house first appears in the valuer's notebook in 1911, indicating that construction was completed in that year or the one immediately preceding. It remained in the Johnston family throughout its history. The last family member to occupy the house was T. Carter Johnston, son of the original owner, who remained there until his death in 2005. The property was sold in 2011 and was again on the market at the time of listing in August 2011.