6 Bath Street, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT56 8AW

6 Bath Street, Portrush

A refurbished two-bay, three-storey-over-basement rendered terraced house and commercial premises with dormer to attic, built around 1860 and located on the south side of Bath Street in Portrush town centre. The building is square on plan with a three-storey canted bay to the front, a three-storey return and two-storey extension to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features a rendered chimney stack and cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on modillioned eaves. The walling is painted smooth render with a plain frieze under the eaves.

The principal elevation faces northwest. The right bay consists of a full-height canted bay; the left bay has windows to the upper floors and a classical-style doorcase at ground floor level. The doorcase comprises a replacement panelled-and-glazed timber door with transom light in a timber panelled reveal, flanked by panelled pilasters with a mid-level circular motif and surmounted by a Greek-key frieze and dentilled pediment on foliated consoles. The door is accessed via seven sandstone steps enclosed by a decorative cast-iron balustrade; to the right is a set of stone steps leading down to the basement, accessed via a modern timber-sheeted semi-glazed half door. The windows throughout are replacement uPVC with projecting painted sills continuous to the first floor, with a gabled dormer to the attic. The northeast elevation is fully abutted by the adjoining building. The southwest elevation is also fully abutted by the adjoining building. The southeast rear elevation was not viewed during survey. The building is abutted on the right by a three-storey return forming a gable with the return of the adjoining building, and abutted by a two-storey extension of no architectural interest.

Despite some inappropriate replacement fabric including uPVC windows and entrance door, which detracts from the original character, the building still possesses much historic detailing externally and internally. The building has group value with number 8 Bath Street. Despite their alterations, the pair remain amongst the best examples of mid-Victorian townhouses in Portrush.

The semi-detached pair was completed in 1861, shortly after the opening of the railway line to Portrush. The "splendid marine residences" were advertised for sale in April 1861 in the Belfast Newsletter. The developer, Constantine Dornan of Portrush, had erected the buildings "at considerable expense, with all the Modern Improvements in Buildings". The houses had "every accommodation suitable for a gentleman's family and have only to be viewed to be appreciated". The accommodation comprised front and back drawing-rooms and dining-rooms, eight bed-rooms, two water-closets, shower and plunge baths, butler, housemaid and mistress's pantries, kitchen, servants' hall, larder, wine cellar and coal vaults. A coach-house, stable and hay-loft had been built to the rear, "with a never-failing supply of pure Spring Water and sewerage direct to the sea". It was expected that the buyer would let out the houses, with a suggested rent of £52.10 shillings per year.

The semi-detached pair first appears on the 1896 town plan of Portrush with steps and railings to the front and a stable block and yards to the rear. Griffith's Valuation records the site as building ground leased by Constantine Dornan, and it is not until the Annual Revisions of 1863 that the buildings are recorded at £36 each. Constantine Dornan is noted as the initial occupier, with the houses apparently still unsold before they are later occupied by Robert Erskine. By 1882, number six had been let to Mrs Dodds who advertised her "excellent accommodation" as far away as Glasgow, offering a "splendid sea-view" and moderate charges. In the late 1880s the house was let to Mrs Dimsdale, and at the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Thomas Wray, a 50-year-old Poor Rate and Income Tax collector and Insurance Agent, living with his Canadian wife and a single domestic servant. An 80-year-old woman boarded at the house, which was designated first class and had thirteen rooms.

The 1911 census records both dwellings as boarding houses, though only number six was occupied at this date by Sarah A Lynn, widow and boarding house keeper, together with her 22-year-old niece Norah Dugan. The houses passed through a succession of tenants until 1932, when two-storey extensions were added to the rear of both houses, and the valuation was consequently increased to £48. A motor house was built to the rear of number 6 and valued separately at £5. In the 1930s the house was occupied by Mabel Nicholson and the accommodation comprised three receptions, ten bedrooms and three attic bedrooms, a kitchen in the basement, scullery, pantry, bathroom and WC. The house was described as a "Good class boarding house".

The building was listed in 1983. By 1988, when a change of use was applied for, the building was a private dwelling with two rooms used as a dentist's surgery. The basement was then altered to a florist and craft shop with new entrance steps constructed. In 1993 the basement shop was changed to a tearoom, and in 2011 permission was sought to change the building into a hostel for surfers, although it is currently in use as a shop. All the windows were replaced with uPVC in the 1980s.

The building is street-fronted and situated between Main Street and the coastal path in the town centre. Bath Street comprises residential and mixed-use buildings of mid-Victorian date, terraced to both sides. To the northwest corner of the site is a twenty-first century three-storey modern apartment block. The building has an enclosed rear yard.