Presbyterian Manse, Main Street, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT56 8BN

Presbyterian Manse, Main Street, Portrush

This mid-Victorian detached manse was built in 1850 to serve Portrush Presbyterian Church, and stands on the west side of Main Street in Portrush town centre. It first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853. The listing covers the manse itself together with its boundary wall, gates and railings.

Architecture and Exterior

The building is two storeys high with three bays and is constructed in coursed rock-faced blackstone. It has an L-shaped plan with an M-profile roof return to the rear, a single-storey canted bay to the south, and a projecting entrance porch to the front. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles. The rendered chimneystacks have clustered flues and tall clay pots, and the gables are raised and curvilinear with finials — an early revival of this form noted by architectural historians Breffny and Ffolliott. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods sit on a projecting eaves band.

The walls combine coursed blackstone with painted smooth rendered quoins and a smooth rendered chamfered plinth over a rubble stone base course. The west and north elevations are finished in ruled-and-lined render. Windows are generally 1-over-1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns, set in smooth rendered surrounds with projecting painted sills; ground-floor windows have label moulds above them.

The principal elevation faces east. It has a projecting gabled bay to the right and the projecting entrance porch sits in the re-entrant angle. The gabled bay has 2-over-2 sash windows at each floor, with the top sash slightly reduced in height; there is a further window at first-floor level on the left cheek. The left bay has a window within a curvilinear gablet and a window at ground-floor level, with a window positioned above the porch at the centre.

The porch is finished in painted smooth render with a moulded cornice, raised to the front with a decorative shield moulding. A pointed-headed timber casement window is set into the left cheek in a shallow recess with decorative spandrels. The porch opens to the west through a panelled-and-glazed timber door accessed via a stone step. The door features Art Nouveau-style leaded and stained glass panels, brass door furniture, and a pointed-arch fixed timber tympanum, all within a shallow recess with decorative spandrels.

The south elevation has two windows at each floor, and a carved datestone in the gable reads A.D. 1850. The west elevation has a window at each floor to the left, and is abutted to the right by the M-profile return, which has two 4-over-4 windows at first-floor level and three 1-over-1 windows at ground-floor level. The right cheek has two windows at first-floor level, a canted bay at ground-floor level to the left, and a window to the right. The left cheek has two windows at first-floor level to the left, with a window and a modern timber-sheeted door at ground-floor level. The north elevation has a single window at ground-floor centre and is abutted to the right by a modern concrete shed.

Interior

The internal layout is unchanged from its original form, and some elements of a typical mid-Victorian interior survive.

Historical Background

The manse was built through the efforts of the Reverend Jonathan Simpson, who was installed as minister at Portrush in 1842. He first directed his energies towards completing the church building, which was achieved in 1844 partly using donations collected in America. In 1848 he travelled to America again and returned with over £600 towards the cost of constructing the manse. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 records the property as the residence of Reverend Jonathan Simpson, listing the L-shaped main house, a single-storey return, and a stable block, with buildings valued at £23 10s, the property being leased from the Earl of Antrim. Reverend Simpson appears to have remained at the manse until his death in 1900.

The house was vacant at the time of the 1901 census. Valuation notes record that in 1902 a double-pile extension was added to the west at a cost of £400, raising the valuation to £35 10s. At that time the manse contained three sitting rooms and six bedrooms, one of which was later converted to a bathroom. By 1903, Reverend John McConnell had moved in. He lived there with his second wife and two adult daughters, both born in Australia, where McConnell had served as minister of Brisbane from 1885 until his return to Ireland. The census records the manse as a ten-room house of the first class. McConnell was succeeded by Reverend John Stanley Pyper, who was installed in 1912. Valuation records from the early 1930s show the house laid out as it is today, with a single-storey coal house having recently been added to the north. Outbuildings to the side at that time — now demolished — included a double-height stable and garden house with a further single-storey outbuilding adjoining. A stable block to the west of the main house, contemporary with it, has also since been demolished.

Reverend Kyle Alexander occupied the manse from 1951. The building later served as a guest house for a period and is currently used as church offices and guest accommodation, though it continues to serve the Presbyterian community of Portrush. The building was listed in 1977, re-roofed in the 1980s, and the railings were replaced around 1993.

Architectural historians have noted the interest of the design: C.E.B. Brett suggests a possible attribution to Charles Lanyon, who may have adjudicated in a dispute between Reverend Simpson and John Williamson, the architect of the neighbouring church. Brett finds the style somewhat reminiscent of Lanyon's work in his Jacobethan manner.

Setting

The manse occupies a corner site at the junction of Manse Avenue and Main Street, directly north of Portrush Presbyterian Church, and is set back from the road. A rendered boundary wall topped with cast-iron and steel railings encloses the front. The site is slightly raised, with four steps leading to the front pathway flanked by lawn on either side. The boundary wall to the south has square gate piers with pointed caps at the centre, giving access to the neighbouring church. Square piers with pointed caps and a cast-iron latch gate stand to the front. A large tarmacadamed car park lies to the rear. Together, the manse and the Presbyterian Church form an important group.