R & J Hillis, 27 Main Street, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT56 8BL

R & J Hillis is a three-storey, three-bay rendered terraced commercial building constructed around 1850, located on the west side of Main Street in Portrush town centre. The building is distinguished by its Art Nouveau shop-front, installed in 1912, which remains one of the last traditional shop-fronts surviving in the town and reflects the commercial expansion of Portrush at the turn of the twentieth century.

The structure is square on plan with two-storey and single-storey flat-roof extensions to the rear (of no architectural interest). The roof is pitched with natural slate and blue-black angled ridge tiles; rendered chimneystacks rise from a brick eaves course. Plastic rainwater goods have been installed. The walls are painted smooth render with raised quoins at the corners.

The upper floors contain windows of 6/3 timber-framed sliding sash on the second floor and 1/1 on the first floor, each set in plain reveals with contrasting moulded architraves and projecting painted sills. The principal elevation faces east and is three windows wide at these upper storeys.

The ground-floor shop-front is the building's most significant architectural feature. It comprises a projecting full-width double shop-front with a central recessed porch. A free-standing glazed display cabinet occupies the centre of the porch, flanked by plate glass windows of canted form. These are framed in carved timber with a triglyph frieze, transoms, and carved timber jambs set on polished granite stall risers. The porch itself is fully glazed with coloured mosaic floor tiles reading "15" on either side of the cabinet, and features a panelled timber ceiling with a circular panel. The original entrance door is three-panelled with an ornate Art Nouveau brass pull handle, scrolled cornice, and a carved timber segmental pediment surmounted by a plain transom light. The fascia is plain with consoled gablets flanking painted lettering that reads "R & J HILLIS".

The south elevation is abutted by an adjoining lower building which forms an extension to the shop-front. The west (rear) elevation is abutted by a modern two-storey flat-roof extension faced in corrugated tin, with a modern flat-roof extension at ground-floor level. The north elevation is abutted by the neighbouring building.

Much of the original internal layout has been altered, though some elements of typical Victorian interior survive. The building retains considerable original character and high-quality architectural detailing throughout.

The setting comprises a street-fronted position on the west side of Main Street, with an enclosed yard to the rear containing a rubble stone two-storey outbuilding with red-brick dressings and predominantly 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash windows. A timber-sheeted gate provides access to the rear alley.

The building first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853. The mid-nineteenth-century dwelling house and shop at its core was originally listed in Griffith's Valuation (1856-64) as a house, office and yard valued at £24, leased by John Williamson to Mrs Gage at an annual rent of £30. The house comprised two returns and a single-storey outbuilding; the quality mark assigned suggests it was sound and in good repair but not newly built. The property passed through several female occupiers including Miss Davenport and Mrs Thompson before becoming the premises of John Bamford, who operated as a draper, confectioner, grocer and stationer from 1883. Bamford had previously leased the neighbouring premises (number 23-25) since the 1870s and now extended his business into the current shop. The numeral "15" that appears in the mosaic floor tiles of the entrance porch refers to the shop's previous numbering system, in use from around 1890 until recent times.

By the time of the 1901 census, John Bamford was living on the premises with his wife and three children, describing himself as a Tobacco Merchant. His two eldest children assisted in the shop while the youngest worked as a baker. Four employees also lived at the house: two shop assistants, a clerk, and a general domestic. The business was listed as a drapery shop with fourteen rooms, five outbuildings, and designated first class.

The premises passed to Thomas Bamford in 1907, but by 1909 had been taken over by Messrs Hill Brothers, who continued to operate the business as drapers and stationers. In 1912, Hill Brothers undertook significant improvements with the installation of the present Art Nouveau shop-front, resulting in a valuation increase to £50. Valuer's notes from this period document the building as comprising a single-storey shop-front, three-storey house to the rear, and single and two-storey returns, with the annual rent at £80.

Valuation records from the 1930s describe the accommodation as a shop, store, four bedrooms and a water closet, with annual rent of £200, though the house lacked a side entrance and bathroom at that time.

Following the Second World War, in 1946, the shop was taken over by R McIlroy & Son, whose name was etched in glass above the shop-front and was visible in the first survey photograph taken in 1973. The building was listed in 1976, and the shop-front underwent restoration in 1990.

The building makes a significant contribution to the historic character of Portrush and represents an example of the smaller domestic-scale commercial premises that characterise the architectural variety and contrasting building styles of Main Street. It is of considerable local interest and historical importance.