6 Bridge St., Cushendall, Co.Antrim

No. 6 Bridge Street, Cushendall

A three-storey three-bay rendered commercial building constructed around 1896, located on the south-west side of Bridge Street in the centre of Cushendall village. The building was erected following the demolition of four earlier houses on the site and represents part of the village's development into a popular seaside resort and stopping-off point for tourists travelling the Coastal Road during the 19th century. The valuer first recorded it in 1896, valued at £10 and leased by the Turnly estate to Ms. Bridget McAlister. It appears on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1903 with its current layout and a small return.

The principal elevation facing the street is of merit with good detailing. The building displays painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling with a pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and a rendered chimneystack rising from the south-east gable. Cast-iron guttering is carried on iron drive-through brackets with cast-iron downpipes. The three-bay front elevation features square-headed window openings with replacement concrete sills and replacement single-pane hardwood sliding sash windows with exposed sash boxes and ogee horns. The ground floor contains a central square-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door, flanked by enlarged square-headed shop display windows with replacement multi-pane hardwood display windows. The right-hand display window incorporates a further square-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door. The south-east side is abutted by the lower building No. 4 Bridge Street, with a blind gable rising to a chimneystack. A gable-ended single-bay three-storey rough-cast rendered return to the rear elevation has uPVC rainwater goods and replacement timber casement windows, with a steel fire escape encircling the return. The north-west side is abutted by the adjoining corner building No. 2 Mill Street.

The building was first recorded on the 1903 Ordnance Survey Town Plan and appears to have possessed a small return at that time, subsequently replaced with modern extensions. The Census of Ireland records that Ms. Catherine Mills occupied the property in 1911, described as a first-class dwelling of 12 rooms with a piggery, fowl house and shed amongst its outoffices. The rateable value increased to £35 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57), with Catherine Mills remaining in residence until the 1950s. Mr. Kevin Fyfe occupied the house in 1955 and purchased the property from the Turnly estate outright in 1967, remaining at the address through the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) when the rateable value stood at £45. The building has functioned as a shop at ground floor since at least the 1930s and was utilised as a restaurant by the 1980s. An extensive renovation around 1991 included installation of new shop windows, new entrance doors, complete reroofing and construction of modern rear returns. In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described the terrace of which this building forms part as 'a continuous terrace of two and three-storey houses, with most glazing-bars complete, of no especial interest, but pleasant and coherent; the dip in the pavement level lends unusual interest to what might otherwise be a little dull'. The building was included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 and listed in 1976. The village was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year.

The building is of local interest and contributes to the historic setting of Cushendall village centre, forming part of a terrace of buildings of varying heights at the main crossroads at the centre of the village.