15 High St., Cushendall, Co.Antrim

15 High Street, Cushendall, County Antrim

This mid-terraced, two-bay, three-storey rendered house dates from between approximately 1840 and 1859 and forms part of a short terrace of four buildings lining the northeast side of High Street on a steep gradient in the village centre of Cushendall. It was originally constructed as a single dwelling together with the adjoining No. 13 to its southeast, before being subdivided into two separate houses in around 1893. The building is rectangular on plan, facing southwest.

Architectural Description

The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimneystacks rise to either side, fitted with terracotta pots. Rainwater is collected by cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets with steel downpipes. The external walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined cement render.

The two-bay, three-storey front elevation features square-headed window openings with painted concrete sills. The windows are replacement 6/6 sliding hardwood sash windows with angled horns and exposed sash boxes. The central entrance has a replacement hardwood glazed and panelled door, with 3/6 hardwood sliding sash windows at second-floor level. Despite the replacement of the original windows and front door, the historic proportions and architectural character remain largely intact.

To the rear, the walling is finished in roughcast cement render. The rear windows are replacement top-hung multi-pane hardwood casements with concrete sills. A modern single-storey roughcast extension with a profiled metal decking roof projects from the left side of the rear elevation towards the north. A lean-to single-storey extension with a rooflight spans between this extension and the boundary with No. 17 to the northwest.

The northwest side of the building abuts No. 17 High Street, and the southeast side abuts No. 13 High Street.

Setting

The house forms part of a short terrace of four houses stepping up the steep gradient of High Street's northeast side. The small front area is paved and enclosed by original iron railings with decorative cast-iron heads, set into a low rendered plinth wall with an iron pedestrian gate.

Historical Background

No. 15 was built as part of the planned development of Cushendall carried out largely in the first half of the 19th century by the landowning Turnly family. Francis Turnly, the village's proprietor, had travelled to China in 1796 where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. Described by architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property," Turnly transformed what had been little more than a handful of cabins, a mill, and a bridge into a coastal resort, erecting hotels — including the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street — and numerous commercial properties, largely to serve the growing number of tourists passing through on their way to the Giant's Causeway.

Nos. 13–15 High Street appear on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857, confirming they existed before that date, and may have been erected as early as the 1830s. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records them as a single private dwelling leased by the Turnly family to Daniel Jamison, a local rate collector and farmer, valued at £18 and 10 shillings. The Annual Revisions document the subdivision of the property into two separate dwellings in around 1893, with Jamison remaining at the larger No. 13 until his death in around 1905. Following the division, No. 15 was valued at £5 and 10 shillings and was initially sub-let by Jamison to a Mrs. Margaret Wilson.

The Census of Ireland records that No. 15 subsequently passed to a Miss Jane McElroy, a local National School teacher. The census building return described it as a second-class dwelling comprising seven rooms, with a turf house and a shed as its sole outbuildings. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the house was occupied by a Mr. James McKillop and its valuation rose to £7 and 10 shillings. By 1957 it was occupied by a Miss Margaret Whiteford, whose family purchased the property outright from the Turnly estate in 1967. By the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), No. 15 was valued at £11 and had been leased by the Whitefords to a Mr. Neil O'Boyle.

In 1972, a survey of the Glens of Antrim by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described High Street as "an outstandingly attractive street, of quite exceptional merit and character, climbing very steeply indeed from the crossing of the main street to Court McMartin, almost every building in it of individual merit apart from the value of the group as a whole; the roofs, gables, doors and windows rise in an irregular staircase up the hillside." Nos. 11–19 High Street were singled out as "a very pleasing group climbing the steepest part of the hill, their storeys accordingly somewhat breathlessly arranged, part Georgian and part Regency glazed." The buildings along High Street were included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to have been designated in the province, a distinction described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." That same year, Cushendall was selected as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 15 was listed in 1976.

Around 1985 the building underwent extensive renovation, including reslating in natural slates, reconstruction of a chimneystack, and installation of cast-iron rainwater goods.

No. 15 has group value with No. 13, and together with the rest of the terrace contributes to the historic character and setting of Cushendall village centre.