2 Atlantic Avenue and 39-41 Main Street, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT52 8BN

2 Atlantic Avenue and 39–41 Main Street, Portrush

These three interconnected buildings — the former Londonderry Arms Hotel (39 Main Street and 2–5 Atlantic Avenue), the former Black and Sons shop (41 Main Street), and the Atlantic Bar (1 Atlantic Avenue) — form a remarkable and rare group of late 19th-century terraced commercial buildings with early 20th-century Art Nouveau shopfronts at the centre of Portrush. Originally built around 1890 as separate three-storey rendered terraced units, they were progressively linked internally during the early 20th century and are now treated as a single listed record on account of their shared ownership, interconnecting history, and physical integration. Together they contribute to an attractive and unusual group of early 20th-century shopfronts of considerable group value.

Historical Background

The site's history is well documented through valuation records and maps held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). A map of Portrush dating from around 1834 (PRONI VAL/1/D/1/6) confirms that neither the hotel nor the adjacent Black and Sons building had yet been constructed. By 1844 (PRONI D2977/36/6/10), building work had begun from the junction of Main Street and what is now Atlantic Avenue — then known as Church Pass, before being renamed, possibly after a dairy established on the street.

A 14-perch plot (approximately 32 feet wide by 123 feet long), later numbered 96 and subsequently renumbered twice to 27 and then 39, was leased for building to Thomas Dunlop. He erected the first of a row of three-storey terraced houses on the site that would become the Londonderry Hotel. An isometric perspective of Portrush drawn by Dan Hanna in 1857 (PRONI D2977/36/6/13), described as showing building lots to let on the property of the Earl of Antrim, depicts the building with a pitched roof without gables, a central door opening on the ground floor flanked by two rectangular windows, three rectangular lights to each of the first and second floors, and a 10-foot-deep front garden with a gate — the approximate footprint of the present single-storey faience extension and entrance. A long rear garden and yard extended behind.

A licensed hotel, with offices and gardens, is first recorded on the site in the 1889–1895 valuation record (PRONI VAL/12/B/6/2E), though the rateable value does not fully reflect its commercial use. Between 1895 and 1906 (PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22A), the valuation for 27 Main Street (the Londonderry Hotel) also included 1 Atlantic Avenue. By 1914 (PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22C), the property had expanded to incorporate 1–5 Atlantic Avenue, and this remained the position until 1936 (PRONI VAL/3C/1/30), when 1–5 Atlantic Avenue were collectively renumbered to 2 Atlantic Avenue.

An adjacent 18-perch plot (approximately 44 feet wide by 122 feet deep), later known as number 97 and subsequently renumbered to 29 and then 41, was leased at around the same time to Alexander Dunlop, who erected a three-storey dwelling in the same style as his neighbour. A shared door opening between the two buildings (nos. 96 and 97) was visible on the front façade. Like its neighbour, the building had a 10-foot-deep front garden with a gate and a long rear yard with two outbuildings, apparently accessible from what is now Mark Street. The series of gables over the second-floor windows appears to have been added at a later date, though a precise date has not been established.

Between 1889 and 1895 the building at no. 97 (later 29, then 41) remained a private house with offices and gardens. From 1895 to 1906, the lessor changed to Jane B. Hurst, who also acquired the lease for number 31 and subdivided number 29 into two commercial properties. The portion immediately adjoining the Londonderry Hotel (29a) became a small shop of 30 square yards, trading independently until around 1920. The remainder (29b) became part of the Osborne Hotel, which extended from number 31 and included a billiard room. The combined footprint of 29b and 31 maps broadly onto that of the present Bar Retro.

From around 1920, 29b ceased to be part of the Osborne Hotel and was reinvented as a shop, bakehouse, and chocolate factory, with rateable valuations reflecting each shift in ownership and use (PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22C). By 1925, Black and Sons — occupiers of the shop, bakehouse, and yard at 29b — had also taken over number 31 (the former Osborne Hotel) and established a restaurant (PRONI VAL/12/B/4/22D). The trading name Black and Sons survives in coloured Art Nouveau mosaic at the entrance. By 1938, numbers 29 and 31 (by then renumbered 41 and 43) were both occupied by Black and Sons, and the name Trocadero Ltd also emerged at this time.

The numbering of commercial properties on Main Street, Portrush, appears to have changed on at least three occasions. The Londonderry Arms Hotel and Bar Retro (formerly Black and Sons) were initially numbered 96 and 97 respectively, renumbered to 27 and 29 by 1889, and are currently 39 and 41.

The Atlantic Bar now occupies the rear ground-floor area of what was formerly the Londonderry Hotel. Its registered address first appeared in the Belfast and Northern Ireland Street Directory in 1980 at 2 Atlantic Avenue — the address that had previously encompassed 1–5 Atlantic Avenue — and was operated by those who also ran the Londonderry Hotel at 39 Main Street. From around this date, the three buildings appear to have been fully conjoined internally, connected through a series of access doors and stairs linking the various ground-floor levels.

Nos. 39 and 41 Main Street form part of a terrace of three similar buildings with Art Nouveau shopfronts on the southwest side of Main Street, the third being no. 43 — The Trocadero. The return of no. 39 fronts onto Atlantic Avenue and connects internally with 1–5 Atlantic Avenue, culminating in the two-storey rendered Atlantic Bar, whose gable faces Mark Street Lane.

Exterior Description: 39 and 41 Main Street

The two Main Street buildings are former three-storey rendered terraced units, built around 1890, with projecting decorative ground-floor shopfronts inserted around 1910–1920. They are rectangular on plan, facing northeast, with three-storey returns to both units; the end return has a three-storey elevation fronting onto Atlantic Avenue with two traditional shopfronts, culminating in the two-storey gable of the Atlantic Bar.

The roofs are pitched with artificial slate and synthetic ridge tiles, with six wall-head dormers uniformly arranged across the full Main Street elevation — three to each unit. The dormers have decorative timber bargeboards and finials. Rainwater goods are uPVC. The walling is painted render with rusticated rendered quoins to the corner. Windows throughout are single-pane timber sash. Each former unit is three windows wide at the upper floors, with a projecting shopfront at ground level.

The second-floor dormers have segmental-headed window openings with masonry sills and single-pane timber sash windows with part-exposed sash boxes. At first-floor level, the end unit (no. 41) has square-headed window openings with architrave surrounds, keystones, and tripartite timber casement windows with leaded coloured glazing to the upper panes. The remaining first-floor windows are single-pane timber sash in square-headed openings.

The former Londonderry Hotel at no. 39 occupies the corner and is fronted by a decorative faience-clad projecting shopfront that returns onto the side elevation. Constructed in brick with a modillioned cornice and fascia carrying faience lettering reading LONDONDERRY HOTEL, the shopfront has a tripartite entrance to the left and a shallow three-bay bow to the right. All openings are framed by architrave surrounds and decorative cartouches. The windows are boarded up, and a plain double-leaf timber door opens onto a tiled front area incorporating a central mosaic reading LONDONDERRY HOTEL.

No. 41 is fronted by a symmetrical shopfront with a flat roof. A central door opening is flanked by bowed display windows with Ionic colonettes to a dentilled transom and leaded overlights. Modified double-leaf timber doors with a matching lintel and overlight open onto a mosaic tiled area reading Black and Sons, with a terracotta tiled front area beyond. The entire shopfront is framed by a pair of marble Ionic pilasters and large brackets supporting a hood.

Atlantic Avenue Elevation

The Atlantic Avenue elevation (2–5 Atlantic Avenue) is eight windows long. It features a large stained glass window to the stairwell at the gable of no. 39, and a pair of traditional shopfronts to the ground floor of the now amalgamated buildings along this frontage. Cast-iron downpipes are used on this elevation alongside largely single-pane timber sash windows. The shopfronts have painted masonry surrounds with replacement windows and doors. This elevation is abutted by the Atlantic Bar.

Rear Elevation

The rear elevation is abutted by three-storey returns with pebbledash rendered walling and replacement timber casement windows. The west side elevation adjoins no. 43, the Trocadero.

The Atlantic Bar, 1 Atlantic Avenue

The Atlantic Bar is an attached two-storey rendered building with a pub shopfront, built around 1890. It is rectangular on plan, facing southeast. The pitched artificial slate roof has synthetic ridge tiles and a rendered chimneystack to either end. Rainwater goods are uPVC. The walling is painted render over red brick.

The front elevation is four windows wide, with square-headed window openings with masonry sills and boarded-up windows arranged in pairs to either side of a painted masonry shopfront inserted to the left. The shopfront is symmetrical, comprising a central square-headed door opening flanked by curved display windows with colonettes and tiled stall risers, all flanked by panelled pilasters with strapped fasces and scrolled brackets framing a timber fascia lettered ATLANTIC BAR. Replacement double-leaf timber doors open onto a mosaic tiled entrance area with Art Nouveau foliate patterns and the lettering Atlantic Bar.

The gabled south side elevation has a single central window opening at upper-floor level with a 2/2-pane timber sash window. Failed render on this elevation reveals the red brick wall beneath. The rear elevation is abutted by two-storey outbuildings forming the rear of 39 and 41 Main Street. The west side elevation adjoins the buildings fronting onto Atlantic Avenue.

Extent of Listing

The listing covers the public house, former shop, and former hotel, and specifically includes the mosaic paving to the entrance of the bar, the mosaic paving to the entrance of the former shop, and the mosaic paving to the entrance of the former hotel.