Friends' School Lisburn, 6 Magheralave Rd, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 3BH

Friends' School Lisburn is a three-storey three-bay Victorian school building dated 1878, designed by architect J.C. Marsh. It is located on the east side of Magheralave Road, north of Lisburn city centre, and now forms part of a larger school complex with extensions added throughout the 20th century.

The main building features a pitched natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, exposed rafter ends, and timber barge boards with decorative mouldings. Cast-iron rainwater goods with ogee moulded gutters and circular downpipes are fitted throughout, though some have been replaced with uPVC. Tall red-brick chimneys with smooth rendered plinths rise from the roof line, their upper courses corbelled and crowned with moulded sandstone cornices.

The walling is constructed in Flemish bond red brick with a cement rendered plinth. Fluted terracotta and cement string courses run horizontally across the elevations. Windows to the ground and first floors are 2/2 timber sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars and horns. Ground floor windows have flat arched heads, while first floor windows are set under segmental arches with recessed jambs and decorative corbelled upper courses, surmounted by an additional recessed head course. Ground floor cills form part of the enlarged plinth; first floor windows have a moulded sandstone continuous cill course. Second floor windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash with round-headed arched heads and individual sandstone cills.

The principal elevation faces south and is symmetrically arranged. The central bay contains a pair of stilted round-headed arched openings at ground floor level with cement hood mouldings and key-block details. Brick pilasters flank these openings and rise to foliated carved sandstone capitals. The left capital bears the date "1878" and the right bears the initials "U.P.S." (Ulster Provincial School). The left opening is glazed to form a porch, while the right leads to the front door, positioned at right angles to the dividing pier. The porch is served by two sandstone steps and features geometric tiled flooring with a groin vaulted ceiling. A large stilted round-headed arched window with matching surrounds opens directly ahead. The entrance door comprises three elongated vertical glazed moulded panels with a solid wood-grained horizontal moulded panel at the bottom, brass ironmongery, and a stilted round-headed arched over light.

At first floor level, paired windows flank a wall-headed dormer at second floor, which contains a single window and decorative corbelled brickwork. The flanking gabled bays on either side are two-storey canted bays rising to a cement moulded cornice course surmounted by castellated parapets. Each gabled bay has paired second floor windows beneath crow-stepped corbelled brickwork to the gable head.

The west elevation is uniformly arranged with two windows at ground and first floor level, positioned left of centre and featuring vertical glazing bars. A wall-headed dormer embraces a triplet of round-headed arched windows with an oculus centrally located above. Decorative corbelled brickwork runs to the eaves and dormer gable. The left hand side descends to basement level with a small flat-roofed abutment containing a timber door. A steel framed fire escape is fixed to this elevation.

A two-storey wing over basement with four bays abuts the left side of the main building. At ground floor, stilted round-headed arched timber sliding sash windows match the arch details of the principal elevation. The first floor features segmental-arched timber framed quadripartite casement windows with cills and decorative brick-work aprons. Continuous cement moulded and terracotta brick string courses throughout match the main building. This wing is further abutted by a two-storey over basement three-bay flat-roofed red-brick addition in English garden-wall bond, dated 1936 in minimalist style with hopper heads. Each bay comprises a large central 9-pane timber casement window flanked by narrower 6-pane windows.

The east elevation is asymmetrically arranged with secondary access positioned right of centre, featuring a single ground floor window with vertical glazing bars to the left and a smaller timber casement window to the right, with two first floor windows above. A two-storey four-bay wing without basement abuts the right side. The east face of this wing presents a symmetrically arranged façade with doors to ground floor with matching surrounds and first floor windows flanking a plain chimney breast; the chimney stack has been removed. The right hand door has been partially modernised.

A modern extension dating from approximately 1970 abuts the north elevation.

The setting comprises the original school building surrounded by extensions added throughout the 20th century in varying styles. Access is via modern gates leading to a tree-lined avenue which partially screens the school from view. A series of car parks lies to the front, beyond which are various preparatory buildings to the south. Playing fields and a large changing pavilion predominantly occupy the north of the site.