Comtrol, 25 Lambeg Road, Lambeg, Lisburn, Co.Antrim, BT27 4QA

Comtrol is an end-of-terrace, five-bay, two-storey building constructed around 1860 on Lambeg Road in Lambeg. It stands as a street-fronted commercial property with significant local landmark status, though it now operates as a shop.

The building is rectangular in plan, facing south with a stucco-fronted shopfront spanning the entire ground floor. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with black-clay ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods. The rendered chimneystack to the west is original; the chimneystack to the east gable is a replacement in redbrick. The walling is painted ruled-and-lined cement render.

The shopfront is symmetrical and neo-classical in character, comprising a central square-headed door opening flanked by two pairs of square-headed display windows on continuous moulded sills, divided by simple pilasters to a continuous lead-lined fascia with dentilated cornice and dentilated central pediment. The original paired console brackets to either end feature lead-lined gablets. Display windows are timber-framed fixed-pane with decorative plywood ventilation panels above. The five-bay front elevation above contains square-headed window openings with replacement pre-cast moulded surrounds, concrete sills, and replacement horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows.

To the west gable, a carriage arch with double-leaf timber sheeted doors is shared with the adjoining house. A single square-headed door opens into the carriageway. The rear elevation features a two-storey return with lean-to rear entrance porch to the west and lean-to extension to the east. A multi-bay two-storey redbrick former stable block stands to the rear, built around 1900 and L-shaped in plan, with pitched artificial slate roof, replacement timber casement windows, and timber or steel sheeted doors.

The building was not shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 but appears in Griffith's Valuation of 1862, suggesting construction around 1860. It is also drawn on the valuation town plan of around 1859. Griffith's lists it as a house and garden leased by John Graham from the Marquis of Hertford, valued at £7 5 shillings for the building. The building remained in the Graham family at least until 1889. By 1923, it was separately valued and occupied by W.J. Allen as a licensed house, office, shed and yard valued at £16, indicating remodelling had taken place. Field inspection confirms facade remodelling around 1910. A town plan dating from 1907 to around 1935 names the licensed house as the 'Coach Arms'. By 1928, James Crothers occupied the licensed house. After 1933, George Crothers was in residence, the house was rented from Lambeg, Bleaching, Dyeing and Finishing Works, and was now listed as a house, shop, offices and yard, valued at £16 rising to £26. The property is still locally referred to as the Post Office.

The building was extensively refurbished around 1990. All original interior fabric was replaced except for the compartmented timber ceiling to the former retail space. All floors, walls, ceilings, and joinery were replaced. Externally, the only surviving original elements are the rendered chimneystack to the west and the paired console brackets to the shopfront. All windows and doors are replacements, as are the chimney to the east gable and associated external fixtures. Despite the loss of original fabric, the overall impression of an early twentieth-century commercial building remains intact, and all replacement fabric is of sufficient quality and specification to warrant its continued listed status. The building holds social significance as a local landmark in the community.