22 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AB

22 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough

An asymmetrical two-storey two-bay terraced former house, built around 1800 and located west of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. The building is square on plan with a two-storey modern return to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles and a brick chimneystack. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The walling is painted smooth render with a plinth.

Windows are replacement six-over-six timber-framed sliding sash with horns. The principal elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged with two widely spaced windows to the first floor. The ground floor contains two windows and a door positioned to the right. The door is panelled with a margin-paned transom light and modern brass door furniture. The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The rear elevation is completely obscured by a large two-storey modern return. The north elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

The site includes a gravelled car park to the rear and sits as part of an eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century terrace-lined street on the approach to Hillsborough town centre.

Historical Development

Number 22 first appears on a map of around 1800 depicting it, together with numbers 20 and 24, as a single oblong building on the west side of Lisburn Street. The map shows the building possessed a large outbuilding extending from the rear of the current number 24. Lisburn Street is the oldest part of Hillsborough and experienced significant development between 1800 and 1830, when the majority of buildings on the northern half of the street were constructed. During this period Lisburn Street was known as Great Newport Street, a reference to the construction of the Lagan Canal in the late eighteenth century. Numbers 20 to 24 are among the earlier houses, dating from the mid to late eighteenth century before the later development of the street.

The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and the Townland Valuation map of around 1830 continued to show numbers 20 to 24 as a single property. The Townland Valuations recorded that a Mr Allan Weir occupied the site, valued at £6. Between 1834 and 1858 the large outbuilding at the rear was demolished. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows two returns had been constructed to the rear of numbers 20 and 24, though number 22 appeared unaltered.

By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1861, the single building depicted in earlier sources had been subdivided into three dwellings. Mr John Mulligan owned all three houses. Number 22 was valued at £8 and occupied by Ms Hannah Hollings. The property was described as a two-storey first-class dwelling measuring five by six yards, with a rear return measuring four by four yards. Hannah Hollings was the widow of Thomas Hollings, recorded as a faithful servant of the Marquis of Downshire, who likely worked in the Downshire estate office. Hannah Hollings died in 1869, but Mr James Hollings occupied number 22 from at least 1864 onwards.

Over the following forty years, at least twelve occupants briefly resided at the address until Ms Margaret Gardner came into possession in 1913, remaining there until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. The 1911 Census described the property as a second-class dwelling consisting of at least three inhabited rooms and possessing a coal house as its sole outbuilding. The fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1919–1920 showed little change from the 1858 map, though the rear return was visible from this time. A large two-storey modern return was constructed at the rear sometime after 1966.

Current Status

Number 22 Lisburn Street is no longer used as a private residence and is now occupied by a private dental clinic. The interior has been fully refurbished to accommodate the dental practice and office, significantly altering the original floor plan. Although the principal elevation retains an early appearance and some original character following recent restoration, the extensive internal alterations mean the building does not meet the criteria for listing, though it contributes to the character of this eighteenth and early nineteenth-century thoroughfare within the conservation area.