20 Seymour Street, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, BT27 4XF

20 Seymour Street, Lisburn, is a mid-terrace four-bay three-storey redbrick former townhouse built around 1830, situated on the south side of Seymour Street. It is currently vacant. The building is particularly notable for its exceptional completeness: almost all its original external and internal features survive intact, giving it considerable architectural importance within this part of Seymour Street. Its strong vertical emphasis makes it a significant presence in the streetscape.

EXTERIOR

The house is rectangular on plan, facing north, with a three-storey single-bay stairhall projection to the rear, itself abutted by a gable-ended three-storey return, possibly of later date. The pitched roof is covered in natural gauged slate with black clay ridge tiles. Redbrick chimneystacks at each end, shared with the adjoining buildings, are topped with octagonal clay pots. Rainwater goods are ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering carried on iron drive-through brackets, with a round cast-iron downpipe.

The main walling is redbrick laid in Flemish bond, with painted rusticated quoins and a plain rendered plinth course rising to the ground floor sill level. Window openings are square-headed with gauged brick flat arches, flush rendered reveals, and painted masonry sills. All windows are original six-over-six timber sash windows with no horns and cylinder glass. The four-bay three-storey front elevation has a uniform arrangement of these window openings. The ground floor windows retain their original timber shutters with raised-and-fielded panels.

The doorcase is an original and fine feature: an off-centre round-headed opening in redbrick contains a timber panelled door with eight raised-and-fielded panels, flanked by a pair of slender fluted engaged columns supporting a lintel cornice, with a webbed fanlight above. The door opens directly onto the street.

The east rendered gable rises above the roof of the adjoining building, with some redbrick revealed, and is abutted by a tall redbrick chimneystack. The west rendered gable similarly rises above its neighbour and is abutted by a rendered chimneystack.

The painted rendered rear south elevation is abutted to the right by the single-bay three-storey stairhall projection, which has a hipped natural slate roof. This projection contains a triple-height round-headed stairhall window opening of unusually tall proportions, fitted with an original nine-over-nine timber sash window with an incorporated fanlight, resting on a stone sill, with a further multi-pane timber window below. The gable-ended three-storey return has a redbrick chimneystack to its blank gable and landscape-format window openings to the east cheek at each level, fitted with timber casement windows.

To the rear, a rubblestone single-storey gable-ended outbuilding with a pitched slate roof and steel casement windows abuts the return. A rubblestone yard wall adjoins the site of number 22 Seymour Street. The remainder of the rear site is finished in gravel and used as a car park.

INTERIOR

Through the tall stairhall window, the interior reveals an open-string timber staircase with turned balusters, carved tread ends, and a polished handrail — a well-preserved Georgian-style staircase.

HISTORY

A visual inspection suggests a construction date of around 1830. The Townland Valuation town plan for Lisburn has not survived, making it impossible to identify the building with certainty in the relevant fieldbook. The building does, however, appear in Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) as the residence of the Reverend Richard Scott, listed as a house, offices, yard, and small garden, with the buildings valued at £33. Dimensions are recorded for the house, two returns, and two outbuildings. The valuer notes that it was "about to be sold" and describes the accommodation as comprising "parlour and dining room, two over and four at top, kitchen room over and room at top in return." The Reverend Richard Scott is recorded in diocesan history as curate of Christ Church Derriaghy from 1855 to 1856.

In the Annual Revisions, the house subsequently appears in the occupation of a Mrs Hunter (the change is undated), leased from George K. Smyth, with the buildings revalued at £29. In 1862, Mrs William Steen Hunter and her two daughters, Mary and Anna, opened a school for ladies in the house, accepting both day pupils and boarders. An advertisement in the Belfast Newsletter of 2nd January 1863 announced: "Lisburn Ladies' School, Mrs Hunter's Seminary will recommence (D.V.) on Monday, Jan 5th 1863, at Ten o'clock, when a punctual attendance of Pupils is earnestly requested. Although her School opened only in August last Mrs Hunter has reason to be gratified both by the number and progress of her Pupils: and, as her two daughters were duly trained in respectable Seminaries, where they acted as Teachers, she hopes to render her Establishment increasingly worthy of public patronage by adopting the most improved methods of intellectual and moral culture. Her Elder Daughter had much experience and success in teaching Music in Belfast, and has been liberally countenanced as a Pianist since her commencement in Lisburn. Evening classes for French and Writing will be duly resumed. Mrs E B Harper of Hillsborough will teach Singing at convenient hours and Mrs Gubbins of Belfast, will conduct Classes for Dancing: all of which will be open to Young Ladies not attending the Day School. Every suitable encouragement to diligence and emulation will be given by Judgment Cards, Examinations, Prizes, and other stimulants to industry and good conduct."

A further advertisement appeared in the Belfast Newsletter on 2nd July 1869: "Educational Establishment for Young Ladies under the Direction of Mrs Hunter, Seymour Street, Lisburn. Mrs Hunter takes a limited number of Boarders to educate with her own children, securing to all, experienced teachers and strict school discipline, with the comforts of a home circle. She has had considerable experience in the care of children from India, whose constitutions being more or less impaired, require particular attention, and she can give references to persons of the highest respectability in this country, who have the guardianship of those children. In consequence of the removal of two of them at the 1st August, Mrs Hunter will have corresponding Vacancies, which she will be glad to have supplied."

After 1869 and until 1872, the occupier was the Reverend John Powell, the first minister of the Sloan Street Presbyterian congregation. Powell had previously been removed from his congregation in Carlow owing to his intolerance of Catholicism and the threat of a Catholic boycott of the town. He moved to Lisburn, where he set up a classical academy. When approval was granted in 1860 for the establishment of a new congregation in Lisburn, Reverend Powell held services in a hay loft in Castle Street. In 1861 the new congregation divided over which minister to follow, with some members choosing David Clarke and building a new church in Railway Street. Powell held services in a carpenter's shop until a site was found for a meeting house in Sloan Street; he resigned in 1880 due to ill health.

From 1872 to 1920 the house was occupied by the Ellison family — initially John Ellison, and from 1902 Frances Ellison. Craig and Ellison are listed in the Commercial Directory and Shippers' Guide of 1862 as being in the hemp and tow business in Lisburn. From 1920 the occupier was Victor McMurray, who held the property in fee. McMurray ran a printing business in Lisburn and was the printer of various journals and books, including Rann, A Quarterly of Ulster Poetry, and the Reverend H. C. Marshall's history of Lambeg parish.