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

20 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough

A two-storey, two-bay commercial property built around 1800, originally incorporating what are now numbered 22 and 24, and located on the west side of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. The building is square on plan with a large two-storey modern extension to the rear.

The roof is pitched natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles and brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The walling is roughcast render with raised smooth rendered quoins to the left side at first-floor level. The ground floor features a modern timber-panelled shop-front, while the rear extension is constructed of modern red brick and smooth render.

Windows are replacement 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash with smooth rendered surrounds and projecting masonry sills. The principal elevation faces east and is two windows wide at first-floor level. The ground-floor shop-front comprises a replacement half-panelled timber door with small transom light to the left, and a plate-glass window to the right with vertical dividers and panelled timber plinth. The framing door and window are flanked by wide panelled pilasters and surmounted by a corniced fascia. The south elevation is abutted by an adjoining building. The west (rear) elevation is fully abutted by the two-storey modern extension. The north elevation is abutted by an adjoining building (HB19/05/49B).

To the rear, a gravelled car park and brick paving adjoin the building. The site backs onto a lake within the grounds of Hillsborough Castle Estate, enclosed by an early rubble stone wall.

The building forms part of an eighteenth and early nineteenth-century terrace on the northerly approach into Hillsborough town centre. A map of around 1800 shows it as a single oblong building incorporating numbers 20 and 24, with a large outbuilding extending from the rear of the current No. 24. Lisburn Street developed significantly between 1800 and 1830, and was known at that time as Great Newport Street, in reference to the construction of the Lagan Canal in the late eighteenth century.

Numbers 20 to 24 Lisburn Street are among the earlier houses on the street, dating from the mid to late eighteenth century, preceding the later development. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and the Townland Valuation map of around 1830 continued to depict numbers 20 to 24 as a single property, then occupied by Mr Allan Weir and valued at £6. Between 1834 and 1858, the large outbuilding at the rear was demolished. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows that two returns had been constructed to the rear of numbers 20 and 24, one apparently extending from the rear of No. 20.

The single building was first recorded as three dwellings in Griffith's Valuation of 1861. At that time, Mr John Mulligan owned the three houses. No. 20 was let by Mr John Murtagh at an annual rent of £10. It was valued at £8 and described as a first-class two-storey dwelling measuring 5 by 6 yards, possessing a two-storey return of 3½ by 4 yards and a small pantry room to the rear.

John Murtagh vacated the house by 1864, when Mr James Scott was recorded as occupant. In 1878 the house fell vacant for a number of years before being reoccupied in 1883 by a Mr McKelvey, the first of a long succession of tenants who briefly resided at the address over the next twenty years. In 1901, Robert Boyd, a 42-year-old Presbyterian policeman, came into possession, living there with his wife Margaret (28) and their four young sons. The Census Building Return of that year described the house as a second-class dwelling consisting of four rooms with no out-offices.

In 1905, the house changed hands to Ms Ellen Moore, a local seamstress, who resided there until 1914. It subsequently passed to two other tenants before being occupied by Margaret Kelly, a local nurse, from 1920 until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930. Little change to the site occurred between 1858 and the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1919–20.

The building has been significantly altered at street level, particularly with the addition of a modern reproduction shop-front at an unknown date in the mid-twentieth century. Despite restoration work in recent years and retention of some original character, these alterations are considered substantial enough that the building does not meet the criteria for listing. The address is currently used as premises for a children's clothing shop.

The building is located within a conservation area and is part of the record only on the Northern Ireland heritage register.