Manse, 46 Seymour Street, Lisburn, County Antrim

A symmetrical detached three-bay two-storey former Manse built circa 1885, constructed in redbrick and stucco with an L-shaped plan that includes a gable-ended two-storey return and lean-to extension to the re-entrant angle. The building faces west on the east side of Seymour Street in Lisburn, positioned adjacent to the north side elevation of the associated Methodist Church.

The pitched natural slate roof is finished with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles and has profiled red brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots rising from either gable end. Steel guttering with timber fascia rests on a polychromatic moulded brick eaves cornice, with steel downpipes. The redbrick walling is laid in English garden wall bond with black brick flush courses below the eaves and a moulded render plinth course.

The principal front elevation displays a pair of decorative slightly advanced stucco bay windows to the ground floor, each comprising a torus-moulded segmental-headed opening with stop-chamfered surround, terracotta tiled panel below the sill and dentiled cornice above. The central square-headed door opening has a replacement hardwood panelled door and rectangular overlight set in an advanced stucco surround with pair of pilasters and moulded plinth blocks. Pair of foliate console brackets support a plain frieze and dentiled cornice above the door. The entrance is accessed by two concrete steps onto a black and red tiled footpath to the front garden. Segmental-headed window openings with painted masonry sills are fitted with uPVC windows throughout.

The gabled north side elevation is surmounted by a slightly corbelled out brick chimneystack rising from slightly advanced redbrick chimney flues, with three window openings featuring black and redbrick segmental heads. The cement rendered rear elevation comprises the gable-ended two-storey return and lean-to single-storey extension, with a pair of round-headed window openings to the return fitted with uPVC windows. The south side elevation is detailed as the north elevation with smaller square-headed window openings to the return.

Although the replacement door and windows detract from the building's architectural interest, the principal design elements including the polychromatic brickwork remain intact and relate directly to the adjacent Methodist church and the terraced houses in Victoria Crescent, together giving group value to this prominent site which terminates several aspects from the centre of Lisburn.

The building is set on a slightly elevated site adjacent to the Methodist Church, with a small front lawn enclosed to the road by a replacement brick wall with iron railings and matching pedestrian gate. An enclosed rear yard contains a modern garage structure. The site is encircled to the north and east by a bitumac car park with a concrete paved footpath leading to the front entrance of the church.

In November 1874 the Irish Builder announced the laying of the foundation stone of Seymour Street Methodist church, noting that the site was 'one of the best in the town…Ample space will be afforded for two manses for the ministers'. Only a single manse was built. The building's exact date of construction is unknown, though sources suggest construction occurred sometime after 1880. It first appears captioned 'Manse' on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of circa 1900. The 1901 census records Alexander Egan, Methodist minister, as occupier, living with his wife, three children and a general servant. Egan was born in County Kildare, his children in Waterford and Dublin, and his wife was from Fermanagh. By 1911 the manse had passed to minister Edward Hazelton of Wicklow, who lived there with his Dublin-born wife and kept a general servant. Hazelton's elder son was apprenticed in the linen trade.

In 1912 railings were fitted to the wall enclosing the church grounds, and gates were installed for both the church and the manse. During 1925 to 1930 the disused stabling at the rear of the manse was removed, and in 1954 a garage was erected for the minister's use. In 1960 ground adjoining the manse to the north was purchased from Lisburn Cathedral for £800. This land had previously hosted Widows Cottages maintained by the Cathedral Select Vestry, visible in a photograph of the church shortly after opening, but by 1960 the cottages were empty and falling into disrepair and were levelled during the following year. During 1970 and 1971 this former ground together with the manse garden became a church car park, with a new manse garden reserved along the Belfast Road boundary. In 1971 heating was installed in the manse by an anonymous donor. The building was rewired in 1982, and in 1987 substantial renovations were carried out including refurbishment of the kitchen, creation of a new breakfast room from the former pantry, and addition of a toilet and shower room on the ground floor.