Debonair Formal Hire, 12 Railway Street, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 1XG

Debonair Formal Hire, 12 Railway Street, Lisburn, is a mid-terrace three-storey rendered former house built around 1830. It is listed Grade B2 for its architectural and historical interest.

The building is a two-bay structure with a pitched natural slate roof fitted with black clay ridge tiles. A shared rendered chimneystack rises to the south with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering is carried on iron brackets. The rendered walling is painted with ruled and lined finish, while the rear elevation displays rubblestone construction. Square-headed window openings are finished with painted masonry sills.

The front elevation features original timber sash windows: 6/3 panes to the second floor and 6/6 panes to the first floor. An early twentieth-century timber shopfront has been inserted at ground floor level, comprising a bipartite fixed-pane shop display window with angled side panel accommodating a recessed glazed entrance door and overlight. Decorative spandrel panels frame all glazing. The left bay contains a square-headed door opening with a raised and fielded timber door and large overlight, providing access to the upper floors. Fluted timber pilasters flank both the shopfront and the door opening, supporting a timber fascia that spans the entire elevation with a lead-lined cornice above.

The rear elevation retains rubblestone walling with redbrick linings to window openings, original timber sash windows, and cast-iron downpipes with decorative brackets. A two-storey redbrick gable-ended return adjoins the rear, fitted with horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows. The first half-landing receives light from a timber sash window in the return, which features coloured glass margin lights.

The interior preserves original flat-panelled timber doors and staircase, maintaining the Georgian character. Several fireplaces in the Art Nouveau style were added in the early twentieth century.

No. 12 Railway Street forms part of a terrace of four similar former houses lining the east side of Railway Street. It appears on Ordnance Survey maps from the first edition in 1833. The street was formerly known as Jackson's Lane but was renamed Railway Street around 1840 following the arrival of the first railway line between Lisburn and Belfast. A detailed map of the town centre by Thomas Pattison dated around 1830 indicates that numbers 4 to 12 were the first of the current terrace to be constructed along this road, with field research supporting a construction date of around 1830 based on the Georgian design.

The building's history is well documented. In 1910 it served as the premises for Melville & Co. Funeral Directors. The manager, Samuel Fullerton, a 33-year-old Presbyterian, resided in the upper floors with his wife Isabella and their three children. The 1911 census building return described it as a second-class shop containing seven rooms with a slate roof. The undertakers occupied the premises from 1898 until 1930, when William Jellie, also an undertaker, came into possession and operated a Funeral Parlour from the address whilst also serving as Post Master. Around 1930 the premises were converted into a drapers shop. The building is now used as premises for a formal wear clothes shop, with upper rooms used for storage space.

The shopfront is considered an Edwardian addition. The building has group value with numbers 4, 6, 8, and 10 Railway Street and is one of the earliest buildings constructed on Railway Street. A small rear yard is enclosed by rubble and redbrick walling, with the former rear plot now given over to a car park. The building lies within a conservation area.