Masonic Hall, 33 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AB

Masonic Hall, 33 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough

A free-standing symmetrical two-storey, three-bay red-brick Masonic Hall built around 1880 and located east of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. The building is designed in a loosely Ruskinian Polychrome Gothic style and displays good symmetrical proportions, with the front façade enlivened by decorative brickwork and detailing. Set back from the early nineteenth-century terrace with original railings, it is one of the more significant buildings on Lisburn Street.

The hall is square on plan with a projecting porch to the front and a single-storey flat-roof return to the rear dating from around 1960. The pitched natural slate roof features a decorative bargeboard and finial to the gable. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods project from the eaves. The walling is Flemish-bonded red-brick on a plinth, enriched with black and yellow brick dressings. A yellow dog-tooth and mouse-tooth string course runs horizontally, with a black brick course positioned under the eaves and at sill and lintel levels. Windows are uPVC with projecting masonry sills and decorative black brick lintels, with decorative black brick coursing under the sills.

The principal elevation faces west and comprises a central gabled breakfront, higher by one window width, with paired windows to either side. A projecting gabled porch to the ground floor features decorative bargeboards and finial matching those of the main gable and contains a double-leaf raised-and-fielded four-panel door with transom light, accessed by two stone steps, topped by a decorative brick lintel. The gable terminates in a sandstone moulded segmental-headed plaque containing three symbols of the Masonic order. The north elevation has two uPVC windows at ground floor. The east (rear) elevation contains a window at first floor left and a fire-escape door with fanlight at first floor right (originally a window). The flat-roof return abuts this elevation at ground floor left of centre, while a modern timber door is positioned to the right. The south elevation has two square-headed timber-framed windows at ground floor.

The building stands set back from the early nineteenth-century terrace with a gravelled garden to the front enclosed by a sandstone parapet wall with original cast-iron railings. At the centre are original gate-piers with gothic moulded shafts on a square base, supporting an original cast-iron latch gate. A rubble-stone wall encloses a small yard to the rear. A new red-brick apartment block has been constructed close to the boundary wall to the rear.

Historical Context

Hillsborough Masonic Hall was erected in 1882, first appearing on the Annual Revisions Town Plan of Hillsborough (dated circa 1864–1909), where it was depicted as a square-shaped building situated midway along Lisburn Road. The Annual Revisions record that this Masonic Hall replaced two small dwellings which were demolished in 1880 to make way for the hall and also for numbers 31 and 35 Lisburn Street, constructed during the same period. When first constructed, the hall was valued at £22 and measured 20 by 30 feet. Valuation records note that the Masonic Society occupied the hall, and from 1925 the Reverend F. Matchett was listed as a joint occupant.

The hall has been used by Lodge No. 683 since its construction in 1882. This lodge, known as the 'Annahilt True Blues', originated in 1788 in a house in the townland of Ballykeel-Edenagonnell. Following an attack on the house during the 1798 rebellion, the lodge met in several different locations, including No. 8 The Square, until finally moving to Hillsborough Masonic Hall in 1882. The lodge has continued to meet at this location for over 120 years, achieving a membership high of 110 during the 1970s.

The 1901 Ulster Towns Directory states that Lodge No. 683 was one of a small number of Masonic Lodges operating in Hillsborough, the others being Lodge No. 66, the 'Star of Kilwarlin', and Royal Arch Chapter No. 66, though it is not known whether they also operated from the Masonic Hall on Lisburn Street. In 1901, the secretary of the Annahilt True Blues was William George Magennis, a solicitor operating a business in Lisburn and residing on Ballynahinch Street; by 1910, the post had passed to Mr. Daniel Fergie, who also occupied a house on Lisburn Street.

The 1901 Census indicates that the Masonic Hall was also used as a private dwelling by Mr. Robert Magill, aged 70, a general worker, who occupied the hall with his wife Isabella and their son Robert and his wife Annie. The Census Building return describes the building as a 2nd class 'Masonic Hall' with only two rooms. By 1911, the Census recorded that the hall possessed six rooms and had passed into the care of Mr. Moses Rogan, aged 51, a railway labourer, who occupied it with his three children.

A single-storey return was added to the rear of the hall around 1960.