28-30 Railway Street, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 1XG

28-30 Railway Street, Lisburn

A mid-terrace former pair of two-storey rendered houses, built around 1880, now converted into a single commercial unit. The building contributes to the historic character of Railway Street but has been extensively renovated for its current commercial use and does not meet the criteria for listing.

The main building is rectangular on plan, facing west and lining the east side of Railway Street. It retains a pitched artificial slate roof with synthetic ridge tiles, a red-brick chimneystack to the north and rendered chimneystack to the centre. The walling is painted ruled and lined render with a projecting render plinth course. Ogee-moulded cast-iron guttering sits on eaves corbels.

The front elevation is six windows wide, featuring square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills, hood mouldings and decorative label stops. Windows are replacement timber sash. The southern building (No. 30) has a large modern shopfront with fixed-pane display window, while the northern building (No. 28) has an enlarged square-headed entrance with double-leaf hardwood panelled doors. The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building No. 32, and the south elevation by adjoining building No. 26.

To the rear stands an L-plan range of two-storey painted brick former outbuildings to the rear of No. 30, with pitched natural slate roof, timber sash windows and sheeted timber doors. A detached two-storey painted brick former outbuilding, also serving No. 30, retains its original timber sash windows and features a decorative lincrusta ceiling to the ground-floor room with coved cornice and architrave surrounds. A modern two-storey timber-sheeted projection and single-storey wing are attached to the rear.

Historical context

Numbers 28 and 30 first appear on the third edition Ordnance Survey map for Lisburn (c.1900), though a photograph from c.1885 confirms they were built before that date. Both houses originally had lengthy returns or outbuildings to their rear.

The 1910 Ulster Towns Directory records No. 28 occupied by James Bullick and No. 30 by Moses Bullick. Moses Bullick, aged 66 and an Anglican painter and decorator, had lived at No. 30 from at least 1901. The 1901 Census Building Return described No. 30 as a second-class dwelling containing 11 rooms and eight outoffices including a stable, barn and workshops. Moses Bullick's wife Elizabeth (72) and son Moses, also a decorator, lived with him. By 1911, Moses still occupied No. 30 with his granddaughter.

No. 28 was occupied in 1911 by James Bullick (44), another son of Moses, a general contractor, living with his wife Katie (44) and seven children. The 1911 Census Building Return described No. 28 as a second-class dwelling containing eight rooms with no outoffices. Moses Bullick remained at No. 30 until his death in 1916, leaving effects of £2,736 16s. 4d. to his sons Moses, James and Ezekiel.

The two houses were converted into a single property after 1962, as the Ordnance Survey map of that year still showed them as separate buildings. A modern two-storey return was constructed to the rear of No. 28 after 1962. The building currently operates as a travel agency.