Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum, Market Square, Lisburn, BT28 1AG

Irish Linen Centre & Lisburn Museum

A detached, multi-bay, two-storey stucco-fronted former market house with clock tower, originating in the late 17th century and remodelled circa 1810 with a replacement clock tower. The building was remodelled again circa 1890 to achieve its present appearance. It was restored circa 1994 for use as the Linen Centre & Museum, with a large modern west wing added at that time.

The building is rectangular on plan, with the clock tower positioned to the west, a breakfront elevation to the east, and central recessed sections to the north and south elevations. The roof comprises M-profile hipped natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, lead valleys and lead hips, set behind a parapet wall with dentilated eaves supporting an ogee-moulded cast-iron gutter and square-profile cast-iron downpipes. Chimneysstacks are rendered with cornice coping and terracotta pots.

The exterior walling is painted rendered with rusticated rendered quoins. All window and door openings have architrave surrounds with keystones and continuous impost moulding to the ground floor. The first floor features continuous sill moulding with a balustrade to all corner windows, which continues as a balustrade parapet across the north and south recessed sections. First-floor window openings are segmental-headed with horizontally-glazed 2/2 timber sash windows. Ground-floor window openings are round-headed within arched recesses, containing 3/6 timber sash windows with incorporated fanlights and masonry sills.

The clock tower rises from the west elevation as a neo-classical structure of sandstone ashlar with a copper cupola. Its base is enclosed within a double-height glazed entrance hall. The tower is built on a square-plan foundation of redbrick and squared red sandstone dating from the 17th century. Above roof level, the present tower comprises three stages. The lower stage is square on plan with large round-headed window openings to each side, containing replacement 10/15 timber sash windows with incorporated fanlights. A cornice crowns this stage. The octagonal middle stage displays clock faces to four sides; the other four sides feature paired Corinthian columns on plinth blocks supporting a full entablature with fluted frieze, stepped out over the columns and supporting an urn on base above. The upper stage has urns to four sides and louvered oculi to the remaining four sides, with a small cornice moulding forming the base to a replacement pointed copper dome and copper spirelet.

The east elevation features a single-bay breakfront with a segmental-headed window opening to the first floor, an architrave surround and segmental pediment supported on paired console brackets with slender panels below. The ground floor has a tripartite arrangement of arched window openings; the central opening contains a further tripartite arrangement of round-headed window openings with elaborate foliate stuccowork to the recess. Architrave surrounds drop to the plinth course with masonry sills and iron grilles to each opening. The recessed bays either side have a first-floor window opening and a blind arched panel to the ground floor.

The north and south elevations are nearly identical, with a balustrade parapet to the recessed central section. The north elevation contains a single central round-headed door opening with a pair of Doric columns on plinth blocks supporting a plain entablature and batwing fanlight above, with a replacement timber panelled door. The south elevation has two round-headed door openings, each with a replacement timber panelled door, lintel cornice and batwing fanlight.

The building is situated in the centre of Lisburn city on a triangular island site on Market Square, surrounded by hard landscaping on all sides.