Orange Hall, 36 Railway Street, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 1XP

Orange Hall, 36 Railway Street, Lisburn

This is a free-standing, symmetrical, single-bay, two-storey Italianate rendered stone hall, dated 1871, and one of the architecturally more significant Orange halls in Northern Ireland. It is rectangular on plan, facing west, set back slightly from the east side of Railway Street, with its south side elevation fronting onto Wallace Avenue. The building has considerable social and historic importance for the local community.

The roof is pitched natural slate with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, a single red brick chimneystack, and modern steel roof vents. Plastic guttering is fixed to a boxed timber fascia, with cast-iron vent pipes below. The main walling material is coursed rubble basalt with red brick window linings to both side elevations. The rear gable is finished in plain ruled-and-lined cement render, while the front elevation is decorated painted stucco.

The front elevation is the building's outstanding feature. It is pedimented, symmetrically composed in the Italianate style, with a full-width pediment carrying a modillioned cornice and a moulded string course beneath. The elevation is arranged in three bays, with rusticated pilasters at each outer end and plain pilasters flanking the central bay. At upper-floor level, the central bay contains three round-headed openings unified by elaborate mouldings: triple-arched cable hood mouldings rising from four squat panelled pilasters with continuous stiff-leaf capitals, all resting on a single moulded sill course. To either side of these openings is a round-headed blind niche. A continuous cornice moulding runs across the ground floor, with projecting lettering across the central bay reading "ORANGE HALL 1871". At ground-floor level, the central bay contains an elliptical-headed door opening flanked by round-headed window openings, with a continuous impost moulding set within rusticated walling. The windows and doors in this bay are hardwood replacements dating from around 1990. Each of the outer bays contains an oculus with an architrave surround and an original fixed-pane rose window. The front door opens onto a terrazzo platform and step, leading down to a concrete-paved forecourt.

The north side elevation has a series of round-headed window openings at upper-floor level and square-headed openings at ground-floor level, all with red brick surrounds and painted masonry sills. The windows are uPVC — sliding sash on the first floor and top-hung at ground-floor level. A steel fire escape is attached at first-floor level, accessed through a centrally placed door. The south side elevation, which faces Wallace Avenue, follows the same pattern as the north and also has a central first-floor fire escape. This elevation is enclosed from Wallace Avenue by a tall red brick wall. The rear gable is blank, with ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling and a single modern steel door.

To the rear is a gravel car park, accessed from Wallace Avenue through tall red brick piers and steel gates.

History and Significance

The hall enters valuation records in 1872 and first appears on the third-edition Ordnance Survey map of around 1900, valued at £35. It was built on a site leased from the Marquess of Hertford at the nominal rent of one shilling a year, the lease being granted in 1869 through Walter Stannus, the Marquess's agent. The purpose stated at the time was to provide meeting accommodation for the large numbers of Orangemen in Lisburn and, in the words of the Belfast Newsletter, to "counteract the great evils which result from their meeting in public-houses." The lease was later inherited by Sir Richard Wallace, and by 1898 the lessors were recorded as Richard Knox and W. D. Pounder.

A decision to proceed with construction was taken at a meeting of Orangemen in May 1870, with the estimated cost put at close upon a thousand pounds. The subscription list was headed by Jonathan Richardson of Glenmore Bleach Works, who had died the previous year; his executors honoured his donation of £100, by far the largest contribution. The foundation stone was laid on 13th August 1870. Beneath it, following the custom of the time, a bottle was placed containing current coins of the realm and a number of papers. The Reverend Dean Stannus applied the ceremonial trowel of mortar, and a trowel was presented to him engraved with the title "Lisburn Orange and Protestant Hall" — the building's intended name at that stage.

The architect was John MacHenry of Lisburn, surveyor to the Hertford estates, who later designed Lisburn Courthouse (now demolished) and is also thought to have been the supervising architect for Sir Richard Wallace's Lisburn residence, Castle House. This hall is MacHenry's earliest known work. The contractor was Paul McHenry of Derriaghy.

The hall was opened on 11th August 1870. The Belfast Newsletter described it favourably: "It presents a very chaste and handsome front. The style is Corinthian; the capitals of the columns are richly carved in Caen stone." Much of this carved decoration has since been removed. The paper noted that the structure was 96 feet in length, with one large room extending the full length of the second storey, while the ground floor was divided into eight capacious rooms intended as reading rooms and lodge rooms for the district Orangemen. A handsome railing to the front — probably lost during the Second World War — was noted as adding to the building's appearance. Caretakers' apartments were situated at the rear, accessible both through a central hall running the length of the building and via a side door. A stair from the caretaker's hall gave access to the platform of the upper room without requiring passage through the main audience space.

The building quickly became controversial. In November 1871 both London and Dublin newspapers reported that Orangemen had been absent from the opening ceremony because the words "Lisburn Protestant Hall" had been placed across the front in large stone letters. It was subsequently reported that Orangemen had succeeded in having the word "Protestant" removed from the front, after which a gathering was held to rename the building "Lisburn Orange Hall."

As was common with public buildings of this kind, a debt remained after opening, and several fund-raising bazaars were held during the year following. A photograph of 1921 shows the hall as it would originally have appeared, with railings to the front and additional foliate decoration to the pilasters. The side walls, originally rendered, now show exposed rubblestone and brickwork, the render having been removed at some point. The building lies within a conservation area.