Glenmore House, 14 Lambeg Road, Lambeg, Lisburn, Co.Antrim, BT27 4QA

Glenmore House is a large detached former country house of around 1860, designed by the prominent architect Thomas Jackson. It stands on the south side of Lambeg Road in Lambeg, Lisburn, and incorporates an earlier house on the site, with further extensions carried out around 1900. The building is rendered, multi-bay, two storeys with an attic storey, and square on plan, facing south. It was converted into 18 apartments around 1995, at which point roof lights and dormer windows were added. Three-storey rendered apartment blocks were constructed to enclose the site to the north and east as part of the same development. Despite these interventions, which have been largely sympathetic, some original historic fabric and Victorian detailing has been lost externally, and the internal layout has been modified, though some features of interest remain unaltered.

The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate, becoming semi-conical over the full-height semicircular bow that projects from the west elevation. A central tunnel vault with a series of lights sits atop the bow. The roofline features roll-moulded lead ridges, several tall profiled rendered chimneystacks, and a number of round-headed dormers. Deep overhanging eaves are carried on a cornice supported by scrolled modillions, with replacement metal rainwater goods throughout.

The external walling is painted, ruled-and-lined render with moulded string courses at eaves, sill, and plinth level. A deep moulded continuous cornice runs between the ground and first floors. All window openings on the ground and first floors have moulded sills set to continuous sill courses, supported by pairs of console brackets and panelled aprons. Ground floor openings also have moulded architrave surrounds. All windows are replacement single-pane timber sash with ogee horns.

The five-bay front elevation consists of a three-bay central section flanked by two single-bay advanced bays of double height. A tetrastyle portico spans the space between the advanced bays. At first floor level, the window openings are segmental-headed, with a continuous moulded string course at impost level that rises to surround the head of each opening, with cavetto stop-chamfered moulded reveals. The three central first-floor openings give onto the terraced roof of the portico, which is finished with a decorative balustrade. The portico itself comprises two pairs of Doric columns on raised plinth blocks with a single column at either end, all supporting a full dentilated entablature. The portico floor is concrete paved, and its walls carry pairs of Doric pilasters. The central opening is a round-arched door flanked by a pair of round-arched window openings. The soffit of the portico is coffered, dentilated, and compartmentalised. The door is a flat-panelled timber type and the flanking windows are round-headed timber sashes.

The multi-bay west elevation has a central semicircular bow with segmental-headed window openings at first floor level, where the continuous moulded string course at impost level rises to surround each opening. The bow windows are 3/3 timber sashes.

The multi-bay north elevation has an off-centre square-headed secondary door opening with a modern moulded surround and a glazed timber door with a panel above lettered "GLENMORE HOUSE". First floor window openings are square-headed with cavetto stop-chamfered reveals below the continuous impost moulding, and segmental blind panels above. The eight-bay east elevation is detailed in the same manner as the north.

The house is encircled by a raised planter with bitmac parking to all four sides. Steel palisade fencing runs along the south boundary, large steel gates open onto Lambeg Road, and the modern apartment blocks occupy the north and east of the site.

The history of the site is extensive and closely bound up with the linen industry of the Lagan Valley. Evidence suggests a house existed here from the early 17th century, possibly built for the Conway family. Francis Seymour, Lord Conway, lived here in the early 18th century, when it was known as the "Lord's House." In 1760 the house was purchased by John Williamson, a linen bleacher who played a prominent role in the early development of the linen trade. He wrote a treatise on the subject and secured a bye-law requiring that the quality and quantity of bolts of linen cloth be certified by the Trustees of the Linen Board. This made him deeply unpopular with weavers, and in 1762 the windows of the house — then known as "Lambeg House" — were smashed and the building and its furniture damaged by an angry crowd. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs nonetheless credit Williamson's bye-law with giving rise to the subsequent prosperity of the linen trade in the north.

In the late 18th century the house and bleach green passed to John Handcock, who improved the property and raised the house by a storey. Handcock was also instrumental in bringing a bill before the House of Commons to introduce milder punishments for bleach green robbers, the penalty at that time being death. The house next passed to Henry Bell, a linen draper, resident in 1803, and in 1808 to Robert and Alexander Williamson, sons of the earlier John Williamson. Robert Williamson was a local landowner, Honorary Secretary of the Belfast Committee of the Linen Board in 1808, and later a Justice of the Peace. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that he enlarged the house considerably, spent extensively on its general improvement, carried out the principal plantings and other improvements to the grounds, and is also said to have established the bleach green east of the River Lagan, the original bleach green having been situated south of the property and west of the river.

In 1835 the house was bought by James Nicholson Richardson (1782–1847), founder of Richardson Sons and Owden. He renamed it Glenmore, a name associated with the surrounding area. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1838 describe the house as "a beautiful square structure, 2-storeys high and slated. Attached at either end of the square house stands handsome round apartments, the same height of the former. There is a fine cornice raised round the entire building, and over the hall door, a very fine portico. At both ends of the house also stands extensive wings, 1-storey high. On the whole it is perhaps one of the most spacious houses in this part of the country." The memoirs also provide a lengthy account of the gardens and grounds, concluding that it is "generally considered to be one of the handsomest seats in the county and well situate for the bleaching business." The house was listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 with a valuation of £38 5s.

According to Rankin, Richardson employed Thomas Jackson to carry out extensive improvements around 1840, including a new front entrance area. Comparison of the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, which shows a plan similar to the previous edition, with Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, which includes a sketch of the ground plan, reveals that significant changes had been made — the house was extended to the rear and the single-storey wing to the west had been removed, though that to the east remained. The documentary evidence suggests these changes were made around 1860. By the time of the 1901 Ordnance Survey map, the house had been extended forward so that the portico, which had originally projected from the building, was subsumed by wings to either side; this change may also date from around 1860 but occurred after Griffith's Valuation. By 1867 the valuation had risen to £180, likely reflecting these improvements. The house valuation in Griffith's Valuation stood at £125, later raised to £160.

After the death of James Nicholson Richardson in 1847, the house remained in the Richardson family, though his son Jonathan took less interest in the linen business and lived the life of a country gentleman, with the house becoming a hub of social activity. The Richardsons retained the property until 1901, when it was purchased by John M. Milliken, a coal importer. By 1923 the house was occupied by the Linen Industry Research Association, with the valuation raised to £210. As Rankin notes, the house then became a focal point for the Irish linen industry, receiving enquiries from around the world. With the decline of the industry in the 20th century, the Research Association was forced to close in 1993, after which the house was converted to apartments.

Rankin has described Glenmore House as "one of the most important houses associated with the linen industry in the Lagan Valley," owing to its virtually unbroken two-hundred-year association with that industry. It is of significant local architectural and historic interest.