Gill's Almhouses, 12A Governor's Place, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 7BP

Gill's Almshouses, Governor's Place

A detached five-bay one-and-a-half-storey Jacobethan almshouse built in 1842 to designs by Charles Lanyon, the then county surveyor, and situated at the north of Governor's Place in Carrickfergus. The building occupies a prominent position overlooking the coast, with views to Carrickfergus Castle to the southeast and the spire of St. Nicholas Church of Ireland Church to the northeast, and faces parkland and the remains of the town walls to the west.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing south. It features one-and-a-half-storey gabled projecting end bays. The roof is of natural slate with a pitch, hipped at the gable junctions, topped with blue and black clay angled ridge tiles. Two red brick two-stage chimneystacks stand at the ridges, each with two square chimneystacks set diagonally on the second stage, finished with red clay chimneypots. Half-round cast-iron gutters complete the rainwater goods.

The walling is painted smooth render over a splayed-and-moulded plinth. Rendered quoins dress the projections and gables, with verge coping corbelled out to the eaves and rendered masonry finials. Windows are square-headed with rendered architraves and splayed sills, though all windows are now replacement uPVC casements.

The principal south elevation displays one-and-a-half-storey gabled projecting bays to either end, with a slightly projecting full-height storm porch set centrally. The exposed sections of the projecting bays each contain a single window. The porch features a square-headed painted timber door with four moulded panels, set within a four-centred-arched opening with a two-panelled tympanum, splayed and rebated rendered architrave, and hoodmould with foliated labels. Above the door is a shield date plaque and a marble date plaque inscribed "ALDERMAN GILL'S / ALMSHOUSES / ERECTED 1842." The apexes of the projecting bays contain single lancet windows with hoodmoulds and foliated labels, beneath which sit ground floor tripartite mullioned windows with the centre window heightened by an additional light and stop-ended labelmould. The inner cheeks are blank.

The west elevation contains a single window set into a four-centred-arched former door opening with rendered tympanum. The rear north elevation is symmetrical, with two windows flanking either side of a square-headed replacement timber door with overlight; these windows lack architraves. The east elevation is detailed as the west. Lean-to coal sheds abut both the left and right ends.

Lanyon's original plans of 1839 were not accepted as submitted. In 1841, the trustees resolved that Lanyon should alter his design to provide additional accommodation in the form of a loft to each house over the kitchen and room, accessed by a step ladder. The building was originally constructed of brick, but this material was already causing problems by 1850. In 1852, the trustees agreed to proposals for stone finishing with cement and painting, resulting in the current rendered exterior.

The structure was originally built to contain four dwellings. It was remodelled in 1997 by Edward Cooke and now comprises two houses. The almshouses first appear on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records 'Gill's Almhouses and offices' as leased from the trustees, valued at £12 and later marked as exempt. These almshouses were built to replace earlier ones on Essex Street, constructed between 1766 and 1767, which had by 1829 deteriorated so severely that the surveying architect of the time described them as "not worth laying money on." A contemporary record notes that four houses in Governor's Place opened for pensioners on 15 January 1842, complementing an earlier group of six houses in Gill's Row which had opened in October 1820. Part of a larger group that includes six almshouses in Ellis Street, the Governor's Place almshouses are historically significant as part of Alderman Gill's philanthropic initiative.

The building was restored in 1980 by the James Butcher Housing Association as dwellings for the elderly. It is situated within a conservation area.