Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB06/01/039

Address :
St Joseph's Building St MacNissi’s College, 25 Tower Road, Carnlough, Ballymena Co Antrim BT44 0JW

Townland:
Galboly Lower

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
School

Former Use
Stables

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
35/4

IG Ref:
D2993 2377

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Owner Category

Church - RC

Exterior Description And Setting

A two-storey building built of rubble blackstone with sandstone dressings, slated roofs and red brick chimneys laid out around three sides of a rectangular court with a wall across the fourth side which contains a pair of ironwork gates mounted on square piers topped by stone ball finials. Designed in a form of Scottish Baronial style with stepped gables. There are wooden window frames to end gables, while all windows within the court are of metal to a modern pattern. Arched openings to the courtyard have been glazed in, also to a modern pattern. The gates are modern, and the court has been given a modern landscaping treatment. SETTING: The building stands within the grounds of a school, located in a very rural and scenic area. It occupies a slightly elevated position within the grounds and is viewed against a steep well wooded escarpment in the background, with a tarmac driveway around it and modern school buildings adjacent.

Architects

Lanyon & Lynn

Historical Information

Built in 1860 as a stable block for Lady Londonderry in association with her residence Garron Tower, to the design of Lanyon and Lynn, architects of Belfast. Later converted into a hotel dining hall, then into St Joseph’s Dormitory for St MacNissi’s Grammar School which took over Garron Tower in 1951, and then into a classroom block. References – Primary Sources 1. OS Map 1903, Co Antrim 20. Secondary Sources 1. M. McSparran, C. Dallat and J. Irvine, Oh Maybe it was Yesterday (Glens of Antrim Historical Society, 1980), p 20. 2. P. Magill, Garron Tower (Belfast, 1990), pp 47 and 71.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is a former Victorian stable block designed by an important firm of Irish architects, but which has lost a number of original features due to subsequent conversions to other purposes.

General Comments

Date of Survey

15 July 1997