Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/10/001

Address :
Lissue House 31 Ballinderry Road Lisburn Co.Antrim BT28 2SL

Townland:
Lissue

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
23/05/1989 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office

Former Use
Country House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
165-5

IG Ref:
J2297 6448

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Owner Category

Public Body

Exterior Description And Setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered former country house, originally built c.1805, remodelled with pair of full-height bowed bays c.1900. Rectangular on plan facing south with series of rear returns and extension built between 1850 and 1950. Known as Lissue Hospital from c.1945 until 1988, later becoming derelict until the current owners carried out extensive renovations c.2000. Hipped natural slate roofs with black clay ridge tiles behind rendered parapet wall with moulded coping. Rebuilt render chimneystacks with lead lined coping. Replacement box hoppers and downpipes breaking through parapet wall below parapet cornice, except to rear and east elevations with ogee moulded iron guttering. Painted cement rendered walling with deep moulded cornice to front and west side elevations and Portland limestone ashlar plinth course to front block, render plinth course to remainder. Square-headed window openings with moulded Portland limestone sills, plain masonry sills to other elevations. Replacement uPVC windows to front block and west elevations, replacement timber sash windows to rear and to rear accretions to the east. Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation with central Ionic portico in antis and full-height bowed bay to either end. Carved Portland limestone Ionic tetrastyle portico comprises; pair of Ionic columns flanked by pair of Ionic piers supporting full entablature with pulvinated frieze, resting on pair of nosed sandstone steps. Within the portico is a square-headed door opening with pair of replacement hardwood raised and fielded panelled doors opening onto three nosed semi-circular sandstone steps. West side elevation extended as series of two-storey accretions abutted by canopy supported on Doric piers. The west wing continues further north, built c.1950 with an open passageway leading to the rear yard. Rear elevation abutted by series of two-storey returns and extensions with various roof formations. The central return has a Venetian window (lighting the stairwell) and generally glazed with replacement timber sash windows. The east side elevation has a further series of projections and recessed sections all having replacement timber sash windows, except the single-bay side elevation to the front block having uPVC windows. Setting: Set on an elevated landscaped site overlooking the surrounding countryside at the end of a long winding avenue. Paved yard to rear enclosed to the west by 1950s wing, to the north by a tall rendered wall and to the east by an embankment wall and part of original two-storey former outbuilding(west section of outbuilding now demolished and replaced by wall). Former outbuilding rendered with natural slate roof; windows mostly blocked up but remains of some sliding sash 6/6. Further north is extensive stable complex with 20th century alterations including insertion of garages; hipped natural slate roof; roughcast render walls; metal grilled windows, boarded timber ceilings, stable doors and garage doors; concrete built in feeders internally. Further west is extensive range of original estate accommodation and offices; consists of long range of rendered or stone and red-brick single-storey buildings, some roofless with windows missing or blocked up. Remains of orignal walled garden west of main house. North-east of house in woodland is circular lime kiln; Rubble stone with red-brick high semi-circular access arch with 2 no. further diminishing concrete arches above draw hole. Brick screen wall at top. The avenue opens onto Ballinderry Road to the southeast via replacement gate screen with three-bay single-storey rendered gate lodge, now boarded up and unused. Roof Natural slate RWG Replacement cast-iron Walling Cement render Windows UPVC / replacement timber sash

Architects

Jackson, Thomas

Historical Information

The house originally dates from c.1805 and was improved in the 1830s, the 1850s, (by Thomas Jackson), the 1900s and in the 1920s. Latterly it has been used as a hospital and is currently in use as offices. In OS Memoirs of 1837 the house is said to have been built by Robert Garrett Esquire, “who built the present house about 30 years ago, but from failure was never able to make the designed improvements. However, at a subsequent period he sold or mortgaged the place to a Major McCauley, who in 1830 sold his right of it to [Captain Robert Crawford]. Since the latter period the house was overhauled and several hundred pounds laid out on improvement of it and the demesne by Captain Crawford. (OS Memoirs, p.33-4) ‘Lissue Ho[use]’ is captioned on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832-3 and the house is listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) as the residence of Captain Robert Crawford and valued at £12.10s. Dimensions are given for a house with basement and four outbuildings including a coach house. An extensive description and history of the building is given in OS Memoirs, “Lissue, the seat of Captain Crawford, stands about one and a half miles from Lisburn…The house is commodious, stands two storeys high and slated and a handsome fruit and vegetable garden containing about two English acres enclosed partly by a stone and lime wall and partly by a quickset fence. The demesne, which consists of about 60 English acres, is chiefly plantations of several kinds of forest trees and the fields of an average size enclosed by quickset fences. The house stands on a handsome eminence commanding a most delightful prospect of a wide extent of the counties of Antrim and Down, also of Hillsborough and the improved seats in its vicinity.” (OS Memoirs, p.33-4) By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house is the residence of James Richardson and is valued at £80. Dimensions are given for a house with a semicircular porch, two returns and a cellar and seven outbuildings. It is noted that a gate house and four additional outbuildings are in progress at this time and will be rated in 7 years. James Nicholson Richardson (1815-99) was the son of the founder of J.N. Richardson Sons & Owden Ltd, linen manufacturers. He and his brothers founded the firm of Richardson Brothers & Co. of Belfast, linen yarn merchants, which in 1840 opened an office in Liverpool for the import of flax, grain and other raw materials and the export of linen yarn and cloth. They also established the Inman Line of steamships with the Inman family but following a disagreement Richardson left Liverpool and settled at Lissue. (Rankin, p.87-8, 103-4) Richardson began to make extensive improvements to the house c.1855 which included extending it to the rear and adding East and West gate lodges, under the direction of the architect Thomas Jackson. The semi-circular porch, now gone, was also added at this time and is shown on the second edition OS map of 1858. (Rankin, p.103) Between 1898 and 1915, valuer’s notes show that a further major scheme of work was carried out to the house, giving it much of the appearance it assumes today. The occupier at this time is listed as James Thomas Richardson, perhaps a son of James Nicholson Richardson. The semi-circular porch to the front facade was removed and two segmental bows added. New cottages were also added to the estate. The notebook gives a plan of the house and outbuildings, as it appeared during the changes, together with dimensions, and increases the valuation to £140. Notes of 1915 give a plan of the house, amended to show the remodelling, much as it appears today. By 1915 the occupier is Joseph Tyney, the valuer commenting, ‘House...formerly occupied by a gentleman and very unsuitable for present occupier who is of the tenant farmer class’. By 1926 the occupier is John Campbell. In 1927 Captain Lindsay purchased the house for £4,500 and made many improvements, the valuation being raised as a consequence to £288, reduced to £225 on appeal. At this time the accommodation comprised, outside: cellars, dairy, laundry, coals, WC, garages, offices and a 400 gallon petrol tank. On the ground floor: three receptions, a billiard room, study, three cloakrooms, three WCs, sun porch, sewing room, four pantries, scullery, larder, servants’ room. On the first floor: five bathrooms, five WCs, twelve bedrooms, sewing room, four servants’ bedrooms, WC and bath. There were also two tennis courts (hard) and two badminton courts. The valuer commented that the house was ‘modernised, in excellent repair and beautifully decorated. Electricity (Board supply), Central Heating, Hot and Cold water throughout. Stables used for stabling hunters. Curtilage 10 acres.’ A plan and dimensions are given. Following an appeal, the valuer made reference to the oak floors, modern bathrooms with solid baths, marble tiling and rubberoid floors, and commented that it was ‘artistically decorated’ and that extensive improvements had been made leaving no snags in the design. He notes that Captain Lindsay has a motor house and petrol pump. Part of the house was used by the Belfast Hospital for Sick Children during the war, apparently as a tuberculosis ward. In 1946 it had been restored to use as a dwelling but by 1947, following Captain Lindsay’s death, it was transferred entirely to the hospital. The ground floor was used for 5 wards, matron’s office and drawing room, kitchen apartments and lavatories and the first floor was the resident nurses’ quarters. In 1947 there were 35 beds, shortly to be increased to 70. In residence were a matron, sister, 8 nurses and 2 resident maids, with a chauffeur/gardener occupying the gate lodge. By 1948 all the outbuildings were also in use by the hospital, who eventually vacated the premises in 1988. (Brett, p. 97; Rankin, p.103-4) At the time of Brett’s survey in 1996 the house had lain empty for some time but by 2002 it was occupied by the Livestock and Meat Marketing Commission for Northern Ireland. (Brett, p. 97; Rankin, p.103-4) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/67/1 – First Edition OS Map 1832-3 2. PRONI OS/6/1/67/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/1/67/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900 4. PRONI OS/6/1/67/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1920-1 5. PRONI VAL/1/B/168 – Townland Valuation (1828-40) 6. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/56A – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 7. PRONI VAL/12/A/1/98 – Valuer’s Notebook (1898-9) 8. PRONI VAL/12/A/1/ 103 – Valuer’s Notebook (1912-1916) 9. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/12A-E – Annual Revisions (1863-1929) 10. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/14K/6 – Valuer’s RV Binder (1933-57) Secondary Sources 1. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of County Antrim” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996 2. Day, A. and P. McWilliams, eds. “Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Volume 8, Parishes of County Antrim II, 1832-8” Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1991 3. Rankin, K “The Linen Houses of the Lagan Valley, The story of their families” Belfast, Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H-. Alterations detracting from building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

V. Authorship X. Local Interest R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered former country house, originally built c.1805, remodelled c. 1900 with pair of full-height bowed bays and with connections to the architect Thomas Jackson who carried out modifications during 1850s. Originally a Georgian country house, changes during the late nineteenth/early twentieth-century were likely to have changed the overall decorative scheme, which was further adapted during the mid twentieth-century to institutional use as Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. Despite lying empty and derelict during the late twentieth-century and losing some original fabric due to refurbishment by the current occupants, the house retains its impressive front elevation with two bows and fine Ionic portico. Set in rolling countryside and once part of an extensive estate including outbuildings, stable yard, offices, walled garden, gate lodge and lime kiln it is an important fomer gentleman's seat and of significance to the heritage of the Lisburn area.

General Comments

Date of Survey

16 June 2010