Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB19/16/005

Address :
Old Masonic Hall 36 Castle Street Lisburn Co. Antrim BT27 4XE

Townland:
Lisnagarvy

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
08/10/1981 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Hall

Former Use
School

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Partially

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OS Map No:
165/06

IG Ref:
J2692 6437

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Owner Category

Education Board

Exterior Description And Setting

End of terrace five-bay three-storey rendered former townhouse, built c.1800, with pedimented Doric stone doorcase. Square-on-plan facing north with carriage arch screen to east, single-bay three-storey stairhall projection to rear, abutted by multi-bay three-storey return and two further flat-roofed two-storey accretions. Set on the south side of Castle Street within its own plot enclosed to Castle Gardens by tall rubblestone wall. Formerly a Masonic Hall, more recently part of the South East Regional College, currently boarded up and for sale. Pitched artificial slate roof with synthetic ridge tiles behind rendered parapet wall with moulded stone eaves course below. Hipped roofs to returns and rendered chimneystacks, with stone coping to east gable. Plastic and uPVC rainwater goods to front and rear. Painted ruled-and-lined rendered walling to front and east gabled elevations, with rusticated wall to projecting plinth course below ground floor sill course. Pebbledash rendered to rear elevation. Square-headed window openings, painted masonry sills and replacement multi-pane timber sash windows. Symmetrical five-bay three-storey front elevation with neo-classical painted stone doorcase. Replacement timber panelled door with original decorative peacock fanlight, moulded archivolt and impost mouldings flanked by pair of fluted Doric columns on plinth blocks with full entablature above supporting broken-based pediment having guilloche moulding to pediment. Door opens onto concrete step to the street. Abutting east side elevation, flush to facade, is an elliptical-arched carriage gate screen with moulded archivolt, impost mouldings, and cornice above with steel gate giving rear access. Blank east gabled elevation with moulded stone eaves course continued and plat band at sill level of each floor. Rear elevation abutted by pair of returns and flat-roofed extensions all having square-headed window and door openings, now boarded up. West side elevation abutted by adjoining house on terrace. Roof Artificial slate Walling Rule-and-lined render RWG Plastic Windows Replacement timber sash

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

This building dates from c.1800 and appears initially to have been a dwelling house. The Townland Valuation town plan for Lisburn has not survived so it is not possible to identify the current building with certainty. However, it may be that it is a house listed as being situated in Castle Street and apparently next door to the rectory. It is the residence of Revd Edward J Cordner who was probably the curate of Lisburn Cathedral at this time. Until 1833 he was the curate at Derryaghy but the diocesan history notes that, although he was never officially recorded as having a further appointment, he ‘officiated occasionally at Christ Church Cathedral Lisburn and Drumbo between 1833 and 1844’. It may be that the two adjacent dwellings were built or used by the church as the rectory and curate’s house respectively. The house is listed as 40x24.6x31, with a basement and return and there are a number of outbuildings including a coach house. (Clergy of Connor, p. 16) By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) the house was the residence of Captain (later Colonel) James Ward, leased from the Marquess of Hertford and was a house, office , yard and garden (detached) valued at £41 for buildings and £1.10s for land. The house had dimensions of 13yds x 8yds x 4 storeys and a coach house and gateway are also shown. The valuer notes that the house is ‘undergoing repairs’. After 1863 the name ‘Coulson’ is inserted beside Captain Ward’s name. James Coulson of James Coulson & Co was a damask table linen manufacturer of international repute. His father, William Coulson, had been successful with British royalty because he was the first manufacturer who had successfully worked into the fabric armorial devices, national emblems, and heraldic designs. James Coulson, in his turn, received a large share of orders from the Royal Household, together with appointments from the Vice-Regal office at Dublin Castle, the Czar Alexander II of Russia; George I, King of Hellenes; Leopold, Duke of Tuscany and many nobility and gentry, social clubs, military messes and hotels. (Coulson’s of Lisburn) On his death in 1851 James Coulson left his business and all his property to James Ward, who added the name ‘Coulson’ to his own by Deed Poll. James Ward Coulson was instrumental in the formation of the London Irish Rifles and was their first Commanding Officer. He was awarded a CB (Companion Order of the Bath) by Queen Victoria for his services to the Territorial Force. He was also the director of several public companies and a patron of the stage. (Coulson’s of Lisburn). Ward Coulson appears to have lived in London much of the time and let the house at intervals, although he occasionally occupied it himself. In 1874 Claud L Capron, Sir Richard Wallace’s agent, is in residence and in 1883, William B Ardle. Ward Coulson is thought to have died towards the end of the century and in 1898 the house was taken over by Lisburn Masonic Body who let part of it, ’two front offices, first floor and store’ valued at £8, to Wellington Young, who was the town solicitor in 1905 and retained part of the house and garden for themselves at a value of £25. (www.lisburn.com) By 1906 the Masonic Body rented part of the house to B Firth & Co who appear to have been the contractors involved in providing a new sewerage system for Lisburn, work on which began in 1905. By 1911 Elizabeth Ellis was the Masonic Body’s tenant. Mackey shows a photograph of the Masonic hall in its Castle Street setting taken in the early 1900s. (Lisburn Miscellany, Mackey, p.58) References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/1/68/1 – First Edition OS Map 1833 2. PRONI OS/6/1/68/2 – Second Edition OS map 1857 3. PRONI OS/6/1/68/3 – Third Edition OS Map c1900 4. PRONI OS/6/1/68/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1921 5. PRONI OS/6/1/68/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1939 6. PRONI VAL/1/B/168 – Townland Valuation (1828-40) 7. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/61B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64) 8. PRONI VAL/12/B/8/9A-T – Annual Revisions (1863-1924) 9. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/1/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1877-c1898) 10. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/2/ – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1898-c1907) 11. PRONI VAL/12/E/40/4 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (1907-c1927) Secondary Sources 1. “Clergy of Connor, from Patrician Times to the Present Day” based on the unpublished Succession Lists compiled by JB Leslie, Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation and Library Committee of the Dioceses of Down, Conor and Dromore, 1993 2. Dean, Arthur, “Coulson’s of Lisburn” Belfast Museum and Art Gallery Quarterly Note, No LVII, June 1938 (available at www.lisburn.com) 3. Kee, R “Lisburn Miscellany” Lisburn Historical Society, 1976 (available at www.lisburn.com) 4. Mackey, Brian “Lisburn, the Town and its People, 1873-1973” Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 2000

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 K. Group value

Historic Interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Relatively austere former five-bay three-storey townhouse exhibiting an accomplished facade composition and a fine neo-classical pedimented doorcase, albeit in poor condition. The interior has been degraded during altterations during the twentieth century. Despite the interior alterations, the symmetrical façade, archway and boundary wall are of great interest and constitute one of the more important buildings in Castle Street.

General Comments

Date of Survey

03 June 2010