Old Town Hall, Lisburn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Old Town Hall |
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Old Town Hall
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| Location | Castle Street, Lisburn |
| Built | 1884 |
| Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
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Listed Building – Grade B2
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| Official name: D.U.P. Constituency Office, 29 Castle Street, Lisburn, County Antrim | |
| Designated | 27 May 1994 |
| Reference no. | HB 19/13/018 |
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The Old Town Hall is an important building located on Castle Street in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This historic structure is currently used as an office by the Democratic Unionist Party. It is recognized as a Grade B2 listed building, meaning it's protected for its special historical or architectural importance.
Contents
A Look Back at the Old Town Hall
How It Started
The Old Town Hall was built for Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet. He was a very wealthy man who owned a lot of land and properties, known as the Hertford Estate. Sir Richard needed an office to manage these properties and collect rent from his tenants. He had inherited these properties from his father, and he bought even more land to expand his estate.
The money he collected from rents helped him pay for his amazing art collection. The spot he chose for his new office used to be a church built by French Huguenots in the early 1700s.
Building Design and Features
The building was finished in 1884. It was designed in the Neoclassical style, which means it looks like ancient Greek and Roman buildings. It was built with red bricks and had special stone details.
The front of the building is symmetrical, meaning it looks the same on both sides. It has five sections facing Castle Street. The middle section has a main doorway with a rectangular window above it. This doorway is framed by columns and decorative supports. Above the doorway, there's a curved, triangular shape called a pediment.
On the first floor, above the doorway, there's a window with a triangular top. The other sections of the building also have windows on both the ground and first floors. At the very top, there's a decorative railing along the roofline.
Life Inside the Building
Later, one more section was added to the east side of the building. This new part included an archway for carriages to pass through. Inside, the local estate manager, Walter Stannus, ran the Hertford estate.
They even used speaking tubes to talk between different offices inside the building! Sir Richard Wallace's agent in London, Frederick Capron, used a secret staircase. This was to avoid angry tenants who might have come to complain about their rents.
The office eventually became less important. This happened when tenants were allowed to buy the land they rented under the Irish Lands Acts in the late 1800s. This meant the large estate was broken up and sold off.
From Estate Office to Town Hall
In 1899, Lisburn became an "urban district," which is a type of local government area. The local leaders decided to buy the building. They wanted to use it as their main office and council meeting place.
The Old Town Hall served as the headquarters for the urban district council for many years. However, in 1964, Lisburn became a "borough," which is a higher level of local government. The council then moved to new, bigger offices in The Square in Hillsborough.
After that, the Old Town Hall was used as a smaller office for Lisburn Borough Council until 2001. In the early 2000s, it was changed into a constituency office for the Democratic Unionist Party, which is a political party in Northern Ireland.
