Works are now complete at the Hillsborough meeting House on Park Street for the Lisburn Society of Friends, a little gem of a building built in mid 19 century with its own garden and graveyard. It has now been fully restored to its former use as a meeting house for its owners and as a wider community facility, with the John Hewitt Society using it as a festival venue at the end of April 2018.
The listed building, hidden behind a high wall on the busy main route into the park, will rarely have been noticed by the public and now restored its owners hope to display again its simple elegance to a new audience. Tate Stevenson Architects priority was to retain the essence of the historic interior with its central vestibule and dual meeting rooms which have an immediate reflective impact as you enter the building. The proposed work also retained the unique Quaker features of a Ministers Gallery and Elders Bench as well as the tall shuttered partitions that could be used to divide communal spaces from area of worship.
We hope and trust the restored build finds new friends to enjoy its unique status in the area.