Sir Richard Wallace Landlord of Lisburn became Member of Parliament for Lisburn in 1873 and served as MP until 1884. He became the principal benefactor of the city, paying for the improvement of water supplies as well as the building of Assembly Rooms, a court house (now demolished) and a school, which survives as Wallace High School. Wallace also employed the architect Thomas Ambler, who had remodelled Hertford House for him, to build a house in Lisburn, Castle House.

Wallace had hoped that his son Edmond would take up residence in Lisburn, but this was not to be and Castle House was only rarely used. After his death in 1890, the citizens of Lisburn erected a magnificent monument to Sir Richard Wallace in Castle Gardens, where one of two Wallace fountains in the city may also be found. Wallace's name lives on elsewhere in Lisburn, in Wallace High School, Wallace Park and even in a recently opened shopping centre, Wallace Colonnades.