4 High Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An end-terrace symmetrical three-bay three-storey Georgian townhouse; built c.1790 and located south of High Street in Holywood town centre. Rectangular on plan with full-height projecting stairwell to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles; rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half round rainwater goods. Walling is painted smooth render. Windows are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash in moulded surround with projecting masonry sills (diminutive windows to second floor); replacement sash windows to rear.

The principal elevation faces north and is symmetrically arranged being three openings wide. Six panelled timber entrance door with brass door furniture set in deep recess with panelled pilasters, plain entablature and cornice.

The east elevation has a single opening to ground and first floor; abutted to left by adjoining building.

The south (rear) elevation has two windows to first and second floor; ground floor with two windows to left and one to right; central stairwell with two windows; exposed section to left with diminutive window to top and modern timber door to ground floor; exposed section to right with single window to ground floor.

The west elevation is abutted by adjoining building ( HB23/20/005B).

Setting:

Located on Holywood’s main street; set back from the road with a small paved garden to front enclosed by painted masonry wall with piers and decorative cast-iron railings. Communal tarmacadam car park to rear.

Roof: natural slate
Walling: render
Windows: timber
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

This house is one of a pair, Georgian in appearance, and possibly built together. A map of Cultra dated 1775 does not show the houses, the development of Holywood having not yet extended into Ballykeel townland at this date. A map of 1819, however, does show a terrace in the location of the present house. (Auld, p.10-11)

Merrick states that this house and its neighbour (HB23/20/006) were the venue of the Holywood “squeezes”, fashionable evening social gatherings held in the 1790s and 1800s which sometimes continued through the night. (Merrick, p.22)

The house is listed in the Townland Valuation (1828-40) and shown on the associated town plan, as one of three dwellings owned by John Rowley. The current house is valued at £11.8s. (Townland Valuation)

By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64), ownership of the house has passed to John Hunter and there is a considerable rise in valuation to £25, perhaps indicating some remodelling at this time. A valuation town plan dating from c1860-c1866 shows that the house has been extended to the rear. The tenant, at this period, is Samuel M McGee. (Griffith’s Valuation) Samuel M McGee is listed in street directories as a proprietor of the firm ‘John G McGee & Co’ with premises in the ‘Pantechnetheca’ warehouse in High Street, Belfast. The firm were tailors, clothiers and general out fitters, also specialising in woollen drapery and London hats. Samuel McGee also lived in Alfred Street, Belfast and his Holywood residence may have been an escape from the dirt and clamour of the city and an opportunity to partake of sea bathing. (Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1861)

In the fieldbook dating from 1867-79 the valuation of the property is reduced to £23, and in 1886 it is further reduced to £15. However, Holywood was becoming less desirable as a place of residence towards the end of the century and these changes in valuation may simply reflect this. The valuer notes in 1886 that the house is ‘said to be let at £12 minus taxes but if so it is let very much under its value’. The house is let to a number of tenants, Matilda Morgan in 1880, Susan Lynn in 1882 and William M Downing in 1887. The landlord becomes E and P Stokesberry in 1886. (Annual Revisions)

William M Downing remained in residence in 1901 and is recorded in the census of that year as a master bookbinder of 57 years living with his English wife and their son, a furniture salesman. The house is designated first class due to its size and construction and at this period had eleven windows giving onto the street. This suggests that there were dormer windows along the roofline at this period. (1901 census)

By 1911, William Downing had moved to the adjoining house (HB23/20/006) and Charles Horton, a flax buyer of English birth was living in the current house with his wife and two young children. Mary Adams became the landlord in 1916, but by 1923 Charles Horton was, himself, the owner of the house. (1911 census, Annual Revisions)

The building has now been converted for use as offices with the loss of much historic fabric.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834
2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858
3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02
4. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31
5. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/318 – Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/3/18B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/10A-G – Annual Revisions (1867-1930)
9. PRONI VAL/12/E/123/1/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1860-c1866)
10. PRONI VAL/12/E/123/2/1-6 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c1867-1900)
11. Belfast and Ulster Street Directory, 1861
12. 1901 census online
13. 1911 census online

Secondary Sources

1. Auld, C. “Holywood Co Down, Then and Now” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002
2. Merrick, Tony “Buildings of Holywood” Holywood: Holywood Advertiser, 1986

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An end-terrace symmetrical three-bay three-storey Georgian townhouse, built c.1790. The building has been fully refurbished in recent years, now functioning as a modern office, resulting in significant loss of historic fabric and some alteration to the original floor plan. Despite this, it remains a relatively rare example of late 18th century housing in Holywood, illustrating the growth of Holywood town centre during the late 18th and early 19th century.

General comments

Please note this record has been renumbered is was previously recorded as HB23/20/005