18-20 Shore Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The most northerly building in a terrace of five, relatively plain, two storey dwellings of various sizes, probably mainly of mid 19th century construction, but somewhat altered in more recent times. The terrace is set near the N end of Shore Road, just S of the junction with Steel Dickson Avenue.

The front elevation of the terrace faces roughly W.

This building is at the end of the terrace and contains a (disused) shop (No 18) and house (No 20). Its façade is asymmetrical. To the right of centre to the ground floor is the panelled timber house doorway. To the immediate left of this is a c.1950s panelled and glazed door which used to lead to the shop. To the left of this is a large (square) fixed light window. To the far right is a similar window with PVC frame. To the first floor are two widely spaced windows, much as ground floor right, with a third, smaller window to the centre. The front façade is finished in pebbledash render.

The N gable is blank and finished as front.

To the rear there is a recessed doorway near the centre of the ground floor and a modern window to the first floor left. To the far left is a two storey gabled return built in brick and with a variety of window openings, some modern looking. To the E the return has a bevelled corner. To the N the return is abutted by a single storey lean-to, with timber sheeted door to E. The lean-to and the rear façade of the main building are finished in rough cast.

The gabled roof is covered in fibre cement slates and has two yellow brick chimney stacks. Mixture of cast iron and PVC rw goods.

Historical information

Terrace appears substantially on Patrick O’Hare’s 1799 map, with a building on part the site of what is now No.18 in possession of James McKibbin, buildings on the site of Nos.20-22 in possession of John Smyth and those on the site of Nos.24-26 in possession of Patrick Savage and Edward Conway respectively. Interestingly the sizes of the properties drawn by O’Hare match the properties we see today.

The valuation returns of c.1835 record five houses on the site, a large two storey dwelling to both north and south ends of the terrace (in possession of a William McDowell and a John McDowell respectively) and three more modest dwellings in between, which were exempt from rating. The second valuation of 1861 records seven properties, with the site of the present No.24 occupied by what appears to be a single house divided between two occupants, and the present No.18 two dwellings. It is possible that the terrace as we see it today was complete at that stage.

The OS town plan of 1900 shows a arrangement much like that of 1861, but with No.24 one single property. At some point prior to the 1970s No.18 took its present form, incorporating the smaller dwelling to the south.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.552/B/3/3/1 Savage/Nugent Papers: ‘A Plan or Map of the Town of Portaferry’ by Patrick O’Hare, 1799 [The
Savage/Nugent Papers contain many documents relating to Portaferry and the surrounding area]
2 Linen Hall Library ‘Pigot & Co.’s Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory’ (Manchester 1824)
3 'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II', ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991)
4 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32
5 PRONI VAL/1B/37 1st valuation, Ballyphilip, c.1835-38
6 PRONI VAL/1D/3/4 Valuation town plan of Portaferry, c.1838
7 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), p.520-23
8 PRONI and Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
9 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), p.592-95
10 PRONI OS/8/23/1- OS town plan of Portaferry, 1859
11 PRONI Second ('Griffith's') valuation, 1863 [In print.]
12 PRONI VAL/12E/112/1- Valuation maps of Portaferry, c.1863, with revisions of 1902
13 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870), pp.341-43
14 PRONI OS/8/23/2 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1874
15 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886)
16 PRONI OS/8/23/3 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1900
17 UFTM WAG 609, 611, 612 W.A. Green Collection, photographs of Portaferry Quay, harbour, Shore Road etc.
18 PRONI VAL/12E/112/2- Valuation maps of Portaferry, 1902, with revisions of 1935

Secondary sources
1 G. Philip Bell, C.E.B. Brett, Sir Robert Matthew, 'Ulster Architectural Heritage Survey: Portaferry & Strangford'
(Belfast UAHS 1969)
2 Dick Oram, "The Buildings of Portaferry" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society No.16' (1992), p. 24

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

The first 2 of a terrace of six , relatively plain, two storey dwellings of various sizes, probably mainly of mid 19th century construction. This property does not meet the listing criteria.