18-20 The Square

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Plain, two storey terrace building, possibly dating from the late 18th century (or earlier), and now containing two shops with and apartment over. The block is set on the sloping SW corner of Portaferry town Square.

Front elevation faces E and is asymmetrical. To the left on the ground floor is a well proportioned double fronted timber shop front (No.20) with recessed front door and timber lined porch with plywood painted fascia. Vertical guide rails remaining, but awning removed. To the right of this is a plain entrance door, (to the upstairs apartment- No.19), with fanlight. To the far right is a modern PVC shop window and doorway (No.18)

To the first floor there are four unevenly spaced sash windows. That to the far left is paired while the remaining three are single. All are timber sash, with horns and no astragals. PVC rw goods.

To the left of the ground floor of the rear facade is a single storey gabled return with a corrugated iron roof and modern windows and doors. To the remainder of the right side is a single storey flat roofed extension. To the first floor are four windows. The second from the far right is a fixed light while the remainder are sash. The ground level drops steeply at the rear and the rear door is accessed with a flight of step. A raised area adjacent to the rear door has been created by a retaining wall.

The façade is finished in lined render and the gabled roof is covered with Bangor blue slates. Yellow brick chimney stack to S.

Historical information

Site with building(s) appears on Patrick O’Hare’s map of 1799, when it was in the possession of William McCleery. The valaution returns of 1838 tell us that at that stage there was an old low two storey dwelling house on the site belonging to a James McCleery (probably a relative of William of 1799), and which included a cellar and stables and a cow shed to the rear. This 1838 house may well correspond to the building we see today, for photographic evidence of c.1890-1910 shows that this building then had an almost vernacular appearance which would be consistent with an 18th or early 19th century date.

In 1863 the property was in the hands of a John Finnegan. Some time around 1900 the building was divided into two properties, with two shops to the ground floor and an apartment above. In the early 1900s the present No.18 was a barber’s shop owned by a Mr. Smyth and No.20 a tailors shop (with the apartment) belonging to a Mr. Malcolm.

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
2 PRONI OS/6/3/32/1 OS maps, 1st ed., 1834, Down sheet 32
3 PRONI VAL/1B/37 1st valuation, Ballyphilip, c.1835-38
4 PRONI VAL/1D/3/4 Valuation town plan of Portaferry, c.1838
5 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1846), p.520-23
6 PRONI and Linen Hall Library ‘Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory’ Vols.1-21, 1852-1900, (Belfast, Henderson [1852-65], Belfast News-Letter [1865- ])
7 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1856), p.592-95
8 PRONI OS/8/23/1- OS town plan of Portaferry, 1859
9 PRONI Second ('Griffith's') valuation, 1863 [in print]
10 PRONI VAL/12E/112/1- Valuation maps of Portaferry, c.1863, with revisions of 1902
11 Linen Hall Library ‘Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Ireland’ (Manchester 1870), pp.341-43
12 PRONI OS/8/23/2 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1874
13 George Henry Bassett ‘County Down Guide and Directory’ (Dublin 1886)
14 PRONI OS/8/23/3 OS town plan of Portaferry, 1900
15 PRONI VAL/12E/112/2- Valuation maps of Portaferry, 1902, with revisions of 1935

Secondary sources
1 Sr. Mary Mercy (nee Isobel Cummings), "Memories of Portaferry in the early years of this century" in 'Journal of the Upper Ards Historical Society', No.10 (1986), pp. 21-24

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two storey terrace building, possibly dating from the late 18th century (or earlier), and now containing two shops with and apartment over. The smaller shop front belonging to No.18 has a modern appearance, but that to No.20 has retained something of its early 1900s appearance.