50 Frances Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey gabled block set in the terrace on the N side of Frances Street (next to the First Presbyterian Church), consisting of three houses.

No.50 is the largest house in the block and is to the W end. The front (S) facade has a slightly right of centre ‘Gibbsian’-style ‘Ards’ doorway with semicircular fanlight with tracery, but now with a c.1930s panelled and glazed door. To the right of this is a carriage entrance with an arch head which appears elliptical but is actually flat with curved ends. The carriage entrance has sheeted double timber doors with a wicket gate. To the left of the doorway are two windows with moulded architraves and sash frames with horizontal glazing bars. To the first floor are four similar windows.

The front facade is finished in lined render and painted.

The rear is unrendered and has a painted facade. Roughly in the centre is a low doorway (with modern door). To the left of this is the rear of the carriage arch, whilst to the right is a narrow window opening now with modern frame. To the left of this window is a small single storey extension with a mono pitched roof. The E face of this a (roughly square) window opening with modern frame. The extension roof has concrete tiles. The first floor of the rear of the main building has three windows. The centre window is the largest and has what is perhaps an original sash frame with Georgian panes. To the left of this is a smaller window with similar frame, whilst to the far right is another small window, but which now has a modern frame.

The roof is has mainly Bangor blue slates to the front, with asbestos slates to the rear. Two rendered chimney stacks. Cast iron rw goods.

Historical information

Frances Street was laid out in c.1817 as part of a new broad thoroughfare to link the new coach road from Belfast to the Donaghadee Road. It appears to have replaced a much narrower Back Lane, which is shown on Colville’s 1720 plan of the town. The OS Map of 1834 shows us that by this stage the western side of the street had been developed, but the eastern end (then known as ‘Little Frances Street’) was largely bare. This particular site, however, does not appear to have been built upon by that date, however, three dwellings had appeared two years later (1836) at the time of the first valuation survey, when the present No.50 was in possession of a William Crawford (and rated a £5. 8. 0.), with its two neighbours under rateable value.

The OS Memoirs (c.1834) make reference to the erection of new houses by the Marquis of Londonderry at this time for which he was ‘granting leases for 60 years or 3 lives at a rate of 1s per foot, upon which they can get the house erected at the rate of 1s per foot’.
No.50 appears to have been renovated c.1880-1900 at which time the surrounds to the front windows may have been added, as well as changes internally, such as the fire place in the living room. Nos.52 and 54 were completely renovated in the early 1990s, at which point the ground floor window of No.52 was enlarged.

References- Primary sources
1 ‘The town and tenements of Newtown in the County of Down...1720’ reprinted in Trevor McCavery Newtown: a history of Newtownards (Dundonald 1994) p.79. Though the author of this book gives no reference as to this map, the original undoubtedly belongs to the Colville estate maps contained within the Londonderry Papers [PRONI D.654/M1A].
2 PRONI D.654/M36-38B Londonderry Papers- Maps of tenements in Frances Street 1828.
3 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6.
4 PRONI VAL 1B/34 p.95 1st valuation Newtownards parish, Newtownards, c.1836 (see also associated town plan).
5 PRONI OS Maps 1st rev. 1858-60, Co. Down 6.
6 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), pp.105-106.
7 PRONI 2nd (‘Griffith’s’) valuation, Newtownards parish, Newtownards 1863. [The town plan to accompany the 2nd valuation does not appear to be held at PRONI thus making it difficult to match the information contained within the written record with actual buildings.]

Secondary sources
1 Trevor McCavery 'Newtown: a history of Newtownards' (Dundonald 1994), pp.105-7.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

One of a two storey terrace of three houses, probably built c.1835. It appears to have been renovated c.1880-1900 with window surrounds and new window frames added to the front facade, as well as changes to the interior detailing. The interior has also witnessed more recent changes.
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