37-41 North Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey block of three houses set in the terrace on the E side of North Street, just N of Newtownards town centre. This plain looking block was originally one house, built in 1769.

HB24/09/009A No.37 is at the S end of the block. The front (W) facade has a timber sheeted door (with stone step) to the left, with a square (modern looking) window to the right with modern frame. To the first floor are two small windows with modern frames. To the rear is a modern glazed door to the right with a large modern kitchen window to the left of this, and two modern windows to the first floor.

HB24/09/009B No.39 has a timber sheeted door to the right on the front facade, with a simple, rusticated, surround. Above the door is a sandstone panel inscribed ‘No7 Built by Alexander McMullan 1769’. Obvious this door was the original front entrance to the house. To the left of the door is a square (modern looking) window with modern frame and to the first floor are two small windows with modern frames. To the rear is a modern glazed door to the left and a large modern kitchen window to the right. To the first floor are two further modern windows.

HB24/09/009C No.41 has a timber sheeted door to the far left with a square (modern looking) window with modern window to the far right of this. The present doorway used to be a doorway which gave used to give access to a laneway to the rear but which has now been incorporated into the house. To the first floor are three small, irregularly spaced, windows with modern frames.

To the rear is a right of centre glazed door with modern kitchen window to the left. To the right of the door is a crudely fashioned archway which leads to a small store but which once lead right through to North street. To the first floor are two modern windows to the centre and left, with a much smaller, now blocked, former window opening to the far right.

The entire front facade of the terrace is finished in plain render and painted, the rear in plain render but unpainted. Nos.37-39 have asbestos slates, No.41 has Bangor blue slates. Red brick chimney stack between Nos.39 and 41. Rendered chimney stack shared by No.37 and No.35. PVC rw goods.

Historical information

During the later 1760s and 1770s Alexander Stewart, who had become landlord of Newtownards in 1744, embarked upon a scheme of extensive improvements for the town. The centrepiece of these developments was the construction of the new market house, around which a new street pattern was laid out with sixty new houses added between c.1769 and 1777 ‘mostly built of stone or slated’. This particular block began life as one of these new houses, built in 1769 by one Alexander McMullan.

At which point the property was divided in three is uncertain, it may have been in the early 1800s, for the Valuation records of c.1836 refer to ‘twenty-two houses exempt’ on this general site, and the map to accompany the valuation (which is quite accurate) does not appear to show a property of size of McMullan’s original dwelling.

The whole block was completely renovated in 1988 and now appears largely bland and modern, with little hint of its great age other than the date panel and the awkward arrangement of the front facade.

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/M34/1-26 Londonderry Papers, maps of Newtownards Corporation, 1811-26. [The Londonderry Papers contain many documents (including maps and leases) dealing with the development of the town of Newtownards from the 1700s onwards.].
3 PRONI OS Maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 6.
4 PRONI VAL 1B/34 p.98 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), p.88.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Two storey terrace block consisting of three houses, originally built in 1769 as one property. This block appears to have witnessed many changes over the years and was completely renovated in 1988. The entire block now has a plain modern appearance both inside and out, with little hint its age other than the date panel and the slightly haphazard arrangement of the front facade.