36-40 Mill Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5EQ

A two-storey terrace block containing two houses and a shop, dating from approximately 1840–1850. The building is situated on the south side of Mill Street, west of Comber town centre, County Down.

Number 36 is a house on the east side. Its front (north) façade features a panelled door on the ground floor left, encased with plain pilasters, entablature and cornice. To the right are two windows with simple moulded surrounds and PVC frames. The first floor has two similar windows without surrounds. The façade is finished in painted lined render with a chamfered base and quoins above the doorway. At the rear, a modern window appears on the ground floor left, with a small extension to its right (featuring a corrugated asbestos mono-pitched roof). This extension connects to a two-level gabled outbuilding. The first floor rear façade has two modern windows similar to the ground floor left. The rear is finished in plain painted render. The roof is gabled, covered in natural slate to the front and asbestos-free material to the rear. A rendered chimney stack is positioned to the west. The building has cast iron rainwater goods.

Number 40 is another house, part of whose ground floor was converted to a shop (Number 38). The house doorway is centrally positioned on the front façade, identical to Number 36's. To the left is a simple shop front with timber sheeted door, fixed light shop window and simple sign board. To the right of the house doorway is a window with PVC frame and simple moulded surround. The first floor has three slightly smaller windows with similar frames but without surrounds. The front façade is finished as Number 36, with quoins to the right. The rear façade has three modern windows to the first floor and a long lean-to at ground floor level, with a doorway on its south face leading to the shop and another on its short west face leading to the house. The lean-to connects to a single storey outbuilding. To the left of the lean-to is another modern window. The rear façade is finished in plain painted render with lined render to the lean-to. The roof is gabled, covered in natural slate to the front and asbestos-free material to the rear. A rendered chimney stack is positioned to the west. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.

All window frames to the front are now PVC, and the window openings to the rear all appear to have been enlarged. The shop insertion in Number 40 is a later alteration; Number 40 originally possessed a symmetrical front façade.

Historical records indicate the site was occupied in 1722, appearing on the map of Comber of that year and on all subsequent available maps. The 1834 valuation records state that this section of the street contained six houses exempt from rating (below rateable value). These buildings may represent two of those six houses and could date from the late 18th or early 19th century, though they could equally be slightly later, dating from circa 1840–1850.