Strangford Arms Hotel, Church Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4AL

The Strangford Arms Hotel is a large rambling two-storey block positioned at the western end of Church Street in Newtownards. The building is a composite structure assembled over several decades, combining elements of significantly different periods and architectural styles.

The oldest section dates from around 1850 and originally served as the headquarters of the North Down militia. This western portion, shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1858, was built with a hipped roof and rectangular plan, with its principal entrance facing west. The section facing Church Street was added sometime after 1858, probably in the 1860s. The eastern extremity of the building incorporates two former terraced houses dating from the 1880s, which now serve as a restaurant attached to the hotel.

The north facade facing Church Street is the principal elevation and has largely retained its original nineteenth-century appearance. The entrance is marked by a right-of-centre double timber sheeted door with a small glazed panel to each leaf, surmounted by a modern porch hood bearing the hotel name. Flanking the doorway are six sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. Each window opening is surrounded by panelled pilasters with deceptive brackets supporting a cornice, with matching brackets to the window cills and grilles to the windows. The middle window to the left of the doorway is double, with a pilaster mullion between the lights.

The eastern section of this facade, corresponding to the former terraced houses, features a different treatment. At ground floor level is an arrangement of door, window, door, window. Both doors have plain pilaster surrounds with plain frieze and cornice and contain glazed double doors. The windows have segmental arch heads with simple surrounds, now fitted with modern frames designed to resemble sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. A timber restaurant sign is positioned above the left-hand window. The first floor of this section has four similar windows with authentic sash frames and horizontal glazing bars, along with projecting timber and canvas signs between and above them. The remainder of the first floor facade of the older main building has seven windows with simple surrounds, brackets to cills, and sash frames with horizontal glazing bars. The second window is double, and projecting signs are positioned between the fifth and sixth windows and to the right of the seventh.

The shorter western facade has four ground-floor windows with a doorway positioned between the third and fourth. The windows match those on the northern facade. A central double window was formerly a door, whilst the current doorway to its right was originally a window. This doorway has a modern glazed door and plain fanlight. All ground-floor windows have iron grilles. The first floor has five windows matching those of the northern facade.

The southern elevation is dominated by large modern extensions. The original short southern facade of what was probably the original western building now has a modern two-storey flat-roofed extension attached, and the original structure merges into a large flat-roofed extension extending southwards from the rear of the Church Street section. Further substantial modernist extensions stretch even further south, constructed entirely in a manner bearing no resemblance to the original building.

The rendered and painted facade of the north and west elevations feature quoins, though the former terraced house facade at the eastern end does not. The base is chamfered. The roof is hipped, covered with Bangor blue slates on the north and west elevations and concrete pan tiles on the south and east. The roof has a slight overhang and rests on corbels, except above the former terrace house section. Yellow brick chimney stacks of modern date serve the former house section. Rainwater goods comprise a mixture of cast iron and PVC.

The building's history reflects changing local needs and fortunes. Between 1902 and the 1930s, the western portion was home to the Dickson family, noted local horticulturists. From the 1930s until 1971, the premises housed a knitwear factory. In 1971 the building was converted to a hotel, a use it has retained ever since. Extensions have been added to the south since the 1960s, with the large modernist sections following the 1971 conversion. The incorporation of the two terraced houses as part of the hotel occurred sometime after 1971.