4 The Crescent, Holywood, County Down, BT18 9AY

4 The Crescent, Holywood

A mid-Victorian three-bay two-storey end-terrace house built around 1864, constructed in polychromatic brick and situated within an informal square south of High Street in Holywood town centre. The house is a good example of the type in original condition, with architectural detailing of quality that is largely intact. The original floor plan survives. The polychromatic brick is notable for the area, and the house has considerable group value within its own terrace, which combines with an earlier terrace located at right angles to form the square. The setting of an informal square survives in relatively original form.

The building is rectangular on plan with a two-storey gabled return to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with rectangular brick chimneystacks having stone plinths and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods feature drive-in brackets.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged across three openings. The walling is Flemish bonded polychromatic brick with a dentilled brick course to the ground floor and a cornice to the first floor. The north elevation is smooth rendered, while the rear elevation is painted smooth render.

Windows throughout are timber-framed 2/2 sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars and stone sills, with yellow brick surrounds of varying detail. The ground floor has paired window openings with brick pilasters and a dentilled cornice running continuous with the string course. The central entrance door is double-panelled with brass door furniture, a transom light, and side lights.

The north elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The east (rear) elevation has single window openings to both first and ground floors, with a two-storey gabled return at the centre being three windows wide. The south gable is blank. A small garden to the front contains lawn and shrubbery, enclosed by a polychromatic brick wall with a central paved pathway. The rear garden is enclosed by rubble and brick walling.

The house forms part of a secluded square with mature trees, enclosed by a brick wall with cast-iron electric gates to the north.

Historical Context

The terrace appears on valuation town plans dating from around 1860 to 1866 and is listed in the fieldbook in 1864 as "four new houses, nearly finished". The houses were valued at £24 and leased from Hugh Stewart, probably the grandson of Hugh Stewart, the developer of numbers 5 to 8 The Crescent in the 1820s. The will of Hugh Stewart senior suggests his grandson took over management of the earlier terrace, and he likely built this new one.

By 1867, the house was occupied by William Praeger, a linen merchant who arrived from Holland around 1861. Two significant children were born here: Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865–1953) and Rosamund Praeger (1867–1954).

Robert Lloyd Praeger became an internationally renowned naturalist, botanist, and author. His 1937 topographical survey of Ireland, "The Way That I Went", achieved general readership. He served as president of the Royal Irish Academy, the British Ecological Society, the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, the Geographical Society of Ireland, and the Bibliographical Society of Ireland, publishing extensively on botany, natural history, and foreign travels. In 1948 he became the first President of the National Trust for Ireland.

Rosamund Sophia Praeger was a writer, illustrator, and sculptor of considerable renown. Her sculpture "The Philosopher" (a baby) was exhibited at the Royal Academy and purchased by an American collector. She exhibited in London, Paris, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and at Irish Decorative Art Association exhibitions. Her works include the sculpture "Johnny the Jig" in High Street, Holywood, "Fionnula, the Daughter of Lir" for Causeway School in County Antrim, a heraldic figure for the Northern Bank in Donegall Square West, bronze plaques on the door of the Carnegie Library on Falls Road in Belfast, and angels on Andrews Memorial Hall in Comber and St Anne's Cathedral. She illustrated three books for her brother Robert. She was President of the Royal Ulster Academy and was awarded the MBE in 1939.

By 1900 the occupier was Hugh C Atkinson, followed by a succession of tenants including William John McCluggage (1910), Susannah Anderson (1912), and Robert Geddis (1930). The valuation was reduced in stages to £20 in 1884 for undocumented reasons, but rose to £30 in 1904 following the addition of a bathroom.