43-45 Frances Street, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 3DX

43-45 Frances Street, Newtownards

A large two-storey gabled block dating from the 1860s, originally built as a pair of houses and now converted to a single office complex. The building remains an asset to Frances Street, though its interior has been extensively altered and stripped of important decorative details. The window frames throughout are modern replacements.

The front (south) facade is finished in painted render, with rustication to the lower half and plain render above. An eaves course with decorative punctuation runs across the top.

Number 43 (left section) features a panelled door with fanlight incorporating margin panes of coloured glass. The doorcase is flanked by fluted pilasters and curved brackets supporting a dentilled cornice with curved blocking above. To the left of the doorway is a window opening with a simple surround and matching cornice and blocking. To the right stands a canted bay with windows set on a cill course, topped with a similar cornice and blocking. Above are three first-floor windows with moulded surrounds set on a cill course with brackets, though these are not evenly spaced. All windows throughout the block now have modern frames.

Number 45 (right section) is smaller but matches Number 43 in detail. Its doorway is positioned to the right, with a canted bay to the left. Critically, the central window of this bay has been converted into a doorway fitted with a modern glazed door. The section retains two first-floor windows otherwise matching Number 43's arrangement.

The west gable of Number 43 is blank, finished in lined unpainted cement render. The east gable of Number 45 is identical. At the rear, the ground level falls to reveal a basement storey. A small lean-to boiler house is attached at basement level between the two sections.

The rear elevation shows varied fenestration. At basement level is a sheeted door at the centre with a window to the left. Above this, a tall window lights both ground and first floors. To the right are three windows at corresponding levels, serving the stairwell. The two lower windows have semicircular arched heads with decorative leaded and stained glass; the uppermost arched window is taller and also has decorative leaded and stained glass. Adjacent to the arched windows and at corresponding levels are two narrow windows. The rear is finished in unpainted roughcast.

The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates with two large rendered chimney stacks: one to the gable and one shared with Number 45. Two large modern flat-roofed dormers are set to the rear, with metal and PVC rainwater goods throughout.

Both sections originally served as dwelling houses when surveyed in October 1972, but had been converted to office accommodation by the mid-1980s. The canted bay to Number 43 appears to have been reconstructed in 1984. Railings, which formerly fronted the block, have since been removed. A wheelchair access ramp with painted metal handrails has been added to the front, primarily in front of Number 45, with cast iron bollards placed in front of Number 43. An outline of a blocked basement-level doorway remains recognisable to the left of the rear elevation of Number 45.