108 Seacliff Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 5EZ

108 Seacliff Road is a two-storey, three-bay Victorian mid-terrace dwelling, one of six houses in what was originally known as Clifton Terrace, built around 1855. The house sits on an elevated coastal site overlooking Belfast Lough, east of Eisenhower Pier, within a setting of Victorian and Edwardian terraces.

The building has a rectangular plan form with two two-storey rear returns and an enclosed yard. The pitched roof is covered with natural slate and has clay ridge tiles, overhanging timber eaves and bargeboards. The walls are of sandstone rubble with smooth rendered band courses between the floors and a smooth rendered canted bay. Rendered chimney-stacks with clay pots are shared with adjoining buildings. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

The principal elevation faces north-west and is arranged asymmetrically. The front door is centrally located with a timber four-panel construction and cast-iron ironmongery, surmounted by a fixed light with margin panes. A small lean-to canopy supported on masonry wall brackets protects the entrance, which has brick and plaster surrounds. Directly above the door on the first floor is a small round arch stained glass window. The right-hand side of the elevation rises to a gable containing a two-storey rendered canted bay with a leaded hipped roof. The ground and first floor windows are square-headed timber 2/2 sliding sashes with horizontally divided panes and margin panes, set in red brick surrounds. The left gable is abutted by an adjoining listed building.

The rear elevation comprises a two-storey pitched return shared with the adjoining building on the right, and a two-storey L-shaped mono-pitched return providing stairwell access, upper floor accommodation and external storage. A single-storey projection extends into the enclosed yard, with a modern conservatory-style extension to the right-hand side.

The house stands within a garden setting to front and rear, with a car park constructed to the front. A large flagstone path leads to the front entrance, flanked by shoe scrapers on either side.

The terrace was built in the mid-19th century by William Cowan, a grocer and wine and spirit retailer whose business later became famous for producing Cowan's No 4 Old Irish Whiskey. According to the Belfast Newsletter report of May 1857, each house was constructed "in the very best manner, embracing all modern improvements in ventilation, and every convenience that can be desired". The original specifications comprised a large dining room, five bedrooms, servants' apartments, two water-closets, kitchen, scullery and two pantries, all enclosed with a good yard. The houses were designed with twin returns, one originally housing the kitchen and scullery, the other containing stores, a water-closet and a maid's room above. The 1901 census confirmed these were first-class dwellings of 11 rooms, reflecting their size and quality of construction.

Clifton Terrace was first shown on the 1858 second edition Ordnance Survey map, at which time it was surrounded by open countryside. A photograph dating perhaps to the 1870s shows the terrace as one of the few developments along the coastline. The area developed significantly following the arrival of the railway in 1865, and by 1901 was filled with substantial properties for professional and mercantile residents.

The property has passed through several owners and occupants since its construction. It was leased to various residents throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Andrew Cowan (described as a 'gentleman' in William Cowan's will), Edith V H Collier, Christina Vivash and Henry Donaghy. In the 1920s and 1930s an upper front room was converted into a chapel, marked by the stained glass window visible on the front façade. The house later became a bed and breakfast concern and continues to operate as a B&B under the current owners.

Although modernised with the addition of a rear extension and conversion to holiday letting use, the house retains its special character. Its style, proportion and detail have remained unaltered, and it possesses significant group value as part of the historic terrace while making a positive contribution to the coastal setting. The terrace represents an important phase in the development of Bangor as a resort town and is a noteworthy example of the type of substantial property built for the affluent classes around the time of the railway's arrival.