55 Main Street, Kircubbin, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2SR

55 Main Street, Kircubbin, is a two-storey gabled terrace of shops and dwelling positioned on the south-west side of Main Street. The building is of probable early nineteenth-century origin, likely extended and remodelled around the 1870s-80s.

The front facade presents an irregular arrangement of elements, though finished uniformly in lined render with chamfered quoins, an eaves course, and plinth. The ground floor contains two shops with differing shop fronts: one modern and plain, the other retaining largely traditional appearance. Between the shops is the lower level of an apartment which occupies the entire first floor. The apartment retains its sliding sash and case windows, though interiors of both shops and apartment are modern.

The shopfront at No. 55 comprises a central timber and glazed door with plain fanlight, flanked by two large fixed light shop windows. Door and windows are each encased with panelled timber pilasters with brackets supporting a PVC internally illuminated shop sign with cornice above. The stall risers are plain.

The first floor of the entire terrace features nine unevenly spaced sliding sash and case windows with horizontal and vertical astragals set within simple moulded arch surrounds. These windows rest on a cill course with two small brackets beneath each opening. The gables are finished in lined render matching the main facade.

The roof is pitched with four unevenly spaced chimney stacks—one at each gable and two positioned close together to the right of centre. Stone parapets run along the roof line. Cast iron gutters and downspouts finish the exterior.

The rear of the building has been extended with a modern single-storey lean-to extension serving Nos. 55-59, and modern window frames have been fitted to the rear of most of the terrace. Large rubble-built outbuildings stand to the rear.

The Ordnance Survey map of 1834 shows buildings on this site that do not correspond exactly with the terrace visible today. The uneven arrangement of windows and chimney stacks, combined with this historical discrepancy, suggests the terrace was not built as one complete block but was added to on at least one occasion. The decorative treatment of the window and door openings appears designed to give an illusion of formal planning. The architectural detailing is consistent with a mid to late nineteenth-century date, around the 1870s-80s, though without investigation of the building fabric this cannot be confirmed with certainty.

In recent times, No. 55 housed the Northern Bank. No. 59 was converted to shop premises after 1970; it previously had a panelled double door with fanlight and moulded surround, together with a sliding sash and case window. A former occupant claimed the building had housed a Post Office around 1750, though this appears unlikely given the limited development of the village prior to the 1770s and that Kircubbin probably only became a post town after 1800.