6 Ardmore Terrace, Holywood, Co. Down, BT18 9BH

A symmetrical two-storey three-bay Victorian terrace house, built around 1850 as part of a terrace of seven villas in palace form. The house is located to the west of Ardmore Road, south-east of Holywood, and reflects the development of the town following the arrival of the railway.

The building is rectangular on plan with two two-storey returns to the rear. The pitched roof is finished with natural slate and features rectangular chimneystacks with stone plinths and terracotta pots; additional chimneystacks rise from the rear gable, and a square rendered chimney rises from the ridgeline. Half-round cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted to the painted masonry eaves, with uPVC rainwater goods to the rear returns.

The principal elevation faces north and is finished with painted render featuring simple rustication to the ground floor. Decorative details include quoins, a raised and chamfered plinth, and a smooth render string course between the upper floors. The three-bay façade comprises two timber-framed sliding sash windows with 2/1 panes in canted bays to the ground floor, and 2/2 sash windows to the first floor with a continuous sill, moulded architrave, and projecting moulded cornice. The central ground floor entrance consists of a single panelled timber door with a recessed moulded surround and round-headed plain transom light, accessed by three stone steps. The east gable is abutted by an adjoining building.

The rear elevation displays asymmetrical fenestration with a variety of timber-framed sash windows, including a round-headed multi-pane opening to the first floor. A recessed bay to the left is abutted by a small single-storey extension, which is itself abutted by a two-storey gabled return. A matching two-storey return to the right has two window openings to the ground floor at the gable end. Modern PVC windows are fitted to exposed sections of both returns, and the left return has a modern timber half-panelled door. The roughcast rendered walls flanking the abutting gable ends (with the left wall sloped) enclose a yard with modern timber fencing and a central gate. The west elevation is abutted by an adjoining building.

The front garden is lawned with a central pebbled pathway accessed by four stone steps, and is enclosed on both sides by hedgerow. A communal pathway separates the house and garden from the rear, with the garden bounded to the south by a tall hedgerow.

Ardmore Terrace was built in the late 1840s as bathing villas and permanent residences for the professional classes attracted to Holywood following the opening of the railway. The terrace appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858. Griffith's Valuation records for the period 1856–64 initially list the buildings as "Ormeau Terrace", with an accompanying undated newspaper advertisement for the renamed villas offering two houses to let with gardens, use of extensive grounds, dining and drawing rooms, seven bedrooms, hot and cold baths, and a constant water supply without pumping. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, number five was occupied by Captain Arthur M Skinner, leased from John Simms with a valuation of £41. The valuer noted that each house comprised on the first storey a dining room, parlour, closet, pantry and kitchen, and on the second storey two large bedrooms, a bathroom, closet and servants' room, with a return containing scullery, store rooms and servants' rooms. Between 1880 and 1887 the valuations were reduced slightly without recorded explanation. Occupiers included Margaret Davidson (by 1880), Maria McCammon (1902), Andrew Jameson (1919) and William Grant (1928). By 1902 the immediate lessor was William Gilliland, an architect who occupied one of the houses himself and was engaged mainly in commercial and industrial projects including the Ormeau Bakery in Belfast; he was also a founder member of the Ulster Society of Architects and a city councillor for Victoria Ward.

Much historic fabric remains intact, although the floor plan has been altered. The setting has been compromised by the construction of modern housing at Ardmore Park and further development to the rear.