34 High Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5HL

34 High Street, Comber

A small two-storey vernacular house of probable pre-1834 origin, situated in the middle of a terrace on the south-east side of High Street. The building is set on a slope rising north-east to south-west.

The front north-west façade features a timber panelled and glazed door with a painted stone surround and keystone, positioned to the left of the ground floor. A sash window with vertical glazing bars (2 over 2) stands to either side of the doorway. On the first floor is a sash window with Georgian panes (6 over 6), positioned left of centre.

To the left and rear of the main structure is a small single-storey gabled return, shared with No. 36. The north-east face of this return has a doorway at centre, similar to the front door but with a large single pane of glazing, flanked by small sash windows with horizontal glazing bars (2 over 2) to left and right. The gable is blank. On the main rear façade to the right of the return, a sash window sits at high level on the ground floor. On the first floor to the left is a slightly squat three-pane window positioned close to the eaves.

The front façade is finished in plain render; the rear and return are roughcast. All façades are painted. The gabled roof is covered in natural slate, as is the return roof. A rendered chimney stack rises at the north-east end of the roof ridge. Aluminium rainwater goods are present.

Historical records show this site occupied in 1722. The present house is likely the property noted in the 1834 valuation as home to George Williamson. The valuers observed it was of reasonable age then and may have dated from the 1790s or slightly later. The entire terrace is believed to have once housed workers of the nearby brewery (later the Upper Distillery) and may have been purpose-built for this use. In 1920 the terrace was acquired by Andrews flax spinning mill for employee housing. It was vested in the Housing Executive in 1980, acquired by Hearth Housing Association in 1984, and sympathetically renovated in 1986. The entire terrace underwent this restoration programme together.