24-26 Main Street, Kircubbin, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2SP

This two-storey house and shop was likely built between 1915 and 1920 on the site of earlier, smaller dwellings. The house itself retains much of its original character, while the shop front has been significantly altered with a bland, 1970s design featuring modern windows and a PVC, internally illuminated shop sign.

Located at the northern end of Main Street in Kircubbin, the building stands at the end of a terrace. The front, facing southwest, contains a large modern shop front to the left, centered on a recessed door flanked by fixed light windows. A decorative keystone and simple moulded surround frame the timber-panelled house door to the right of the shop front. A tripartite sliding sash and case window, lacking astragals but with a similar surround to the door, sits alongside it. Three similar windows are present on the first floor, all belonging to the house at No. 26. A metal projecting shop sign is affixed to the first floor on the left. The northwest-facing gable is blank but retains a pediment. A large, single-storey, flat-roofed extension projects from the rear, alongside a mix of single, double, and tripartite sliding sash and case windows. The front facade and gable have a ‘Tyrolean’ finish with chamfered quoins, while the rear is finished in rough cast. The pitched roof is covered in Bangor blue slates, and two corbelled red brick chimney stacks rise from it. There is a slight overhang at the eaves, with an eaves course, and cast iron ogee gutters and down spouts serve the main house, while PVC gutters and downspouts are used on the extension.

Photographs of Main Street from around 1910 show two smaller dwellings previously occupying this site; one appears to have been an inn. Due to a radical difference in size, appearance, and layout compared to these earlier buildings, the present structure is believed to date from after 1910, specifically between 1915 and 1920, with the rear extension possibly added in the 1970s.