9-13 The Square, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5DX

9-13 The Square, Comber

A large two-storey house dating from around 1825-26, now subdivided into five apartments. The property occupies the southern end of the terrace on the western side of The Square, with its front façade facing east.

The principal front is dominated by a projecting flat-roofed gable supported on Ionic columns and antae with a blocking course and cornice. Originally an open portico, the porch was infilled around 1910 with part-glazed and part timber-panelled screens fitted with double doors. The original entrance within the porch consists of a six-panel door flanked by attached Doric columns, with outer square-section antae supporting an elliptical fanlight featuring a radial sunburst pattern. The fixed light above the double doors bears the house name inscribed.

To the left of the porch are three evenly spaced sash windows without astragals; to the right are two similar windows. At the far right is a recessed entrance to one of the flats, which was originally a coach arch, probably elliptical in form. This was filled in during the 1960s when a modern glazed door and sidelights were installed. The first floor contains six evenly spaced windows similar to those below, with a seventh window more widely spaced above the porch. The front façade sits on a shallow moulded plinth, with first-floor window cills incorporated in a continuous cill course. The façade is topped with a parapet resting on a small projecting cornice, featuring square moulded panels at each corner, both surmounted by carved vases. The façade is finished in Tyrolean render with chamfered quoins.

The southern gable to the far left has a sash window with a horizontal astragal to each sash on the ground floor. The first floor contains a left-of-centre semicircular arched window with a modern five-pane frame, with a recent small square window opening and two-pane casement window to its left. The second floor has a left-of-centre two-pane top-hung window. A rendered screen wall of approximately two metres height separates the front section from the return, with a door opening to the right. The gable is rendered with a moulded verge course rising to the chimney stack base.

To the rear are two long two-storey lined rendered returns. At the western end of the returns stands a further two-storey wing forming the fourth side of a courtyard. Windows facing into the courtyard are generally sash with horizontal astragals. The inner face of the south return is partly supported on cast-iron columns, creating a slight colonnaded effect. A small balcony accessed by French windows overlooks the courtyard from the first floor of the main building. The outer faces of the returns feature many modern steel window frames; the south face of the south return has a small external stair providing access to a further flat.

External walls are generally finished in lined render, though the front façade now has a Tyrolean finish and parts of the returns are roughcast. The main roof is finished in Bangor Blue slate to the front and asbestos-free slate to the rear; the returns have a mixture of both materials. Three rendered chimney stacks to the main roof all carry matching octagonal pots. The south return has three tall chimney stacks with matching pots. A Velux window lights the rear of the main house roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods are throughout.

The current subdivision into five apartments occurred around 1960, when the former coach arch to the north was infilled to form an entrance serving two apartments. The main house appears to contain a single property, though rooms to the north end on both floors belong to two apartments entered from the former coach arch and extending into the north return. The south return and the western wing contain two further apartments, accessed from the south side of the return and the west face of the rear wing.

The site was occupied in 1722 according to contemporary maps. The present house was probably built for John Miller, who moved to Comber in 1825 and, in partnership with George Johnston, converted the nearby brewery in Killinchy Street to a distillery. Valuation records of 1834 list Miller as the owner, grading the house 'A+' as a new house of superior solidity or finish. Miller became one of Comber's most prominent businessmen and, with the Andrews family, was responsible for building the local Non-subscribing Presbyterian church in 1838. A portrait of Miller hangs in the church's entrance foyer, and he is commemorated in the cobbled footpath in front of this house. He died in 1883. The property subsequently passed through various residents, and a further return was added to the north end of the rear. The current owners acquired it around 1960 and shortly after divided it into five apartments.