23 Church Avenue, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9BJ

23 Church Avenue is a detached two-storey three-bay former manse built around 1850, located off a private lane to the east of Church Avenue in Holywood. It is a good example of the homes built by the growing middle classes during the area's mid-nineteenth-century expansion, retaining much original architectural detailing and fabric largely intact.

The house comprises a gabled bay with an adjoining L-shaped block to the east incorporating a porch, with a single-storey gabled return to the rear added around 1985. The roof is pitched natural slate with overhanging corbelled eaves. Chimneystacks are smooth rendered with clay pots. The walls are ruled-and-lined render with raised quoins and a chamfered plinth. Windows are 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash in smooth rendered surrounds with projecting masonry sills, except where otherwise noted. A gabled dormer window sits to the north.

The principal elevation faces southwest with a projecting bay to the right containing windows to ground and first floor. To its right is a porch beneath a cat-slide roof with a window to the south elevation. The entrance to the east comprises a six-panelled timber door with brass furniture, accessed by two masonry steps, with an oculus above to the right. The remainder of this elevation is two windows wide to each floor. The northwest elevation is two windows wide to each floor. The northeast (rear) elevation has a gabled bay to the left with a window to each floor. The central bay contains three windows to each floor, with the first floor right window being 3/3. A gabled dormer window sits to the left with plain bargeboard. A single-storey return with a garage opening to the south, added around 1985, abuts the ground floor here. The southeast elevation is abutted by a modern garage to the right and a car-port to the left.

The house is situated on a mature, secluded site accessed by a private lane east of Church Avenue. A large mature garden to the north and west is enclosed by mature trees and hedgerow. A stepped masonry wall with coping stones and timber-sheeted gate abuts the rear elevation and extends northward, enclosing a paved yard. A rear extension does not compromise the integrity of the original design.

The house first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, captioned 'Craigmore', and appears from inspection to date from around 1850. By the 1860s it was the home of James Williamson, gentleman, and his sister Anne Jane. Anne Jane Williamson is listed in Griffith's Valuation as the occupier, leasing the house, yard, and one acre from John Harrison in 1863 for a rental value of £38. James Williamson died at the house in 1864, and Anne continued to live there until her death in 1890. Anne Jane Williamson was prominent in the local community as Secretary of the Ladies' Auxiliary to the Down and Connor and Dromore Church Education Society. She died a moderately wealthy woman, bequeathing upwards of £2,700 to sundry parishes and charitable societies. David Morrow is noted as living in the house in April 1893. From March 1897 to September 1898 attempts were made to let the house, which was then described as "a detached villa with every convenience; well sheltered from east winds; garden and good lawn; magnificent view of Lough; rent £50".