150 High Street, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9HS

A two-bay three-storey Victorian end-terrace townhouse built around 1855, located south of High Street in Holywood town centre. It forms part of Walmer Terrace, a group of six townhouses that illustrate the town's mid-19th-century expansion following the opening of the railway in 1848.

The building is rectangular on plan with a three-storey return to the rear. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with brick chimneys topped with terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods run along overhanging corbelled eaves supported by paired brackets. The walls are constructed of Flemish-bonded red brick with smooth painted render to the rear elevation and vermiculated block quoins.

The principal west-facing elevation contains two openings. To the right is a canted bay to the ground floor, featuring a 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash window with horizontal glazing bars, surrounded by moulded stone work divided by Doric pilasters, a plain entablature with dentilled frieze and corbelled eaves. The first floor has segmental-headed 6/2 windows with a continuous sill, while the second floor has 1/1 windows. The entrance is accessed by two stone steps and features a four-panel raised-and-fielded door with a transom light, flanked by panelled pilasters with console brackets and a corniced canopy above.

The north gable is abutted by the adjoining property. The east rear elevation has a single opening to the left at each floor, with a lower three-storey return abutting to the right. This return has a single opening to the first and second floors at the gable, while the ground floor is abutted by a masonry off-shot. The exposed section to the left contains two openings at each floor; the ground floor has a replacement timber door to the left. The south elevation has a window to the left at each floor, matching those on the front elevation. The rear features uPVC windows in some locations.

The interior has been modernised, though good historic details remain and the original floor-plan survives. According to valuer's notes from 1900–06, the house contained five bedrooms, two reception rooms, hot and cold water, and a bathroom.

The building is set south of High Street in Holywood town centre, directly north of St Comcille's Church and Tower. To the front is a small garden with a paved pathway, enclosed by simple cast-iron railings and gate with hedgerow to the west. The rear has a paved yard enclosed by a masonry wall; a timber gate provides access to a paved and gravelled rear garden, enclosed to the south by a timber fence and to the east by an outbuilding.

The terrace is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, captioned as Walmer Terrace. Historical records indicate it was built in 1856 and attracted merchants and professional people drawn to Holywood by the railway connection. The houses also housed at least three members of the clergy: a Catholic priest, a Presbyterian missionary, and a Church of Ireland curate. According to Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the properties were leased from Andrew Cowan, who also owned the semi-detached pair of houses called Mill Bank, built at approximately the same time.

The current house was initially occupied by Samuel Ferguson, valued at £31 (later raised to £33) with an annual rent of £38 plus taxes. Subsequent tenants included Benjamin Hatton, Reverend James O'Laverty (from 1875), Mary A Campbell (1887), and Reverend George T Rea (1900). Reverend Rea was a Presbyterian Minister who had spent many years as a missionary in India and was an elder in the High Street Presbyterian church. Mary Barry occupied the house from 1904 and Anna Mary O'Neill from 1906. In 1912, John Madden became the occupier and the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Chapel became the lessors.

The valuation history reflects Holywood's economic decline in the late 19th century, following the introduction of trams in Belfast in the 1870s, which offered the mercantile and professional classes alternative residential areas. The valuation reduced from £31 in 1856–64 to £22.10s in 1904, and further to £19 in 1912. A stable was added to the rear with a valuation of £4 in 1875 but was deleted and incorporated into the house description by 1880.