6 William Street, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 4AE

6 William Street is a substantial two-storey terraced house of approximately 1840-50, constructed in squared Scrabo sandstone rubble with a late Georgian appearance. The building appears largely intact externally.

The property forms part of a two-storey gabled terrace of shops, offices and flats set on the west side of William Street with a return frontage into Corry Street. The entire terrace is built of squared Scrabo sandstone rubble. The main roof is finished with Bangor blue slates and has four substantial rendered chimneys.

The front east-facing façade features a doorway to the right, framed with plain pilasters and a moulded semicircular archivolt enclosing a panelled door topped with a semicircular fanlight displaying 'spider web' tracery. To the left of the doorway are two sash windows with horizontal glazing bars, set on a cill course with a rendered wall and plinth below. The first floor contains three similar sash windows, also on a cill course. A large timber sign board is positioned above the first-floor windows.

To the rear is a two-storey lean-to return structure, finished in rough cast render, which leans against the south façade of the large return building at Nos.2A and 2B Corry Street. The return's south facade has three Georgian-paned sash windows to the first floor and three small similar windows to the ground floor, with a plain timber-sheeted rear door positioned between the first and second of these ground-floor windows. The return contains two attic windows, the right-hand example being slightly smaller, and a similar window to the first floor on the right side. The stonework immediately to the right of a modern glazed door entrance has been patched with unsuitable dark rubble. To the left of this doorway, on the ground floor of the return proper, are two Georgian-paned sash windows, the right of which is topped with a red and yellow brick lintel. The first floor has two window openings with brick lintels now fitted with PVC frames.

To the west side of a single-storey section attached to the return's west gable is a sandstone carriage arch with a segmental arch head featuring a Masonic symbol on the keystone. The exposed sections of the east gable and south face of the return are finished in rough cast render. The gable contains two modern windows to the first floor and two tiny attic windows. Both the main terrace house and return have roofs of Bangor blue slates, with a small cast iron skylight on the south side of the return roof.

A mixture of cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present throughout.

The building is recorded on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858-60, though only part of the terrace appears at that date. The return to Corry Street does not appear to have been constructed by 1858-60, nor does No.8 William Street. The shopfront to No.4 William Street is a fairly recent insertion, whilst that to No.8 may date from the early twentieth century.

The terrace is generally in good condition, although significant alterations have been made to some properties within it.