156 High Street, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9HT

156 High Street, Holywood

A semi-detached three-bay two-storey-with-attic red-brick Victorian house, built circa 1860 (though architectural evidence and historical records suggest construction around 1890). Located east of Old Belfast Road on the outskirts of Holywood town centre, the building is square on plan with a two-storey extension to the rear under a cat-slide roof.

The principal west-facing elevation is symmetrically arranged. The roof is pitched with natural slate and decorative terracotta ridge tiles, with red-brick chimneystacks; timber eaves board on bracketed eaves and decorative bargeboard to the gable. Two shaped Dutch-style gabled dormers with ball finials rise from the attic storey. The ground floor comprises an entrance at the centre, flanked by canted bay to the left and box bay to the right. The entrance door is six-panelled timber with brass door furniture, surmounted by a plain fanlight. The door surround is recessed with brick voussoirs and comprises two polished granite colonnettes with moulded stone bands, supported on a stepped stone plinth, surmounted by a round-headed arch with stone detailing and moulded plinths, with carved stops at springing level. Four masonry steps with dwarf wall enclose the entrance. The first floor has paired windows to left and right, positioned above the bays. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sliding sash, segmental-headed to the first floor with voussoir heads. Bay windows have continuous painted stone lintels and continuous sills topped by moulded architraves and cornice.

The walling is Flemish-bonded red brick with a continuous sill to the first floor. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with decorative cast-iron hopper complete the exterior detailing.

The north elevation contains paired windows to the left and a single window to the right at ground and first-floor levels, with two round-headed windows to the attic. A raised chimney flue terminates in a decorative corbel bracket at the right attic window. The east (rear) elevation accommodates the two-storey extension concealed under the cat-slide roof. The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining semi-detached building.

The house stands on a slightly elevated site with a lawned garden to front and rear, enclosed by mature hedgerow. The entrance has a replacement boundary wall, gate piers, and cast-iron gates. A detached garage stands to the rear with modern timber gate leading to the rear garden. The rear yard is enclosed by a red-brick partially stepped wall with a modern timber-sheeted door.

Historical Context

The area south of Holywood began development towards the end of the nineteenth century. The current semi-detached pair first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900–02, though the house could not be located in valuation records before 1900 and appears on visual inspection to date from circa 1890. The building was formerly known as "Baythorpe" and is listed under this name in valuation records.

The first recorded occupier was David Morrow in 1900, when the house was valued at £43. By 1901, Thomas E Farrington, a retired collector for the Inland Revenue, was resident with his wife and grown-up daughter, all originally from England. Following Thomas E Farrington's death in July 1910, the house was vacant at the 1911 census but his widow Elizabeth was in residence by 1912. Robert A Dawson occupied the house in 1913, and by 1922 David A Fee, a surgeon and magistrate, became resident and immediate lessor. A motor shed was added to the site in 1925, raising the valuation to £50. Isabella Mulholland was occupier by 1929. In the 1940s, the house was the residence of E W Scales, father of twin sons who were pupils at Campbell College.

The house remains in use as a domestic dwelling.