20-22 Warren Road, Donaghadee, Co Down, BT21 0DT

20-22 Warren Road, Donaghadee

A pair of large late Victorian semi-detached houses, dating from the 1880s or 1890s (though a date of 1869 has been reported inscribed in the plasterwork of number 22). The houses are situated on a slight rise on the west side of Warren Road, north of Donaghadee town centre.

Both houses are two and a half storeys tall, constructed in stuccoed render with painted lining and bevelled quoins. They feature canted bays to the front elevation, gabled half-dormers with decorative barges and finials at attic level, and large two-storey returns to the rear. The pair originally remained largely identical, though alterations and modernisations have since affected both properties.

Number 20 is positioned to the south side. Its principal elevation faces south and comprises the gable of the main section to the right and the south face of the return to the left. The gable is two and a half storeys; the return is lower but contains three floors. A gabled porch with decorative barges projects from the ground floor centre-left, with a panelled timber door and plain fanlight to its east face. A semicircular-headed window faces the south-facing gable of the porch. A single-storey lean-to with two windows on its south face adjoins the west face of the porch. To the right of the porch on the main house gable are a single ground-floor window and two similar windows to the first floor, with two semicircular-headed windows at attic level. The south face of the return contains two ground-floor windows, three to the first floor, and three to the second floor. A small two-storey brick dwelling of recent construction now abuts the west edge of this elevation, replacing an original two-storey outbuilding.

The east (road-facing) elevation is symmetrical and much narrower. It is dominated by a large two-storey flat-roofed canted bay with windows to each face at each floor, resting on a sill course with various moulding courses and a parapet. At attic level are two semicircular-headed windows within gabled half-dormers. The rear elevation of the return has a modern patio window to the ground floor, a modern window to the first floor, and a blank second floor. The south face of the return has small windows to each floor. The west face of the main house has a small lean-to extension with small modern windows to each floor. Number 20 has a conservatory attached to the rear reception room. The west wall of the return is blank; the north wall has small windows to the ground and first floors, with a now blocked window opening to the first floor.

Number 22 is a mirror image of number 20, with several differences. The main entrance has been relocated from the east to the west face of the porch and lacks a surround. The east face of the porch now has a modern window. There is no lean-to to the rear of the porch. The window to the gable of the porch and all attic windows to the north and east have retained their sash frames with vertical glazing bars in a 2/2 configuration. The two-storey outbuilding, originally a stable, was demolished after 1973 and replaced with a garage, now much altered.

Both houses feature slated gabled roofs with overhang, large rendered chimneystack shared between the pair, and rendered stacks to the gables of the returns. Rainwater goods appear to be mainly cast iron. Most original windows have been replaced with modern frames. The pair appears on the Ordnance Survey town plan of Donaghadee dated 1901.