31-33 High Street, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5HJ

Pair of two storey terrace houses of probable pre-1834 origin, situated on the north-west side of High Street to the west of Comber town centre.

The properties are now greatly altered from their original vernacular appearance. They were originally constructed with fieldstone rubble walls, but have been substantially modified with enlarged windows, modern doors and window frames throughout, and facades completely rendered.

No. 31 (to the north-east) has a PVC door to the left on the ground floor and an enlarged window opening with PVC frame to the right. The first floor contains a single enlarged opening. To the rear, a PVC door sits to the right on the first floor, with a window to its left. At first floor centre is a similar window with a very small four-pane window to its right. The front façade is finished in Tyrolean-like render, whilst the rear has a scratch coat. The gabled roof is covered in natural slates with a brick chimney stack to the north-east. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

No. 33 (to the south-west) has a modern panelled and glazed door to the right on the ground floor with painted stone surround and cornice. To its immediate left is an enlarged window with PVC frame. To the left is a carriage arch with flat head and curved corners, containing timber-sheeted double doors. The first floor has two enlarged windows with PVC frames. A squat window with modern frame sits close to the eaves above the carriage arch. To the rear, a large and recent full-height gabled return dominates the right side, with modern windows to the north-west face and a modern door to the south-west. The entire façade is covered in Tyrolean-like render and painted. The roof is covered in asbestos-free slates with a single modern brick chimney stack. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

Both properties are shown as occupied on the 1722 map and on all subsequently available maps. The 1834 valuation records that this end of High Street, then called Cow Lane (though somewhat erroneously named Mill Street on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map), contained 23 houses exempt from rating. These two properties likely belonged to this group and probably date from the late 18th or very early 19th century. The front windows were enlarged in the early 1970s.