10-12 The Square, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5DT

A two-storey terraced building of late 18th-century origin, constructed from large greywacke rubble facing and situated on the north side of The Square in Comber. The building now contains two ground-floor offices and a first-floor restaurant, having been substantially altered during the 20th century.

The principal facade is distinguished by a painted, semi-circular arched central doorway flanked by narrow pilasters supporting a broken pediment on moulded console brackets. The four-panelled timber door has glazing to the upper panels, and the semi-circular fanlight features a distinctive ogee lattice pattern. To the left of the doorway are two windows with modern frames made to resemble sash windows. To the right is an enlarged window opening with a modern bowed frame also resembling a tripartite sash, which replaced both an original window and a crude post office shop front inserted around 1960. The first floor displays five equally spaced sash windows with Georgian panes (six over six), each with painted stone cills and random rubble flat arch heads.

An elliptical coach archway separates this building from No. 8, with the main structure extending over the arch. The archway and left side of the main facade are finished with incised and raised stone painted dressings. A painted cast-iron rainwater goods system runs down the facade. Two brick chimney stacks positioned on the ridge line separate the sections of the roof, which is finished in Bangor Blue slate. Signage includes individual PVC letters at ground floor left, a traditional timber-framed painted sign board to the right, and a small projecting metal sign at first-floor level.

The rear of the property is accessed via an elliptical-headed coach arch. Behind the ground floor stand two modern extensions: to the rear of No. 10 (right) is a single-storey flat-roofed extension in concrete grey facing brick; to the rear of No. 12 (left) is an irregular single and two-storey flat-roofed extension finished partly in plain render and partly in grey concrete facing brick. Both extensions partially obscure the original rear facade, which formed the ground floor of a large gabled return. The exposed right-hand section of the return's first floor contains two sash windows with Georgian panes (six over six), with a similar window to the attic floor centrally placed. A single ground-floor window with modern frame is positioned to the west side of the return. A first-floor window sits above the coach arch with modern PVC frame, and another first-floor window with similar frame is located to the east of the return. The small rear yard is largely surfaced with tarmacadam and used for parking.

Historically, the site was occupied in 1722 and appears on all subsequent maps. David Geddas's pictorial lease map of 1786 shows the building as the property of John Ridle (or Riddel) and depicts a front facade featuring what appears to be the pedimented door surround. The 1834 valuation returns record ownership by Dr. Jonathan Allen, whose larger house stood to the east. By 1861, the property remained in Allen family ownership but was occupied by Robert Davidson. Around the 1950s, part of the ground floor of No. 12 was converted to a post office, necessitating insertion of a crude shop front. The building was delisted from the heritage register on 14 March 2005.