1 The Crescent, Holywood, County Down, BT18 9AY

A mid-Victorian three-bay two-storey end-terrace house built around 1864, located south of High Street in Holywood. The house is constructed of polychromatic brick in Flemish bond and is situated within an informal square that retains its original character, enclosed by a brick wall with cast-iron electric gates.

The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged with three bays. The ground floor features paired window openings separated by brick pilasters, with a dentilled cornice continuous with the string course. A central entrance is accessed by two bull-nosed stone steps; the door is double-panelled with brass door furniture, a transom light, and side lights. The first floor has a dentilled string course and cornice. Windows throughout are timber-framed 2/2 sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars and stone sills, set within yellow brick surrounds of varied detail. The pitched natural slate roof is finished with rectangular brick chimneystacks having stone plinths and terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods with drive-in brackets are fitted throughout.

The north elevation is smooth-rendered and blank, while the rear elevation is similarly rendered and painted. The house is rectangular on plan with a two-storey gabled return to the rear. The north gable is blank. The rear garden is enclosed by a rubble stone wall with no public access. The property sits within a small front garden enclosed by a polychromatic brick wall, accessed by four stone steps with a central paved pathway. The surrounding setting features mature trees.

Historically, the house was newly drawn on the valuation town plan circa 1860 to 1866 and listed in the fieldbook in 1864 as part of "four new houses, nearly finished". Each property was valued at £24 and leased from Hugh Stewart, possibly grandson of the developer of 5 to 8 The Crescent, built in the 1820s. The valuation was reduced to £20 in 1884. By 1867, the occupier was Mrs Weston Grimshaw; Margaret Frackleton occupied the property by 1890. Subsequent tenants included Thomas Johnston (1900), Samuel Browne (1906), John Hodge (1913), and Catherine Hodge (1926). The house survives in original condition with original floor plan intact, and possesses group value within its own terrace and the wider square setting.