17 Church Street, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1LS

17 Church Street, Portaferry

A two-storey terrace house, possibly dating from the later 19th century, set on the east side of Church Street north of Portaferry town centre. The building is largely plain in character but features moulded surrounds to its front openings.

The west-facing front façade is asymmetrical. At ground floor level, a doorway positioned to the right has a moulded architrave and entablature, with a timber panel door fitted with a fanlight and three-pane sidelights. To the left of the doorway are paired windows separated by a pier, with moulded architraves and entablature enclosing two-pane top-hung PVC windows. The first floor mirrors this arrangement, with paired windows to the left and a single window to the right, all windows of the same type as the ground floor but without entablature. A cill course and eaves course run across the façade. The entire front is painted cream with entablatures, cill course, and simulated plinth in brown. The windows now have PVC frames.

The exposed gable to the south is finished in pebbledash render and shows the trace outline of a former single-storey dwelling that previously stood on the site, now occupied by the entrance to the parochial house adjoining St Cooey's oratory.

The rear façade features a glazed timber door to the left and a modern window to the right, with two similar windows at first floor level. The pitched roof is covered with Bangor blue slates and has two yellow brick chimney stacks with decorative corbelling. Narrow cement parapets finish the structure.

Historical records indicate that a building in the possession of a Widow Grattan occupied this site in 1799, as shown on Patrick O'Hare's map. By 1838, the site held an old single-storey dwelling. The present house appears to date from the later 19th century, possibly around the 1870s. The property is situated within a conservation area.