88 Church Road, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9BX

88 Church Road, Holywood

A two-bay, three-storey mid-terrace house built around 1870, forming part of a five-house terrace near Holywood town centre. The house retains its original character and robust detailing, and the group represents a good example of the larger terraces that developed in Holywood during the later 19th century.

The building is rectangular on plan with a two-storey return to the rear and a two-storey box bay to the front. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with brick chimneys featuring moulded painted masonry plinths, multiple flues and terracotta pots; a brick gable chimney rises from the rear return. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are supported on sandstone corbelled eaves. The walling is Flemish bond red brick, with the box bay finished in painted stone. Windows are timber-framed 1/1 sliding sash with sandstone moulded lugged surrounds, flat brick arches and painted sandstone cills; a continuous cill course runs across the upper floors. The double windows feature stone moulded surrounds divided by a central Doric pilaster, with decorative console brackets beneath the sill in 1-2-1 formation.

The principal elevation faces southwest. The left bay contains paired window openings, with those to the ground and first floors contained within the projecting box bay with dentilled eaves. The right bay has a single window opening and the entrance door. The door itself has four bolection-moulded raised-and-pointed panels with brass furniture, a transom light surmounted by a sandstone pediment on scrolled console brackets, a sandstone architrave, and is accessed by two bull-nosed stone steps. The rear elevation is abutted by the two-storey return. The exposed section of the right bay displays 6/6 sash windows to all floors, while the left bay has multi-paned sash windows at each level. A modern timber-framed window occupies the gable at ground floor; to its right is a simple timber door providing access to the yard.

The terrace dates from between 1867 and 1870. It appears on a valuation town plan dated around 1860–1866 drawn over land described as pasture and leased by William Brown from Andrew Cowan. The houses first appear in the valuation book of 1867–79, listed as newly built and initially vacant. By 1870, three were occupied and leased from Robert and Daniel Reade, remaining under the Reade family throughout the period. All houses were initially valued at £28 each; by 1880 the terrace was known as Riverston Terrace, apparently named after the nearby Riverston House. In 1883, valuations decreased to £25, most likely following an appeal. The current house was initially occupied by Reverend Cornelius C Boomer, curate at Killinchy from 1864 until his death in 1879. By 1887 it was occupied by Jane Irwin, and by 1901 by Sophia Mulligan, who had previously lived elsewhere in the terrace. By 1907 it had passed to Mary Chamberlain, who remained resident until 1930.

The house is set back from the road with a small front garden and paved pathway enclosed by hedge and planting. The rear garden is accessed across the rear. The building lies within a conservation area.