11-13 Church Street, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1LS

11-13 Church Street, Portaferry

This is a relatively large, much-altered two-storey terrace block dating from approximately 1830, now subdivided to contain a house and shop. The building sits slightly askew on the east side of Church Street, just north of Portaferry town centre.

The western front façade is now asymmetrical. At ground floor level, a panelled timber door with a plain moulded surround and simple entablature set on decorated brackets serves the house to the centre. To the left of this are two sash windows with moulded surrounds and slim concrete cills. To the right of the house doorway is a modern timber and glazed shop door with a fanlight (now covered) and sidelight. The shop frontage includes a fixed light window to the left, set within an elliptical arch with supporting pilasters and a stone cill. A modern PVC shop sign is mounted above the door and window. The first floor has five unevenly spaced windows matching the style of those below. The entire front façade is finished in unpainted rough cast render with in and out quoins.

The northern gable end is largely blank, finished in unpainted rough cast, with a single-pane fixed light window at attic level to the left side. The left side merges with a rendered garden wall approximately 2 metres high. The lower part of the rear façade is obscured by this high garden wall. The first floor rear has modern two-pane windows positioned at the far left and far right, and a similar window to the left of centre (set slightly higher). To the right of centre is a small high-level, single-pane fixed light window. The gabled roof is covered with fibre cement slates and features two yellow brick chimneys with corbelled decoration and matching pots. The guttering and downspouts are PVC, and there are two Velux windows to the left side of the rear roof slope.

A laneway leads to the Parochial house between No. 13 and No. 17, originally the site of a single-storey house, demolished around 1968.

Historical evidence suggests the building may be the two-storey house with gateway recorded in the 1838 valuation, possibly owned by James Cooper, a resident confirmed at this location in 1863. The shop window on the south side appears to have been adapted from a former carriage gate. The property's dimensions match those recorded in 1838, and buildings on this site are documented on Patrick O'Hare's map of 1799. Much of the surrounding south-east corner of Church Street was demolished during the 1960s and 1970s. The building is situated within a conservation area.