62 Princetown Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 3DT

62 Princetown Road is a substantial three-storey two-bay semi-detached Victorian stucco house built around 1875 by Robert Russell, located on the east side of Princetown Road overlooking Bangor Marina. It forms one half of a pair of villas known as "Augustaville" and is graded as a building of special architectural or historic interest (Grade B2).

The house is rectangular on plan with a large three-storey return to the rear and a two-storey extension. It features a pitched natural slate roof with stucco chimneystack having tulip pots on moulded plinths, decorative bargeboard and finials to the gables. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods sit on boxed eaves. The walling is painted smooth render with rustication and vermiculated quoins to the ground floor, corner pilasters with moulded panel to the second floor, and smooth render quoins to the attic.

The principal elevation faces north-east with a two-storey bow window to the front and north. The main facade features a Doric portico with plain entablature and ovolo moulded cornice, containing a double-leaf two-panelled timber door with cast-iron furniture, sidelights and transom light. To the right of the portico is a two-storey bay window with paired segmental-headed windows in a gablet above; to the left is a single window with gablet. The first floor has a window framed by panelled pilasters with decorative console brackets and moulded cornice, merging with the cornice of the bow window. The bow bay to the main elevation has panelled pilasters dividing the window openings, with a dentilled moulded entablature and moulded cornice to the ground floor and moulded cornice to the first floor.

Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sliding sash, segmental-headed to the attic. The south-east elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The south-west rear elevation has paired windows to the first and second floors (the first-floor window features stained glass), abutted to the left by a three-storey rear return with a single diminutive window to the second floor. The north elevation has a tripartite mullioned window to the second floor and paired and single segmental-headed windows to the first floor; two replacement timber windows are present to the ground floor. The south elevation is partially concealed with a single window to the first floor. The return is abutted by a two-storey gabled extension with two windows to the first floor, a single window and replacement timber door to the ground floor on the right. The north-west elevation has windows to all floors at the left, with a two-storey bow window to the right containing four openings and surmounted by paired segmental-headed windows to the second floor.

The house is positioned on a raised site overlooking Bangor Marina, accessed by a sloped tarmacadam driveway to the west with painted masonry square gate piers having moulded cornice and square caps. A lawned area to the front is enclosed by a stone boundary wall with bold balustrade and ball finials to pillars, with shared stepped access to the front of the house. The rear garden is enclosed by boundary wall and hedgerow. The house shares a gate screen (HB23/14/008C) with the adjoining property and has group value as part of its pair.

The house is a noteworthy example of the type of Victorian villas developed along the Esplanade, built for wealthy merchants and professional classes, illustrating the growth of Bangor as a seaside resort town during the 19th century. The architectural detailing is of good quality and typical of the period. It has been described as "a magnificent stucco semi-villa, possibly the finest on the Marine Esplanade".

The area of Bangor began development towards the end of the 19th century as the town expanded into a fashionable resort and commuter town following the opening of the railway in 1865. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows the area as empty fields, but by the third edition of 1901, Princetown Road had been laid out in terraces and villas as far as the promontory at Wilson's Point. The semi-detached pair of villas first enters valuation records in 1875 as a development by Robert Russell Junior of two unfinished houses valued at £26 10s each. The valuation rose to £37 by 1882. A photograph held by Bangor Heritage Centre dated 1887 shows Augustaville still under construction. Robert Russell is initially listed as occupier of both houses and then as occupier of number 60, with lodgers recorded in number 62. By 1895 the valuation had been reduced to £35, with the valuer noting that the properties were seasonal lets, being "expensive houses to keep in repair...let furnished for May and June for £26". Robert Russell is listed in street directories of the period as resident in Augustaville, and the building may only have been let in the summer season, with Russell retiring elsewhere, as was common practice in Bangor at the time.

The 1901 census shows the house was occupied by Charles Lepper, a gentleman with a private income, his wife, young daughter, a nursemaid from Fermanagh and a parlour maid from Tyrone. From 1906 the house was occupied by Thomas E McConnell, an Auctioneer and Valuer with premises in Arthur Street, Belfast. The valuation was raised to £40, indicating some improvements to the property. Patrick Moore, a retired shipbroker, is recorded as occupier in 1914, followed by Hugh Moore in 1921. The houses remain in use as private residences. According to historical reminiscences, a development company had begun building a hotel at the entrance to Marine Gardens with a tool house on the site where Augustaville was later built. The company failed and the tool house was subsequently run as tea rooms by a Mrs McAlpin for some years.