33 Victoria Road, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9BD

33 Victoria Road, Holywood, is a two-storey-over-basement with attic three-bay semi-detached townhouse dating to around 1855. It is one of a matching pair known as 'Mill Bank', both equally well-preserved examples built in the style of Thomas Jackson. The house is of Grade B2 listing significance.

The building occupies the site of a former water-powered mill, which drew water from an artificial dam near a disused windmill that operated until the 1840s. This windmill has at times been described as a Martello Tower, possibly serving that function during the Napoleonic wars. A small river running behind the house is thought to mark the historical border between Scottish and Irish plantations.

The house was built as Victoria Road began developing from around 1850 to provide homes for Belfast merchants and professional people attracted by the opening of the railway in 1848. It was leased from Andrew Cowan, who also owned the nearby Walmer Terrace. The pair represent a good example of the type of urban residence that formed part of Holywood's development following the arrival of the railway.

The rectangular-plan townhouse has architectural detailing of good quality that remains largely intact. The principal elevation faces north and is four openings wide. The ground floor features a portico with four semi-engaged Doric columns with antae and two Ionic columns topped by plain entablature with pediment and cornice having dentilled eaves, with sash glazing to the cheeks. The inner doorway has a bolection-moulded two-panelled timber door with brass furniture, paned side lights and transom light with pilaster jambs and panelled pilaster mullions. The portico retains an original cast-iron glass lamp. A sunken basement surrounded by cast-iron railings contains two openings to the left and a single opening to the right, with an exposed section of porch and window openings on either side.

The walls are constructed of Flemish-bonded red brick with painted sandstone quoins and portico; the gable to the rear is roughcast render, with rubble stone to the ground floor and a sandstone plat-band between ground and first floor. Windows throughout are 2/2 timber-framed sliding sash with horizontal glazing bars (unless otherwise stated), with painted masonry continuous sills and flat-brick lintels. The pitched natural slate roof has terracotta ridge tiles, and rectangular brick chimneytstacks with terracotta pots. Ogee cast-iron rainwater goods sit on painted masonry eaves.

The south (rear) elevation, viewed from the neighbouring garden, has a single opening on either side of a central projecting box-bay. The box-bay is two openings wide: narrow 2/2 timber-framed windows with horizontal glazing bars to the left (not to second floor), with a central window containing stained glass panels to the left are multi-paned.

The house is set back from the road with a small parking area to the front, bounded by painted masonry walls with coping stones and polygonal gate piers with caps. The west elevation is concealed by mature trees from the road. A large mature garden to the rear is enclosed by hedge and fencing.

The first record of the house appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858, uncaptioned. Griffith's Valuation of 1856-64 names it 'Mill Bank'. From the 1860s to at least 1890, the house operated as a seminary for young girls under a succession of principals: Miss Thorn, the Misses Black (1880), and Euphemia M Lodge from 1887. The valuation reduced from £50 to £35 5s in 1892 and further to £30 15s in 1904 following an appeal. A succession of tenants occupied the house, including Dr Richard A Shekelton (1904), Bernard Hand (1908), James Russell (1909), and William H Russell (1915). Robert Houston became the immediate lessor in 1915.

From 1965, the house was the home of Rowel Friers (1920-98), the Belfast-born cartoonist and illustrator. Trained at Belfast College of Art, Friers achieved almost instant fame and success from the 1940s onwards, contributing drawings to the Royal Hibernian Academy, Radio Times, Punch, the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Times, Irish Independent, and Daily Express. He is represented in the National Portrait Gallery, London by caricatures of Lord Fitt, Ian Paisley, and Enoch Powell. Friers also produced set designs for theatres in Belfast and Dublin and published his first book in 1948, averaging one publication per year thereafter. His autobiography, 'Drawn from Life', was published in 1994.

The house is situated within a conservation area and is of industrial archaeological interest.