2-4 Cuan Place, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1NY

A terrace of two small two-storey houses located within the narrow dog-leg lane of Cuan Place, running between Ferry Street and Castle Street. The buildings possibly date from around 1870, though cartographic evidence suggests they may have been constructed in the latter decades of the 19th century.

The front elevation faces roughly north and is asymmetrical in composition. Number 2 features a plain timber-sheeted door to the left with a plain narrow fanlight and narrow cement render surround. To the right of the door is a timber four-pane window with segmental arch heads to the two upper panes and a similar surround. A comparable window, slightly shorter, sits directly above on the first floor. To the east the house adjoins an outbuilding. Number 4 has a similar arrangement of door and windows to Number 2, but in mirrored form, with the door positioned to the right and two windows on the first floor. To the west this house adjoins another building.

Both houses are finished in pebbledash to the front elevation and plain render to the rear. The gabled roofs are covered in Bangor blue slates. A rendered chimney stack is shared between the two properties. Modern single-storey flat-roofed extensions have been added to the rear of both houses. Number 2 has a modern door to the first-floor main façade, and the roof incorporates a Velux window to the rear. Both properties feature cast iron guttering and downspouts with hoppers.

Historically, the site was known as "Rock Alley" and appears on Patrick O'Hare's 1799 map, then in the possession of Henry Smyth and Andrew Ash. The 1834 Ordnance Survey map shows a much smaller building on the site, chiefly where Number 4 now stands, which belonged to John Maxwell's distillery. The valuation map of circa 1861 indicates a short terrace of four dwellings on the site, though the plans of both present Numbers 2 and 4 differ slightly from those shown on the 1900 Ordnance Survey town plan, suggesting construction in the latter decades of the 19th century, probably the 1870s based on the window frames.