Movilla House, 51 Movilla Road, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 2RG

The site of Movilla House, a two-storey house likely dating from the mid to later 19th century (1880-1899), stood on Movilla Road, Newtownards, County Down. The house was demolished around 1982, and a modern nursing home now occupies the site.

The house had a single-storey garage extension on the left-hand side and outbuildings creating an enclosed yard behind. The main roof was slated with gable ends, plain barges, rendered chimneys, and a red tile ridge. Walls were rendered, lined, and painted dark green and cream. The southwest front featured two-storey bay windows with hipped roofs, and windows were double-height, without astragals. Cill courses and a flush-faced band course were present. Shaped rafter ends were visible at the eaves. The central bay featured a flush-faced window above a doorway with wide, projecting jambs and a segmental arch canopy supported by moulded brackets, framing an inner recess. The doorway had a segmental arch head containing a plain fanlight and a panelled door, accessed by two moulded concrete steps. Virginia creeper grew on the wall, which had a raised base. The garage on the left-hand side had a heavy crenellated frieze and a “broken” parapet. It had an up-and-over garage door. A gateway on the main road had a wrought-iron gate on cylindrical piers with a springing band to a semi-spherical top; the piers were roughly cast iron and painted.

A building was shown on the site in Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and circa 1860. The house had a former use as a private residence.