34-35 The Square, Portaferry, Co. Down, BT22 1LR

A large and well-proportioned two-storey terrace house, probably built around 1840, with small dormers. The building stands on the east side of Portaferry town square. Around 1900, part of the ground floor was converted to a shop with an additional doorway inserted into the front façade.

The west-facing front façade is asymmetrical in composition. Roughly at the centre of the ground floor is a panelled door with a single-pane fanlight. To the left of this are two sash windows. To the right of the door is a recessed glazed doorway leading to the office, with a painted timber sign board above it. Beyond this is a window with a fixed light in an arch-headed frame. The first floor has four evenly spaced windows of similar design to those on the ground floor right. Prominent electrical cabling is fixed to the front façade at eaves level. The front façade is finished in unpainted lined render.

The rear of number 34 has a recent panelled and part-glazed timber door at ground floor level. Number 35 features a ply-faced modern door to the left with a two-pane sash window to the right. Three sash windows at first floor level have differing cill heights. The rear façade is finished in plain render.

The gabled roof is covered with Bangor blue slates. Yellow brick chimney stacks with matching pots rise from each side. Cement render parapets are present. Two dormers feature segmental arch vaulted roofs with sash windows to their fronts and glazing to the sides.

Documentary evidence shows a building on this site in the possession of a Widow Caughey in 1799, according to Patrick O'Hare's map. The 1838 valuation returns record an old, low two-storey house occupied by Samuel Matthews. The present structure is taller and deeper than that recorded in 1838, suggesting the current building is a later rebuild. Given its overall form, this reconstruction probably took place shortly after 1838, around 1840. William Donnan was resident in 1863. The conversion of part of the ground floor to commercial use occurred in the early 1900s, apparently carried out by the then owner Robert Denvir, who operated a drapery shop and later a hairdresser's salon from the premises.

The building is located within a conservation area.