28 The Parade, Donaghadee, Co Down

28 The Parade, Donaghadee

A fine two-storey gabled house of probable late seventeenth-century origin, retaining most of its architectural character. The building is positioned in the middle of a terrace on the eastern side of The Parade near the harbour. Due to the curve of the terrace, the gable walls are not straight.

The north-facing front façade displays a symmetrical Georgian arrangement with a central doorway featuring a timber-sheeted door and four-pane fanlight. The doorway is surrounded by an early Victorian door surround (circa 1840s) with pilasters and console brackets supporting a cornice. To the left of the doorway are two sash windows with Georgian panes. To the right are two similar windows, with five additional windows on the first floor. The façade is finished with lined render and chamfered quoins, and is painted. A section of the façade of an adjacent earlier dwelling to the east remains visible beyond the quoins.

The rear façade is more complex. In the centre is a two-storey gabled return. To the gable of this return is a first-floor window (matching the front style) and sympathetic French doors at ground floor. The west face of the return has windows on both ground and first floors. To the left of the main rear façade are French doors at ground level with a window directly above at first floor (with eight panes to each sash rather than six). To the right is a window to the ground and first floor as per the front. The rear façade is finished in plain render and painted.

Both main and return roofs are gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates with high stone parapets and two rendered chimney stacks. Three small cast-iron skylights light the front, three Velux windows (of varying size) the rear. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

Deeds in the owner's possession date to 1676, when the house was leased to a ship captain named Robert Montgomery. James Dillon's map of Donaghadee (circa 1700) indicates dwellings on this general site at that period. The present building's style suggests substantial renovation in the eighteenth century, when the roof may also have been raised. The return appears to be mid to late nineteenth century (it does not appear on the valuation map of circa 1836). The front entrance surround is early Victorian.

In the valuation records of circa 1836, the property was owned by Mrs. Miller and had a rateable value of £9-8-0. Recent restoration work, both interior and exterior, has reinstated Georgian sliding sash windows. The building is located within a conservation area.