4 Martello Terrace, Victoria Road, Holywood, County Down, BT18 9BE

4 Martello Terrace is a substantial three-storey, three-bay Victorian mid-terrace house built circa 1860, located to the north of Victoria Road near Holywood town centre. It forms part of Martello Terrace, a group of houses built during the period following the opening of the railway to Belfast in 1848, which attracted merchants and professional people seeking healthier and more attractive surroundings.

The house is rectangular on plan with a substantial three-storey rear return and canted bays to the front. The roof is pitched natural slate with rectangular brick chimneystacks having masonry plinths and terracotta pots. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are mounted on drive-in brackets. The main elevation is faced in Flemish bonded red-brick, while the rear return is finished in ruled-and-lined painted render. The canted bays and entrance bay to the first floor are painted stone.

Windows throughout are timber-framed sliding sashes. The main elevation has 2/2 sashes with horizontal glazing bars, flat brick lintels and continuous sills to the first floor; pointed-head dormer windows light the upper storey. The rear return features 6/6 sliding sashes. The principal elevation faces west and is symmetrically arranged with four openings to the first floor and a slightly projecting entrance bay.

The ground floor displays canted bays with triple window openings, a dog-tooth frieze and dentilled eaves. The central entrance comprises a two-column-deep portico with Doric columns, surmounted by an entablature with dog-tooth detail to the frieze, dentilled moulded cornice and pediment. Above this at first-floor level is a round-headed window with Doric pilasters, decorative console brackets and keyblock under moulded cornice. The entrance is accessed by four stone steps and comprises a four-panel bolection-moulded raised-and-pointed door with brass furniture, side lights and transom light framed by simple Doric pilasters. The north elevation is abutted by an adjoining building. The east (rear) elevation has single openings to ground and first floor on either side of the three-storey return. The exposed section of the return has two openings to all floors with a gable containing a single opening to the left on upper floors and uPVC double doors to ground floor. The south gable has a single opening to first and second floors on the left; a single opening to the second floor on the right.

The house is set in mature grounds to the north of Victoria Road on the outskirts of Holywood, accessed via a double tarmacadam entrance with painted masonry gate piers. A large mature garden to the front features mature trees and hedgerow, while the rear garden contains the adjacent Martello Tower, mature landscaping, garages and a timber fence boundary.

Historical research from Griffith's Valuation records shows that the terrace was originally named Martello Crescent. The current house and its neighbour were initially noted as "in progress" with foundations sunk only, but by December 1861 the valuer recorded they were "said to be letting now for £50 and that there are ten rooms in them", with both properties valued at £49. By 1863 the house was occupied by Martin Jaffe, son of Daniel Joseph Jaffe, founder of the Jewish synagogue in Belfast in 1871. Martin Jaffe ran the Belfast branch of his father's business, and the first Jewish service to be held in Ulster in the nineteenth century took place in 1864 in Martin Jaffe's Holywood home, likely at either the current house or his later residence in Tudor Park. Subsequent occupiers included John Conlon (1874), Henry M Charley (1887), John McCullagh (1892), A B Wilson (1899) and Annie S Neill (1901). In 1916 the valuation was reduced to £31 following a complaint from occupier Mrs Mulligan. William McMullan was in residence in 1922 and became the immediate lessor the same year; following the addition of a motor-shed and office the valuation increased to £38 10s. The terrace was renamed Martello Terrace in 1887 and appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1900–02. The name derives from a former windmill that stood adjacent to the site, referred to at times as a Martello Tower, possibly having performed that function during the Napoleonic wars. The windmill remained in use until the 1840s.

The building retains substantial architectural detailing in good quality fabric and represents a particularly fine example of Victorian mid-terrace housing of its type. It has considerable group value as part of Martello Terrace, which collectively represents the expansion of Holywood following the railway's opening.