Former Presbyterian Manse, Mark Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4D?

Former Presbyterian Manse, Mark Street, Newtownards

This is a two-storey former manse house built around 1869, situated on the south side of Mark Street to the rear of the Second Presbyterian Church. The building was constructed in the same year as the present church itself. It has been substantially altered and extended in recent years and converted to office use, and is currently vacant.

The front façade features a central timber-panelled door with a moulded semicircular arch surround, complete with panelled pilasters, archivolt and keystone. To the left of the doorway is a window with a moulded surround incorporating panelled pilasters and curved brackets supporting a cornice with shaped top. A similar window is positioned to the right of the doorway. All window frames are modern and fitted with security grills. The first floor contains three windows with simpler surrounds but the same modern frames and grills. Windows are set on a cill course with brackets below the cills. The ground floor is finished with channelled render, while the first floor has lined render. The façade is detailed with chamfered quoins and plinth; the ground floor quoins are smaller with wider-spaced joints.

The north gable has a central ground floor window. The south gable features a single-storey gabled extension with a door facing south, and a small window to the right on the main gable. A large full-height gabled return extends to the rear on the right. The north façade of this return has two ground floor windows and a first floor door linking to a spiral staircase fire escape, with a window to its right. The south façade of the return contains two large first floor windows, two small ground floor windows, and a ground floor doorway. A single-storey linking corridor connects from the return's gable to a recently constructed two-storey section.

The rear façade of the main building has a ground floor window to the left and a first floor doorway also connecting to the fire escape. The gables, rear façade and return are rendered and painted, with PVC rainwater goods throughout. The area to the east is used as church car parking.

In recent decades, around the 1980s, the building was leased to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for use as offices. A new manse was subsequently acquired at Manse Park on the western outskirts of Newtownards. Under the Housing Executive the property underwent complete modernisation with a new block constructed to the rear. The building does not meet the test for listing due to loss of historic fabric, but is of local interest and importance to the setting of the adjacent church.