St Helen's House, 155 High Street, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9LG

St Helen's House is a large detached Italianate stucco villa built around 1875, located prominently to the north of the High Street in Holywood town centre. It was converted into apartments around 1950 and is described by local historian Tony Merrick as probably the last classical-style mansion to be built in the town.

The house is square on plan, three bays wide, and rises two storeys over a basement. The roof is pitched and clad in natural slate with deep overhanging eaves supported by decorative timber brackets, finished with cast-iron ogee rainwater goods. The external walls are painted smooth render (stucco) with quoins over a chamfered plinth, a panelled frieze, and a moulded architrave beneath the eaves.

Windows throughout are 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash (some are replacements) set in moulded surrounds with decorative console brackets and pediments — segmental-headed at ground floor level and triangular at first floor level unless noted otherwise.

The principal elevation faces east and is symmetrically arranged with three openings to each floor; there is no basement level to the front. Five diminutive windows sit beneath the eaves, framed by the eaves brackets. Single-storey canted bays flank the central entrance, each with moulded window surrounds, keyblock detail, a plain entablature with dentilled frieze and ovolo moulded cornice, and balustraded parapets.

The central entrance portico is a particular feature of the design. It has paired Ionic columns on a shared plinth, enclosed by fretted balustrades, with semi-engaged Ionic responds to the wall behind, a plain entablature with dentilled frieze and ovolo moulded cornice, all surmounted by a balustraded parapet. The first-floor windows here are mullioned with slender side lights (single central opening), with an ovolo moulded cornice on decorative console brackets and a segmental-headed pediment. The entrance door itself has four bolection-moulded raised-and-pointed panels, with panelled side lights and a transom light framed by simple pilasters.

The south elevation is three windows wide at first-floor level. The central stairwell window is mullioned with side lights — matching the arrangement on the principal elevation — and has stained lattice margin panels and corbels under the sill. At ground floor level to the left are two uPVC windows; to the left is a masonry wall containing steps down to the basement, which has two uPVC windows and a uPVC door to the right.

The west elevation is set on a slope and shows three asymmetrically placed diminutive windows to the first floor. At ground-floor level there is a replacement timber panelled door to the right accessed by masonry steps, a mullioned window with side lights to the centre, and a diminutive replacement window to the left. The basement level on this elevation has three uPVC windows and a modern timber door.

The north elevation features a full-height projecting bowed bay to the right and two window openings to the left. The projecting bay has three windows to the bow, with a segmental-headed pediment to the central openings. Basement windows on this elevation are uPVC in plain surrounds. There is a gabled wall-head dormer at attic level to the left.

Internally, the conversion into apartments has affected the layout and led to the loss of some historic detailing, though the impressive entrance hall and main staircase both survive.

The house stands in a setting of tarmacadam car parking on all sides. To the north, a cement-rendered masonry wall with saddleback coping stones forms the boundary to the road. A modern residential home to the north is accessed via a driveway.

The history of the house is well documented. A lease dated 11th April 1872, in which Archibald Dunlop leased the land from John Harrison, required Dunlop to spend at least £700 within seven years on building a dwelling house, suitable yard, and out-offices, and prohibited the construction of small dwelling houses on the site. The house is recorded as being under construction in 1875 and completed in 1876, when it was valued at £72 with an additional £4 for the grounds. The valuation was reduced to £64 in 1884. In 1899 a glasshouse was added, increasing the valuation by £2; this structure, shown abutting the south façade on the 1898 valuation town plan, had been replaced by a modern single-storey solid block by the 1970s, which is now gone.

The first occupier, Dr Archibald Dunlop (1834–1902), was born in Derriaghy and became a leading doctor in Holywood for forty-four years, with his surgery at 108 High Street. He had obtained his medical degree at Queen's in 1857, followed by a period as House-Surgeon at the Belfast General Hospital. He served as Medical Officer of the Dispensary District, was an active member of the Northern Ireland branch of the British Medical Association and of the Ulster Medical Society, a governor of the Sullivan Schools, a member of the select vestry and a churchwarden at the parish church, a senior Urban Councillor, and a Justice of the Peace. His obituary in the British Medical Journal of 22nd November 1902 described him as "always ready to help younger men in their work both by shrewd advice and by kindly help," and praised his "hearty manner, his pleasant humour, and good nature, his kindness, as well as the more sterling qualities of generosity, uprightness and straightforwardness." It also noted that "he was exceedingly fond of flowers, and rose cultivation was one of his favourite hobbies." Dr Dunlop was twice married and left six children. He is commemorated by a stained glass window of the Good Samaritan in the parish church, and by the Dunlop Memorial Home on Church Road — designed by James Hanna and built by public subscription in 1903.

Dr Dunlop's elder son, Captain George Malcolm Dunlop of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was killed at the Dardanelles in 1915, the first of many Holywood soldiers to die in the Great War. His mother unveiled the Holywood war memorial on 28th January 1922, at which time she appears to have still been living at St Helen's.

The house passed to James Harper Hunter in 1929, who purchased it for £2,000. After 1934, valuation records show the house leased from the Baptist Union of Ireland (Northern Corporation Ltd), with the valuation rising to £75. At that time the accommodation comprised two main floors with eight principal rooms and two bathrooms, an attic floor, and a semi-basement with kitchen and ample offices. The attic had seven rooms, three of which had fair light. The house was equipped with electric light, central heating, and a service lift from the kitchen to the dining room door.

In 1940 the premises were requisitioned by the War Department, which erected a garage and a store on the site, bringing the total valuation to £100. By 1944 a coal store and vegetable store had been added and nineteen Nissen huts erected in the garden. The Auxiliary Territorial Service — the women's branch of the army — was in occupation. Local historian Con Auld records that the house was used as accommodation for military transport personnel, with a line of garages constructed in the front garden.

In 1947 the house was sold to Ernest Reid for £4,000. It was converted shortly afterwards into seven separately valued flats, all leased from Ernest Reid.