142 High Street, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9HS

A two-bay three-storey Victorian mid-terrace townhouse built around 1855, located on the south side of High Street in Holywood town centre. The building forms part of an important terrace of six houses originally known as Walmer Terrace, which exemplifies Holywood's mid-nineteenth-century growth following the opening of the railway in 1848.

The rectangular plan extends three storeys to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with brick chimneys fitted with terracotta pots. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are mounted on overhanging corbelled eaves with paired brackets.

The principal west-facing elevation features Flemish bonded red-brick walling with painted smooth render to the ground floor, finished with band rustication. To the left is a canted bay at ground floor level, which is a 2/2 window (horizontal glazing bars) surrounded by a moulded frame divided by Doric pilasters, with a plain entablature, dentilled frieze and corbelled eaves above. The entrance is accessed by two stone steps and has a four-panel raised-and-fielded door with transom light, flanked by a panelled pilaster surround with simple console brackets and corniced canopy. Above the ground floor are segmental-headed 6/2 timber-framed sliding sash windows to the first floor with continuous sill, and 6/2 windows to the second floor. Timber-framed replacements are present to the rear elevations.

The east (rear) elevation is abutted to the left by a lower three-storey return with a gable window at all floors. The exposed section to the right has a single opening to the left at first and second floors, with a modern timber door to the ground floor. The north gable is abutted by the adjoining building. The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining building to the south.

The setting is situated to the south of High Street in Holywood town centre, with St Comcille's Church and Tower directly to the south. A tarmacadammed car-park lies to the east, semi-enclosed by a painted masonry wall. A small paved garden at the front is enclosed by simple cast-iron railings and gate, whilst a rear yard is enclosed by painted masonry wall with a modern cast-iron gate.

The house first appears on the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1858) as part of Walmer Terrace. The houses were built in 1856 to house merchants and professional people attracted to Holywood by the railway's opening. The terrace also provided accommodation for at least three members of the clergy: a Catholic priest, a Presbyterian missionary, and a Church of Ireland curate. Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) lists the property as a house, yard and small garden valued at £27 (later £29) with an annual rent of £34 plus taxes. The original occupant recorded was Alexander Finlay.

The town entered decline in the late nineteenth century, partly due to the arrival of trams in Belfast during the 1870s, which offered the mercantile and professional classes wider residential choice. Subsequent tenants included Thomas Ward (1880), Mary J Thompson (1889), and Ellen McAfee (1900). Valuations were progressively reduced to £28 in 1889, £27 in 1891, and £22 10s in 1904 following a complaint. Valuer's notes state the rent was reduced from £35 to £30 yearly. The house contained five bedrooms and two receptions, with hot and cold water and a bathroom. Notes indicate the house had been vacant for years. Later occupants included Gerald SW Camphill (1906), Ernest Rumbold (1913), and the Reverend Robert H White (1915), who was curate of Holywood parish church from 1906 to 1915 before becoming incumbent of Holy Trinity church, Belfast. The valuation fell to £17 in 1912. Elizabeth McCaw was resident by 1917, and Thomas Elwood became the immediate lessor in 1927. A motor house was added in 1929. The building is currently in use as offices.