3 Stewart's Place, Holywood, Co Down, BT18 9DX

3 Stewart's Place is a three-storey, two-bay house built around 1850 in Holywood, County Down. It is one of a notable pair of matching properties, distinguished by their curved south-west corners. The building is prominently positioned on the street frontage and represents a good, plainly detailed example of mid-nineteenth-century residential architecture, despite having been restored with some alterations to accommodate a new use.

The house is rectangular on plan with an L-shaped ridge and a distinctive curved south-west corner with a slight recess. A modern two-storey extension has been added to the east elevation. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with a hipped corner, angled ridge and hip tiles. Two rendered chimneys with moulded caps sit upon the roof. Half-round cast-iron gutters run over slightly projecting eaves supported by paired brackets, with cast-iron downpipes. The walls are constructed of rendered masonry finished with ruled-and-lined paint over a chamfered plinth and cill course between ground and first floors.

The principal entrance faces west and contains an arched door opening with a four-panelled bolection-moulded door, brass furniture, two-pane sidelights with timber aprons, and a three-pane fanlight above, all set within a timber frame with simple moulding. The windows throughout are 2/2 horizontally-divided margin paned sashes with projecting painted masonry sills. The ground and second floors of the west elevation have three openings each. The south elevation has two windows per floor. The exposed east side (right side) shows a ground floor window that has been enlarged as a bi-partite sash, a 6/6 first floor window, and a second floor window matching the standard pattern. The north elevation is blank but is abutted by the rendered and painted remnants of the gable and chimney of a previous lower building.

The house is set in an urban context, bounded by public footpaths to the west and south, with a rear yard enclosed by a tall rendered wall. The matching property to the east is now derelict.

Historical records show the house first appearing on the Second Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and was not recorded in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40. Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 identifies it as the property of James Hewitt leasing from Hugh Stewart, described as a house, yard and small garden valued at £21. In 1863 Joseph Pinkerton became the occupier and made alterations, raising the value to £24. The house fell vacant in 1887, dropping in value to £21. Henry C Carleton became the occupier in 1890, and in 1892 the property was first named 'Mayview' with value increasing to £17. Samuel Cochrane occupied it in 1900, followed by several changes of occupier until the Lowry family became occupiers in 1911. The building has since been restored by Hearth for use as a dwelling and is now in use as a church.