10-12 Balfour Street, Newtownards, Co Down, BT23 4EF

This description covers a grouping of two plain, two-story houses likely dating to the mid-19th century, possibly before around 1858, and now modernized. They are situated near the eastern end of the south side of Balfour Street in the north of Newtownards. Originally likely "free standing," the houses are now surrounded by terraces.

Number 10, located to the east, has a modern timber front door with a simple stone surround and keystone, with a modern window to its left and a similar window further left. A fourth window on the far left has been blocked. The first floor features two widely spaced windows close to the eaves, also with modern frames. The eastern gable is blank. A full-height flat-roofed extension with various modern windows and a modern rear door projects from the right side of the rear elevation. The ground floor has two modern windows, and the first floor has two modern windows. The facade is finished in rough cast render, with asbestos-free slate roofing and one red brick chimney stack. PVC window frames are present.

Number 11 features a centrally located modern panelled and glazed front door, accompanied by a small PVC window to the left and a very large PVC window to the right. A single PVC window with acid-etched glass, depicting Scrabo Tower, is on the first floor to the left, and a wider PVC window is on the right. The rear elevation has two PVC windows to the first floor, the one to the right being smaller, and further PVC windows and a PVC door to the ground floor. The front facade is finished in lined render, the rear in rough cast render, and a section of the western gable is exposed and finished in rough cast. Again, the roof is covered with asbestos slates, and there is a rendered chimney stack, with PVC window frames.

Based on Ordnance Survey maps, a building appears on the site of the current numbers 10 and 12 around 1860. This, combined with the houses’ incongruity with the surrounding Victorian and Edwardian architecture, suggests they may predate Balfour Street itself, potentially dating from between approximately 1834 and 1858. Number 10 formerly contained a ground-floor room used by a weaver well into the early 20th century. These houses exhibit vernacular characteristics.