53 Main Street, Kircubbin, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT22 2SR

A large two-storey gabled terrace of shops and dwelling occupying the middle of the south-west side of Main Street in Kircubbin. The building likely originates from the early nineteenth century but was probably extended and substantially remodelled around the 1870s to 1880s.

The north-east front facade, which forms the end of the terrace, features a timber-sheeted door with a radial semi-circular arched fanlight, surrounded by plain pilasters and moulding to the arch. This door provides access to first-floor apartments. The entire first floor of the terrace contains nine unevenly spaced sliding sash and case windows with horizontal and vertical astragals and simple moulded arch surrounds. These windows are set on a cill course with two small brackets beneath each opening. The exposed sections of both gables are blank. The entire front facade and gables are finished in lined render with chamfered quoins, an eaves course, and a plinth to the front.

The ground floor originally contained two shops with varying shop fronts—one modern, the other retaining a largely traditional appearance. The space between the shops is occupied by the lower level of an apartment, which extends across the entire first floor. This apartment still retains its sash windows, though its interior and that of the shops have been modernised.

The roof is pitched with four unevenly spaced chimney stacks—one at each gable and two close together to the right of centre—and features stone parapets, cast iron gutters, and down spouts. The rear of the terrace has been extended somewhat, with a single-storey rubble-built gabled extension at the rear of No. 53. Most rear windows have been replaced with modern frames. Large rubble-built outbuildings stand to the rear.

Ordnance Survey mapping from 1834 shows buildings on this site that do not correspond exactly with the terrace as it exists today. Combined with the irregular arrangement of windows and chimney stacks, this suggests the terrace was not built as a single complete block but was added to on at least one occasion. The decorative detailing to the window and door openings appears to have been applied to give the impression of a formally planned building. The decorative treatment, similar to that of the manse further up Main Street, indicates a date of around the 1870s to 1880s, though the exact chronology cannot be determined without investigation of the building's fabric.

In recent times, No. 55 housed the Northern Bank. No. 59 was converted to shop premises sometime after 1970; it previously had a panelled double door with fanlight and moulded surround, together with a sliding sash and case window. A former occupant of No. 59 claimed his section had been a Post Office around 1750, though given that little existed in the village prior to the 1770s and Kircubbin probably only became a post town after 1800, this claim appears unlikely.