6 Lorelei, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 3TF

A three-storey two-bay Victorian end-terrace house built c.1898 to designs by Young and Mackenzie, located on the outskirts of Bangor town centre on the east side of Princetown Road in an elevated position overlooking Bangor Bay.

The building originated as part of a pair of semi-detached houses constructed c.1880 (later numbered 3 and 4 Lorelei Terrace). In 1897, these were purchased by Samuel Crosbie, who subsequently developed the site by adding four additional houses. The Irish Builder announced in August 1898 that "Two blocks of houses will shortly be commenced at Lourlie...for Mr Samuel Crosbie, from plans by Messrs Young and Mackenzie, architects, Belfast". The first noted occupier was John McClure in 1900, followed by Agnes Morrison in 1908. In 1911, John Hollywood, a wine merchant and JP with the firm Hollywood & Donnelly Ltd (distillers and wine merchants based in Victoria Square, Belfast), occupied the property with his son, a clerk, and two servants. By 1914, Sarah Mulholland had taken residence, followed by Cath J Prenter in 1924 and James Graham in 1927. The house remained in residential use until conversion to apartments c.2000, when the building was refurbished and divided into six dual-aspect flats.

The principal north-east elevation comprises a three-storey bow window to the left, with an entrance to the right featuring a timber-panelled door with plain fanlight in a moulded recess, flanked by Doric pilasters and surmounted by a bead-moulded arch with keystone. Moulded swirl motifs decorate the spandrels. The walling is painted smooth render and stucco with a moulded string-course between floors and continuous sills. Dentilled eaves mark the second floor. A pitched natural slate roof sits above, with a conical roof and finial over the bay. The masonry chimney stack is rectangular, painted, and features a moulded plinth. Windows throughout are uPVC. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods project from the eaves, with plastic rainwater goods to the rear.

The south-east elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The north-west elevation is blank. A full-height modern extension, added in the 1990s, completely abuts the south-west (rear) elevation and is of no architectural interest.

The setting has been significantly compromised. The property is accessed via a lane between 82 and 88 Princetown Road and is surrounded by a tarmacadam car-park to front and rear, with garages at the front at lower level. Modern steel railing extends along the front and returns along the side.

The house represents the expansion of Bangor as a fashionable seaside resort during the latter decades of the nineteenth century, following the arrival of the railway from Holywood in 1865, when the character of the town transformed from a declining manufacturing centre to what became known as the 'Northern Brighton'.