52 Downpatrick Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5DQ

This is a two-storey, three-bay urban vernacular house located at the end of a terrace on the east side of Downpatrick Street in Rathfriland, County Down. The house sits on a steeply sloping hillside. It is a typical example of 19th-century urban housing found in many towns throughout Ulster, a type of building often vulnerable to insensitive alterations.

The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate, with a tiled skew on the right side. Two chimneys, rendered with corbelled heads, rise from the roof, one between the left and central bays and the other at the right gable. An advanced eaves course supports a half-round plastic gutter which drains through a cast-iron downpipe on the façade. The walls are painted with a lined cement render. The central bay is narrower than the flanking bays.

The main entrance is centrally located, featuring a painted timber door (dating from the mid-20th century) with six coloured glass panes above a plain transom. Ground floor bays not containing the entrance have 2/2 vertically divided sliding sash windows with horns and exposed boxes, along with painted rendered cills. The first-floor windows are similar in design and placement, though slightly reduced in height. A taller building abuts the left gable (uphill).

The rear elevation has a single-storey return abutting the ground floor on the right side. A pair of 1/1 exposed box sash windows are set centrally on the remaining ground floor wall, with a smaller window connecting it to the return. Above these windows, on the first floor, is a matching pair. An additional 1/1 sash window is situated above the extension roof. The flat-roofed extension has concrete construction and walls rendered to match the main block. The right side of the extension abuts the yard wall, while the rear incorporates a coal shed. The left side has a timber casement window and a sheeted door. The right gable is cement rendered and blank. A passage leads to the rear yard, which is enclosed by a much altered, two-storey outbuilding of no significant architectural interest.

Historical records show that buildings were present on this site in 1834, initially as one-storey thatched structures, and exempt from valuation. By around 1862, these had been replaced with two-storey houses, with no subsequent changes recorded in valuation records. This evidence suggests a construction date around the mid-19th century, although later refurbishment is likely.