190 Huntly Road, Lenaderg, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4NW

190 Huntly Road is an asymmetrical two-storey, two-bay house erected around 1840, making it the earliest building within a cluster of associated structures at Milltown, a small planned settlement approximately 1.5 miles north of Banbridge. It sits on a sharp bend adjacent to the junction with Lurgan Road, on an inclined site, and its principal elevation faces east.

The building was constructed by John Smyth and Co, bleachers and beetlers of Milltown, as part of a self-contained industrial settlement first established in 1820. It was later extended around 1870 to the right to incorporate a shop and post office at ground floor level and additional living accommodation at first floor level, with a rear return also added. The house originally had a square plan and was smaller than it appears today, the extra bay having been added at the time of that extension.

The roof is pitched to the left side with a shallow hip to the right, finished in natural slate with clay ridge tiles and leaded hips. The brick chimneys are original, though the rainwater goods have been replaced with uPVC. The walls are built in red brick laid to Flemish bond. Windows are 2-over-2 timber sliding sashes with horizontal glazing bars and horns, set into painted masonry cills beneath one-and-a-half brick flat arch heads. The front door is a six-panelled timber door with a rectangular overlight, flanked by pilasters rising to moulded brackets that support a canopy. Four stone steps with a steel handrail lead up to the entrance.

The principal east-facing elevation is asymmetrically arranged: the front door occupies the right bay, with a single window to its left, and two first-floor windows sit directly above. A basement window opening to the left has been bricked up. The left gable is symmetrically arranged and features two round-arched windows at ground and first floor levels; it is abutted by a single-storey lean-to corrugated metal shed of no architectural interest. The rear elevation is also asymmetrical: the left bay is abutted by a two-storey return with a very shallow pitched roof and new roofing material, with a single window to the south cheek at first floor. To the right of the rear elevation there is a single-storey lean-to extension with modern roofing, a timber-sheeted porch covering six steps, and a single picture window to the south cheek. The right elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The interiors are simple and have remained largely unaltered.

The building stands directly on the bend of a moderately busy road. Adjacent to the front door is a red telephone box of the K6 type, installed around 1940. A cluster of associated historic buildings lies to the north and west, and there is some modern housing to the south.

Milltown was founded in 1820 when John Smyth (1798–1890), descended from a linen-trading family, purchased a corn mill and surrounding land from the Crawford family and established an extensive bleaching and finishing works. Around 1825 he built Milltown House nearby, reputedly as a wedding present for his fiancée Anna McClelland of Belmont House. By 1839, John Smyth and Co had become the largest bleaching and finishing works on the Bann, producing 40,000 pieces of cloth per year. Three of John and Anna Smyth's twelve children later formed the company William Smyth and Co Ltd, which went on to employ more than 250 people. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 shows Milltown House, a bleach mill on the Bann, and extensive bleach greens; the present house first appears on the second edition of 1860, by which time considerable development of the works and surrounding area had taken place, including the addition of a national school and workers' housing.

The railway line connecting Banbridge with Scarva in 1859 and Lisburn in 1863 provided a convenient means of transporting the company's goods and no doubt aided the expansion of the business. In 1857 the Smyths acquired the Bannville Beetling Mill, and by that time had customers across the world including in the United States, Italy, Russia and Germany. An iron foundry was established in 1876 to serve the company's own engineering needs as well as local light engineering work. By 1886 the bleach works and bleach greens covered 220 acres and the works were water-powered, with steam used as an auxiliary source; there were six iron water wheels.

Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists the occupier as Samuel Lewis, later William McGowan, and values the house at £1 5s — notably low for a building of this size. The valuation record notes that the "underpart" of the house was valued together with the mill premises, though the exact use of the lower floor is not recorded. The house was extended around 1870 to incorporate the neighbouring shop at ground floor level and additional living accommodation at first floor level. From 1905 it became the postmaster's residence. A photograph of the shop taken in 1914 shows part of the house's façade, which has remained unchanged since that date. The 1911 census records the postmaster as 26-year-old Richard Wright, assisted by his brother; the Wright family subsequently established Wright's Engineering Garage in Dromore Street, Banbridge in 1921.

In 1922 the house and shop were occupied by Robert (Roy) J Martin, who ran the business with his brother and mother. By the time of the First General Revaluation in the early 1930s, the house, shop and post office were included in a single valuation at £22 10s, later revised to £24. The accommodation at that time comprised a shop on the corner, a branch post office in the former house to the side, five bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen, scullery and pantry, with a coal yard at the rear. The annual rent was £36. Roy Martin was the last postmaster and held the position for 34 years until the post office closed in 2000.

Together with the adjacent cluster of buildings, 190 Huntly Road is of significant historic and local interest as part of a largely unaltered example of a small 19th-century development resulting from the local linen industry. Its purpose-built origin is additionally notable, as Milltown is one of only a few planned settlements in Northern Ireland.