49 Scarva Street, Loughbrickland, Co Down, BT32 3NH

49 Scarva Street, Loughbrickland, is a symmetrical three-bay two-storey neo-Georgian detached house built around 1915 to designs by William Wright Larmor, assistant county surveyor for County Down and engineer to Banbridge Rural District Council. The house was originally constructed as a medical officer's residence and dispensary for Banbridge Board of Guardians, with the land purchased for this purpose around an acre in extent.

The building has a rectangular plan with a two-storey flat-roof extension and projecting porch to the rear. The hipped roof is covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and finials, and features red-brick chimneystacks. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are set on projecting timber-sheeted eaves. The walls are painted smooth render with raised quoins on a chamfered plinth.

The principal south-west elevation faces the road and comprises three bays to each floor. At ground floor centre is a raised-and-fielded four-panel timber door with brass furniture, accessed via a single stone step and surmounted by a square-headed overlight. The door is flanked by panelled pilasters with entasis bearing entablature and cornice. Windows throughout are 6/6 timber sliding sash with horns and projecting painted masonry sills, unless otherwise altered.

The north-west elevation has three first-floor windows, the rightmost more widely spaced. Two replacement timber casement windows occupy the ground floor to the left, whilst the ground floor to the right has a multi-paned bow window with slated canopy. The north-east rear elevation is abutted on the right by a two-storey flat-roof extension. A lean-to canopy with modern timber-sheeted door covers the ground floor to the left, with two narrow windows and an open porch to the right. A single-storey lean-to outbuilding adjoins the extension. The south-east elevation mirrors the north-west with three widely-spaced first-floor windows, a ground-floor left window, and a multi-paned bow window with slated canopy to the right.

The architect William Wright Larmor submitted plans in September 1911, tenders were received by November 1912, and the building was completed by 1914. The expected cost was £1,200. The first occupant was Dr Samuel F Lusk, who lived there from 1916 until 1946 and paid rent of £20 plus taxes. At the time of the First General Revaluation in the early 1930s, the house was valued at £32 and comprised three reception rooms, kitchen, scullery, pantry, four bedrooms, surgery, boxroom, and bathroom with hot and cold water and WC. The house had electric light but water was supplied from a pump. The dispensary occupied part of the ground floor and was accessed through a side door on the south facade, still present. Dr Maurice Stanislaus McEnaney succeeded Dr Lusk as resident medical officer.

The original proportions and much of the exterior detailing remain intact, though the character has been somewhat compromised by extensions and alterations. Outbuildings to the rear have been converted into a bungalow, and bow windows have been added to the north and south facades. A modern house has been constructed to the rear of the property, sharing access with number 49.

The house sits on large mature grounds to the east side of Scarva Street at the junction with Old Newry Road. The front is lawned with a gravelled driveway accessed via roughcast rendered squared piers with caps supporting cast-iron gates. The property is bounded to the road by a roughcast rendered wall with coping stones, mature trees, and hedgerow, and to the north by a modern timber fence. A paved courtyard and modern dwelling occupy the rear. The house continues in use as a dwelling.