Orange Hall, Newry Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5PY

Orange Hall, Newry Street, Rathfriland

An attractive 19th-century Orange Hall, built in 1869, on the south side of Newry Street. The building is two storeys high and three windows wide. It is constructed with rendered and painted walls lined with blocked alternating V-channelled stucco quoins. The roof is pitched with artificial slate and features a decorative wall-head gablet with the same roof to the left of centre on the front elevation. Cement rendered and painted chimneys with decorative copings sit at each end gable.

The façade is distinguished by an advanced eaves course carried by brackets, and a slightly advanced base course with moulded platband. The front elevation displays three windows to each floor, all set to the left of centre. At the extreme right of the ground floor is the main entrance. A rectangular plaque inscribed "Orange Hall 1869" with a run moulded frame sits above the central gablet, and is surmounted by a brightly painted stucco fruit basket.

All windows are now 2/2 modern stained timber casements with decorative surrounds. Each surround consists of a moulded cill supported by two foliated consoles and a moulded stucco architrave with motif-topped keystone. All keystones have a decorative dog's head applied to the front. The ground floor left and right keystones are topped with fruit baskets, and the central one with a piper. The central window at first floor bears a moulded stucco figure of King William III on a white charger. The entrance door is painted timber with three bottom panels and a glazed top panel, with a two-paned transom over.

Both the east and west gables appear to be devoid of openings. The east gable is finished in plain cement render to the first floor and loft level. The rear elevation is dominated by a very large full-height gabled return. A timber sheeted door is located to the right of the west face of this return at ground floor level, with a window at intermediate (stair) level above. The entire ground floor level of the gable return is covered by a large single-storey rendered and corrugated iron extension formerly used as a billiard hall, with a mainly gabled roof. The exposed rear face of the main section has a window to ground floor and another to first floor. The rear elevation outside the extension is finished in plain unpainted cement render. The return has a cement rendered chimneystack to its gable and a Velux window to the east side.

The building first appeared in the 1870 valuation revision book and replaced a one-storey roadside dwelling. The 1895 valuation entry notes the ground floor of the hall being used as a caretaker's house. The roof to the rear portion was replaced in recent times following a fire. The interior has lost architectural details and is not of special architectural or historic interest. The attractive façade has been marred by the insertion of modern windows throughout.