1 Hayes Park, Lurgan Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4PF

1 Hayes Park, Lurgan Road, Banbridge, is a semi-detached two-bay one-and-a-half-storey house built around 1915. It was constructed as one of a pair within a cul-de-sac of twenty-eight similar houses designed by William Larmour. The development was built by F W Hayes & Company, proprietors of Seapatrick Spinning Mills, to house the mill workers and was laid out as a garden village with a winding bitumac road opposite the former mills.

The house is constructed of rock-face moulded concrete block walling with a projecting concrete plinth course. It is roofed in red synthetic tiles with a hipped roof and diagonally laid tiles, topped with terracotta ridge tiles. Three rendered chimneystacks with shaped coping and terracotta ridge pots rise through the roof. A single gabled dormer with timber bargeboard and applied timber work projects from the front pitch. Exposed timber rafter feet with timber bargeboards extend throughout the overhanging eaves, and cast-iron rainwater goods complete the roofline.

The front south elevation is two bays wide, featuring a projecting one-and-a-half-storey gabled projection with a three-sided canted bay to the ground floor and tripartite window openings to the upper floor. A recessed entrance porch with a sheeted timber ceiling, concrete paved floor and single concrete step provides access via a square-headed door opening. The door is sheeted, panelled and glazed timber with a rectangular overlight and bipartite window opening. Window openings throughout feature flush concrete lintels and flush concrete splayed sills, with original multi-pane timber casement windows.

The west elevation is three windows wide, with the north half rising as a one-and-a-half-storey gable. Ground floor windows are bipartite, while the upper level features tripartite openings. The rear elevation is single bay, with a catslide dormer containing a tripartite timber casement window. A bipartite window and square-headed door opening with replacement multi-paned timber glazed door serve the ground floor. A single-storey L-plan projection abuts the rear elevation, featuring a red tiled roof, rock-face moulded concrete block walls, timber doors and windows. The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining semi-detached house.

The property sits within a landscaped setting comprising a large front lawn and gravel rear yard. It is enclosed by a rock-face moulded concrete block wall with concrete coping and accessed from Lurgan Road via a pair of steel gates. This house is among the better preserved examples within the estate.

The Hayes Park development dates from a broader programme of house building associated with Seapatrick Mills. The mill itself was established in 1834 by Frederick William Hayes as weaving sheds on glebe land near Seapatrick Church, later converted to linen thread production under the name Royal Irish Linen Threads. Following Frederick's death, his son William Hayes oversaw subsequent house building, including terraces of workers' housing on Kilpike Road and management houses facing Lurgan Road around 1865. A red-brick terrace of management houses known as Milfort Terrace was erected on the Lurgan Road opposite Seapatrick Rectory around 1890, followed by Bannview Terrace, a red-brick workers' housing terrace.

The eight semi-detached dwellings at Seapatrick Villas were built in 1908 and 1909. Hayes Park houses were constructed between 1912 and 1919 in phases. The first eight houses (numbers 15-22) entered valuation records in 1912 at £4 each. Numbers 23 and 24 were added in 1913, and numbers 25 to 28 in 1914. The second phase, comprising fourteen houses in an adjacent plot, began in 1915 with numbers 1-2, followed by numbers 3-6 in 1917, 7-12 in 1918, and 13-14 in 1919. Numbers 1 and 2 date specifically to 1915.

The larger houses with higher valuations were positioned next to the main road. Number 1 was valued at £7 5 shillings and number 2 at £6 5 shillings, whilst adjacent houses at numbers 13 and 14 were valued at £5 and £6 respectively. All other dwellings carried a valuation of £4. Valuer's notes record that numbers 1 and 2 featured a small rear extension and were constructed of concrete block and asbestos tiles. Rental rates included £5 per week for number 1 and 4 shillings 6 pence per week for number 2, both including electric light provided by the company. Building costs ranged from £650 to £700 per house. By the 1930s, rent had fallen to 7 shillings 6 pence weekly, and accommodation comprised two reception rooms, three bedrooms, a kitchen, scullery, and an outside water closet. The houses were described as "English-style" dwellings intended for foremen rather than ordinary workers, carrying a certain amount of status.

William Larmour of Banbridge prepared the estate plans. According to local accounts, he was inspired by ideas proposed by one of the Barbour ladies of Hilden. Both Seapatrick Villas and Hayes Park reflected the contemporary concept of garden cities and villages, which embodied the paternalistic ideals of industrialists seeking to provide spacious, low-density housing surrounded by green spaces for their workforce.

The house remains in domestic use.