1 Church Square, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4AS

A two-storey three-bay former townhouse built in the early nineteenth century, now converted to commercial use and split into two units. The building is located in the north of Banbridge, adjacent to where Bridge Street meets Church Square, immediately north of the bridge spanning the River Bann.

The structure has a rectangular plan form with a single-storey rear abutment. The roof is pitched with artificial slate and clay ridge tiles, fitted with replacement uPVC rainwater goods. The chimney is ruled-and-lined rendered with a corbelled cap. The main walling is ruled-and-lined rendered with painted projected long-and-short quoins and a plinth.

The principal elevation faces north-east and is asymmetrically arranged. The first floor retains three 6/6 timber sliding sash windows with horns, painted masonry cills, and plain reveals. The ground floor has been extensively altered with modern shop fronts comprising large single-paned glazing panels and replacement 6-panelled timber doors with square-headed over lights. The right shop front retains a historic fascia with moulded cornicing. The left gable is largely blank and abutted by the adjoining building 5 Church Square. The right gable is symmetrically arranged with a single central first floor window and two diminutive attic windows, the left with a horizontal glazing bar.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged with replacement uPVC and timber windows to the first floor. The ground floor is abutted by a modern single-storey lean-to extension comprising two doors with associated windows. To the rear is a yard containing a single-storey outbuilding with pitched natural slate roof and red-bricked walling, incorporated into rubble masonry boundary walls.

Historically, the building first appears on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map as an L-shaped structure. It was then occupied by Samuel Glass, a publican, whose house was valued at £14 with a single office to the rear. The property remained substantially unchanged until the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1860. Subsequent occupants included John Browne (from c.1862), Robert Jordan (from 1874), and Samuel Moorhead (from 1899), who employed the building as a 2nd class dwelling with five inhabited rooms and outbuildings comprising a stable, cow house, and piggery. William John Harris, a local grocer, took possession in 1906 and his family remained in occupation until at least 1930. By 1969 the building was described as one of a number of ordinary three-storey dwellings and shops, mostly dating from around 1830, dependent for their character upon the quality of paintwork. The building was listed in 1977 and continues in commercial use.

The building forms part of a group of historic terraces north of the town centre, attached to the left by a link block to the adjoining building. A paved public realm area with landscape trees addresses the principal elevation. Modern shop fronts and extensive internal alterations have resulted in significant loss of historic fabric, compromising the overall historic character and appearance of the structure.