'Dunida', 9 Lurgan Road, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 4LU

Dunida, 9 Lurgan Road, Banbridge

A one-and-a-half-storey three-bay detached house built around 1890 to designs by Henry Hobart, located on the east side of Lurgan Road north of Banbridge town centre. The building sits on an extensive mature landscaped site with lawned gardens to front and rear, mature trees, and mature hedgerow boundaries.

The house has an L-shaped plan with a projecting gabled left bay, a two-storey canted bay to the southeast, a projecting gabled and columned semi-open porch and veranda to the southwest, a two-storey gabled return, and a later single-storey flat-roof extension to the rear. The roof is a steep hipped natural slate with terracotta crestings, replica decorative finials, and rounded terracotta tiles to the hips. Tall lozenge chimneystacks have replica terracotta pots. Plain bargeboards finish the gables.

Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on projecting eaves with timber fascia boards. Exposed rafter tails extend to the open porch. The walling is ruled-and-lined render with stugged finish on a chamfered plinth, with smooth rendered quoins and a cavetto eaves course. Decorative terracotta panels ornament the first floor. Windows are a variety of timber casements and timber-framed sliding sash with horns, set in chamfered reveals with projecting sandstone sills. Those to the first floor have moulded architraves with keyblock and continuous sills.

The principal elevation faces southwest. It comprises a projecting gabled bay to the left and a wider bay to the right with a gablet and timber semi-open porch at ground floor. The gabled left bay has a four-paned window to the first floor and paired 1/1 windows to the ground floor. The right bay has a four-paned window to both first and ground floor levels. An enclosed timber-framed porch sits at the re-entrant angle, gabled and extending to a columned verandah at the right. The porch sits on a chamfered sandstone plinth and features decorative bargeboards with finials, louvered aprons, and timber brackets to the gable. It contains four timber windows with etched glass margins surmounted by a three-paned leaded-and-stained glass window arranged in a triangle and surrounded by timber-sheeting. It opens to the southeast with a double-leaf raised-and-pointed three-panel varnished oak door having brass door furniture. The verandah is laid with terracotta tiles and accessed by two granite steps. A slated canopy is supported on square timber columns with carved brackets having trefoil detailing.

The northwest elevation has two windows to the left at first floor level. An enlarged replacement window occupies the ground floor left, with a 1/1 window to the ground floor centre. The northeast elevation is abutted at the right by the two-storey return, with a two-storey lean-to extension at the northwest elevation and a single-storey flat-roof extension (of no architectural interest) to the northeast. A three-paned dormer window sits on the rear pitch; a four-paned window to the first floor left breaks the eaves line; a replacement stairwell window sits at the centre.

The southeast elevation features a two-storey canted bay at the left. A four-paned window to the first floor breaks the eaves line and has a segmental-headed hood. At ground floor, double-leaf panelled-and-glazed timber doors surmounted by a transom light sit in a moulded surround with keyblock. 1/1 sashes flank the doors, with top panes divided into three. The right bay has a four-paned timber window to the ground floor.

The site is set to the east side of Lurgan Road with mature trees flanking the driveway to the southwest. A set of modern steel gates supported on rock-faced stone piers and a cattle grid provide access from the main road. The road boundary is marked by a recent rock-faced stone wall with stone coping. A mid-century garage stands on the property. Extensive lawned gardens extend to the rear, bounded by mature hedgerow and accessed via original wrought-iron gates to the northwest and southeast.