24 Downpatrick Street, Rathfriland, Newry, Co Down, BT34

This is a three-storey house with a garage shop on the ground floor, dating from approximately 1880 to 1899. It stands on the east side of Downpatrick Street in Rathfriland, Newry. The building is of local significance due to its historical role in retailing and servicing agricultural machinery and providing transportation services.

The main, south-facing elevation has a painted, smooth cement-rendered facade with a cill course to the first and second floors. To the left is a painted, tongue-and-groove sheeted vehicular door leading to a passage and the rear garage/yard. The remaining ground floor is occupied by a symmetrical shop front. It features a partly glazed timber door at the centre, with a plain rectangular transom above. Flanking the door are horizontally-divided picture windows. A timber fascia bears the words "Garage" and "Service" in wooden lettering. Supporting the shop front at either side of the entrance are painted cast-iron columns bearing the founder’s mark “The Millfield Foundry Belfast.” Remains of cantilevered petrol pump pipes are visible on either side of the frontage. The first floor has three equally spaced windows, all 1/2 top-hung casements; the left window is currently boarded over. The top floor mirrors the lower windows with three semicircular-headed openings, reduced in height, each containing a pair of casements with a semicircular transom. The left gable abuts a taller building, while the right gable abuts a lower building; a section of the rear elevation is exposed. A large double-pile garage is located at the rear. The roofs are corrugated metal over timber rafters and possess no particularly noteworthy structural features.

The building first appeared in valuation records in 1891, replacing an earlier structure. Robert Stevenson is recorded there from 1905, and his shop and workshops from 1914. The Stevenson family operated a bus service and garage, known as Stevenson’s & Son Automobile Engineers, which was established by Robert Stevenson, an agricultural engineer. His son, Fred, acted as an agent for Blackstone engines, distributing them from this location. The garage ceased operation in the early 1980s. An early photograph published in “The Outlook” local newspaper shows all windows originally as 2/2 sliding sashes.