44 High Street, Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh, BT92 8JD

44 High Street, Newtownbutler, is a Grade B1 listed building—a pleasant and well-proportioned two-storey house of considerable architectural and historical interest. Dating from the mid-19th century (rebuilt or extensively refurbished between 1836 and 1860), it stands directly facing the road on the west side of High Street and is notably one of the few buildings in the village to retain both its external character and its original internal plan-form and features.

The house is aligned roughly north to south, comprising three bays across its principal elevation, which faces west. The pitched roof is covered with natural slate and carries a cement-rendered chimney to each gable; the advanced eaves course supports half-round metal rainwater goods. The walls are cement-rendered and lined over a stepped basecourse, with painted stepped quoins applied to the façade only.

At the centre of the principal elevation is a gabled porch with a pitched artificial slate roof and small saw-toothed bargeboard. The front face contains a pair of four-panelled timber doors; the lower panels are tongue-and-groove sheeted with timber lattice top panels, and a narrow transom sits above. To the left and right of the porch doors are fixed margin-paned windows; similar but wider windows occupy each cheek. The entrance door set within the porch itself is four-panelled with original brass furniture and a plainly glazed transom over. Flanking the porch on either side are 6/6 sliding sash windows with horns and stone cills. At first floor level, three similar windows are aligned above.

The left gable contains a window to each floor: the ground floor window is a fixed single-pane without cill, whilst the first floor is a 1/1 sliding sash.

The rear elevation is partly abutted by a link block connecting to a rear outbuilding at first-floor centre (which is incorporated into the main house at first-floor level only). The exposed ground floor of the central bay has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door containing a glazed panel. The left bay contains a 6/6 sliding sash window to each floor, whilst the right bay has a similar window to ground floor only.

The link block is diagonally aligned on a northeast to southwest axis, with a flat felted roof and tongue-and-groove sheeted walls and soffit. It contains a 6/6 sliding sash window at its northwest face.

The outbuilding, aligned west to east, has a pitched natural slate roof with a brick chimney to the west gable and walls of rubble stone. Its north elevation has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door at the extreme right and at centre; to the right is a 1/6 sliding sash window. The first floor contains a 2/2 sliding sash window placed to the right of centre. The east gable (facing the house) is blank but abutted by the link block at first floor; the south elevation is blank. The west gable is abutted by a lower shed with pitched corrugated metal roof and concrete block walls (open to the north and not of heritage interest). The right gable is abutted by a single-storey house of no heritage interest; the exposed section is blank.

Historical records show a building on this plot on the 1834 Ordnance Survey six-inch map. The 1836 Valuation book describes it as a dwelling belonging to Christopher Coulson, measuring 50 feet by 23 feet by 8 feet 6 inches. By the 1860 Valuation, it still belonged to Mr Coulson but its dimensions are recorded as 36 feet by 24 feet with two storeys, plus a 24 feet by 24 feet annex of one and a half storeys; it is also noted as being "well finished". The significant change in dimensions between 1836 and 1860 strongly suggests the house was rebuilt or extensively refurbished during this period.