17 Arthur Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AP

17 Arthur Street is a Victorian mid-terrace single-storey with attic workers' cottage built around 1850 to house workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate. The building is rectangular in plan form with a two-storey modern extension added to the rear. It is situated off Ballynahinch Street, north of St Malachi's Parish Church, within a conservation area and forms part of a pair of matching terraces lining the street.

The building displays its original modest style and proportions with a dressed stone archway and stone hood mouldings characteristic of the period. The roof is pitched natural slate with clay ridge tiles and a centrally located dormer window, finished with cast-iron rainwater goods. A replacement brick chimney stack, shared with the adjoining building, carries two clay pots.

The walling is coursed rubble masonry with red brick surrounds to doors and windows. The most notable external feature is a sandstone elliptical arched alleyway with long-and-short surrounds, which was formerly an access to the rear yard and now provides secondary access to the modern extension. This alleyway is shared with the adjoining dwelling and is located to the left of the front door.

The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged, with a ground-floor window positioned to the right of the front door. Windows are modern top-hung single-glazed timber casements painted white with lattice lead applied to the face, concrete cills, and single-brick flat arches over with robust half-circle cement rendered label mouldings. The front door is replacement timber. The left elevation forms part of the passageway between number 19. The right elevation abuts number 15. The rear elevation is abutted by the two-storey modern extension.

Historical records indicate that Arthur Street was built in stages throughout the first half of the 19th century. The earliest dwellings shown on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map date from the 1820s and were erected primarily to accommodate workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate. The earliest part of the street was constructed using random rubble masonry with granite moulding and arched alleyways. A second phase of construction introduced sandstone in place of granite and squared galletted rubble walling. The later construction, including number 17, dating from around 1850, uses more regularly cut stone laid to courses. By the 1858 Ordnance Survey map, the remainder of the street appears much as it does today.

Griffith's Valuation of 1862 identifies the owner as John Smith and values the house and yard at £2 15 shillings, with the valuer noting that rents are 'moderate'. The property was originally valued slightly higher than neighbouring houses as it included ownership of the passageway and an additional bedroom located above it. All houses on the street were originally provided with a yard to the rear containing a pit for household waste and a dry toilet. Coal was typically stored in a hole under the stairs adjacent to the living room, and water was supplied from either a tap at the top of Arthur Street or a pump at the end of Wapping Street.

The building was listed in 1974. Despite retaining its original façade, it has lost its original doors and windows. Various 20th-century alterations and additions have been made, including replacement of dormers in 1990 and installation of skylights in 1999, and many original materials have been replaced internally during recent renovations. These alterations have contributed to the loss of original features. The building remains an important part of the overall character of Arthur Street, constituting significant group value within a terrace of matching dwellings. The street is accessed by a single entrance from Ballynahinch Street, with the other end closed in by a large rubble masonry wall, an arched opening in which has since been infilled.