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

24 Arthur Street is a single-storey stone end-terrace house with attic dormer, built around 1850 as part of a group of similar workers' dwellings erected on the Downshire Estate during the mid-nineteenth century. It is located on Arthur Street, which runs north from Ballynahinch Street near St Malachi's Parish Church.

The house displays its original façade with dressed stone archway and stone hood mouldings, retaining the modest style and proportions characteristic of its period. The pitched roof is covered with natural slate and clay ridge tiles, with a centrally positioned dormer window and uPVC rainwater goods. A brick chimneystack, shared with the adjoining building, rises with two clay pots. The walling is coursed rubble masonry with sandstone quoins and red brick surrounds to door and window openings. A robust half-circle cement-rendered moulding frames the window openings.

The front elevation, facing west, is asymmetrically arranged with a ground-floor window to the left of the front door. The left elevation abuts the adjoining dwelling (number 22), whilst the right gable elevation has no openings. A two-storey modern extension has been added to the rear on the left side. The quoins are positioned to the right-hand side of the front elevation.

The windows are modern top-hung double-glazed timber casements, painted white with lattice lead applied to the face, set over sandstone cills. The original doors and windows have been lost, with a replacement timber-sheeted front door now in place.

The house is set within a pair of matching terraces lining Arthur Street. The street itself is accessed by a single entrance from Ballynahinch Street, with the far end closed by a large rubble masonry wall containing an infilled arched opening.

Evidence from Ordnance Survey maps indicates that Arthur Street was developed in phases throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. The earliest dwellings, appearing on the 1833 map and dating from the 1820s, were erected to house workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate. By the 1834 town plan, six dwellings were identified on the street. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 shows the remainder of the street as it appears today. The earliest buildings used random rubble masonry with granite mouldings and featured arched alleyways. A second phase, comprising four further dwellings, employed sandstone instead of granite with squared galletted rubble walling. The later part of the street, constructed around 1850, features more regular cut stone laid to courses. This building, number 24, appears to belong to this later phase of construction, built circa 1850.

Griffiths Valuation of 1862 identifies the owner as John Smith, valuing the house and yard at £2 15 shillings. The valuer noted that rents were 'moderate'. The property included ownership of a passageway and an additional bedroom above it, which resulted in a valuation slightly higher than neighbouring houses. The building originally possessed a rear yard with a pit for household waste and a dry toilet. Coal was typically stored in a hole beneath 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 significant twentieth-century alterations and additions—including replacement of dormers in 1990 and installation of skylights in 1999—it retains importance as part of the overall character of Arthur Street. Recent internal renovations have resulted in the replacement of many original materials, though the building constitutes an important part of the streetscape and remains within a conservation area. The modern extensions and loss of original features represent alterations that have detracted from the building's historical integrity, though it continues to hold value as part of the heritage context of this workers' housing development.