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

13 Arthur Street, Hillsborough

A mid-terrace single-storey with attic workers' house built around 1850 in a Tudor-style Victorian manner. The building was constructed to house workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate. It is rectangular in plan form and has a single-storey modern extension to the rear.

The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged, with a ground-floor window positioned to the right of the front door. A sandstone elliptical arched alleyway with long-and-short surrounds, painted black, is located to the left of the front door. This alleyway, shared with the adjoining dwelling, formerly provided access to the rear yard and now serves as secondary access to the modern extension.

The building retains its original modest style and proportions with dressed stone archway and stone hood mouldings. The pitched roof is covered with natural slate and clay ridge tiles, with a centrally located dormer window and cast-iron rainwater goods. A brick chimneystack, shared with the adjoining building, rises with two clay pots.

The walling consists of coursed rubble masonry with red brick surrounds to doors and windows. The windows are modern top-hung single-glazed timber casements painted white, with lattice lead applied to the face. Large sandstone cills painted black are topped with single-brick flat arches and robust half-circle sandstone label mouldings, painted black, matching the label mould over the alleyway. The replacement timber front door is painted black with strap hinges.

The left elevation forms part of the passageway between the adjoining dwelling at number 15. The right elevation abuts the adjoining dwelling at number 11. The rear elevation is abutted by the single-storey modern extension.

The building forms part of a pair of matching terraces lining Arthur Street. The street is accessed by a single entrance from Ballynahinch Street, with the other end closed by a large rubble masonry wall, in which an arched opening has since been infilled. The street was built at various stages throughout the first half of the 19th century. The earliest houses, appearing on the 1833 Ordnance Survey map, date from the 1820s and were erected primarily to accommodate workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate. By the 1858 Ordnance Survey map, the remainder of the street as it appears today is shown. Field evidence indicates that the earliest part of the street was constructed using random rubble masonry with granite moulding and arched alleyways. A second phase of construction, comprising four additional dwellings, may have been erected later where sandstone replaced granite and the walling changed to squared galletted rubble. The later part of the street, constructed around 1850, features more regularly cut stone laid to courses.

According to Griffith's Valuation of 1862, the owner was John Smith, and the house and yard were valued at £2 15 shillings. The valuer noted that the rents were 'moderate'. This house claims ownership of a passageway and enjoys an additional bedroom located above, hence valued slightly higher than the neighbouring house. Various changes of occupier followed.

All houses on the street were provided with a yard to the rear; a 'pit' for household waste; and a dry toilet. Coal was typically stored in a hole under the stairs adjacent to the living room. Water was supplied from either a tap located at the top of Arthur Street or a pump at the end of Wapping Street.

The building was listed in 1974 and has undergone various twentieth-century alterations and additions, including replacement of dormers in 1990 and the installation of skylights in 1999, which has unfortunately contributed much to the loss of its original features. Despite these modern interventions and the replacement of many original materials during recent renovations, the building constitutes an important part of the overall character of Arthur Street.