28 Main Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AE

28 Main Street, Hillsborough

A mid-terrace two-bay two-storey rendered house built around 1760, located on the east side of Main Street, Hillsborough. The building retains much of its original character and represents one of the better preserved early Georgian townhouses in the area, with the battered wall and early windows providing one of the more impressive intact elevations on the street.

The house is rectangular on plan, facing west towards Main Street, with a lower two-storey return to the rear and a large original rear garden extending eastward. The pitched natural slate roof features black clay ridge tiles and a redbrick chimneystack to the north. Cast-iron rainwater goods are mounted on iron brackets to a brick eaves course. The walls are finished in painted rough-cast render, with the front elevation notably battered and featuring plain render quoins. The north gable wall, which rises above the neighbouring house at No. 24, is constructed of rubblestone.

The front west elevation is four windows wide with original early timber sash windows set in square-headed openings with smooth render surrounds and painted masonry sills. The windows are 9/6 lights on the first floor and 9/9 lights on the ground floor, retaining their exposed sash boxes and historic glass. A square-headed doorway to the right of the elevation has a smooth render surround and features an original vertically-sheeted timber door with brass furniture and rectangular overlight, opening onto a single concrete step. The north and south side elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings (No. 24 to the north and No. 30 to the south). The rear elevation includes a catslide roof to a stairhall projection, with the remainder of the facade abutted by a gable-fronted two-storey return. A modern timber-frame conservatory has been added to the re-entrant angle. The return features rough-cast render walling with original timber sash windows and concrete sills.

The house was originally constructed as part of a pair with No. 30 Main Street. Documentary evidence, including building deeds held by a previous owner, dates both houses to 1769. A map of circa 1800 depicts the building as an oblong structure with two large office buildings in the yard. By 1800, Nos. 28 and 30 formed a single property owned by Mr. McPherson, valued at £10. The 1830s Townland Valuation map and the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834 show that the two out offices were replaced by a coach house, now included in the property of No. 30.

Between approximately 1830 and 1861, Nos. 28 and 30 became separate properties. Griffith's Valuation of 1861 describes No. 28 as a 1B-class two-storey building measuring ten by seven yards, valued at £11 and let by the Reverend James Moorhead to Miss Jane E. Clarke at an annual rent of £12. The valuation records confirm that the current two-storey rear return had been constructed by 1861, along with a rear outbuilding since demolished. Jane Clarke occupied the house until 1869, when it passed to Mr. John McGroody. In 1885, Ms. Mary Jane Patterson came into possession of the house and resided there until her death in 1917. The 1901 Census records that Mary Jane Patterson (then aged 30) lived at No. 28 with her sisters, all employed as dressmakers. The census building return describes the house as a 1st-class dwelling with eight rooms, a stable, and a barn as outbuildings, both of which have since been demolished.

Following Mary Jane Patterson's death in 1917, the house passed between various occupants. During the late 20th century, the property was used as commercial premises, at which time some interior modifications were made. It is now used as a private dwelling. The house was listed in 1976. When architect C. E. B. Brett surveyed the building in 1974, he described it as a 'fine two-storey building', though noting that the windows had been altered and the rough-cast appeared dreary. The rough-cast render has since been repainted, significantly improving the building's appearance.

The house is part of a pair of interlocking houses and forms part of the terrace of varying dates and scale lining the east side of Main Street as it rises to meet The Square. It sits within a conservation area and constitutes an important element of the heritage of the Lisburn area.