93 Ballynahinch Road, Derry, Dromara, Dromore, County Down, BT25 2AL

A two-storey three-bay house with filling station built around 1860, located on the south side of Ballynahinch Road on the outskirts of Dromara. The building is now vacant and in a poor state of repair. It represents an interesting example of the once common rural practice of combining residential and commercial uses, though twentieth-century alterations have diminished its historic character.

The rectangular plan includes a single-storey gabled return to the rear. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles and stone verges, finished with two smooth rendered gable chimneystacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods with a hopper sit on dentilled eaves.

The main walling comprises ruled-and-lined render with quoins, while the gables and rear are finished in roughcast render with smooth rendered sections to the top of the gables. Windows are primarily 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns. Those on the main elevation feature keyblock details and projecting sills; rear windows are set in painted smooth rendered surrounds; modern timber-framed windows have been inserted to the rear return.

The principal elevation faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. At first floor are three windows. Ground floor has a replacement entrance door to the right of centre, a window to the right, and to the left a shopfront with large single-paned windows flanking a double-leaf timber-sheeted door with transom light. The east elevation contains a modern timber-framed window at both ground and first floor to the left. The south elevation has two first-floor windows and a single ground-floor window to the left, with the single-storey return abutting to the right. This return features a modern half-panelled door to its gable, two windows in the east cheek, and a large window in the west cheek. The west elevation has a single first-floor window.

The building sits set back from the road with a small front garden. A lane to the east leads to a commercial yard at the rear, which is enclosed by mature trees.

The dwelling appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833 as two oblong buildings, though it does not feature in the Townland Valuations of around 1830. By 1861, John Nelson, a local farmer, occupied the house. The current two-storey farmhouse was constructed around this time; Griffith's Valuation lists James Graham as the immediate lessor, valuing the house and its east outbuilding at £1 10s. The Nelson family retained possession until at least the mid-1870s, when John Nelson and his wife joined Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church. Nelson had vacated the house by 1901 and does not appear in that census. Ownership subsequently changed, though details are unknown.

The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1859 shows a second outbuilding was constructed west of the current house, but this was demolished and does not appear on the 1975 map. The original oblong out-office to the west, visible from the earliest Ordnance Survey maps, survives and is currently used as a garage and shed.

Mid-twentieth-century modifications included the addition of the single-storey rear return and conversion of the front dining room into a shopfront for a filling station, constructed around the 1950s. The house is presently vacant, the shop is abandoned, and the interior is in a state of dilapidation.