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

19 Arthur Street is a Victorian mid-terrace workers' cottage, single-storey with attic, built around 1850. It was constructed to house workers and tenants of the Downshire Estate and forms an important part of the character of Arthur Street in Hillsborough.

The building is rectangular in plan with a single storey modern extension to the rear. It is situated off Ballynahinch Street, north of St Malachi's Parish Church. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with clay ridge tiles and two dormer windows. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted, and a brick chimneystack shared with the adjoining building carries two clay pots.

The external walls are coursed rubble masonry with red brick and sandstone surrounds to doors and windows. A notable sandstone elliptical arched alleyway with long-and-short surrounds is shared with the adjoining dwelling. This archway originally provided access to the rear yard and now provides secondary access to the modern extension. A robust half-circle cement rendered label moulding runs above the alleyway and above the ground-floor window.

The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrically arranged, with the ground-floor window positioned to the left of the front door and the arched alleyway to the right. The windows are modern top-hung single-glazed timber casements painted white with lattice lead applied to the face, set on concrete cills. The front door is a replacement timber sheeted door painted blue. The left elevation abuts number 11 Arthur Street, whilst the right elevation forms part of the passageway between number 15. The rear elevation is abutted by the modern extension.

Ordnance Survey maps and historical records show that Arthur Street was developed in stages throughout the first half of the 19th century. The earliest houses, appearing on the 1833 map and dating from the 1820s, were constructed using random rubble masonry with granite moulding and arched alleyways. A second phase of four dwellings was erected later, around 1850, where sandstone replaced granite and the walling became squared galleted rubble from more regularly cut stone laid to courses. Number 19 belongs to this later phase, built around 1850. Griffith's Valuation of 1862 records the owner as John Smith, with the house and yard valued at £2 15 shillings. The valuer noted that rents were 'moderate'. All houses on the street originally included a rear yard with 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 a tap at the top of Arthur Street or a pump at the end of Wapping Street.

The building was listed in 1974. Despite losing its original doors and windows and having had many original materials replaced internally during recent renovations, including replacement of dormers in 1990 and installation of skylights in 1999, the house retains its original façade with dressed stone archway and stone hood mouldings, preserving its original modest style and proportions.

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 that once had an arched opening, now infilled.