32 Lisburn Street, Hillsborough, County Down, BT26 6AB

An asymmetrical three-bay, two-storey late-Georgian mid-terraced house constructed between circa 1800 and 1833, located on the west side of Lisburn Street in Hillsborough town centre. The building is rectangular on plan with a single-storey flat-roof extension to the rear.

The main elevation faces east and displays three irregularly spaced openings. The ground floor has a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door with brass door furniture in a smooth rendered surround, positioned right of centre and accessed via a shallow stone step; a window stands to the right and another to the far left. The first floor has two windows to the left of centre and one to the right. Windows throughout are replacement 6/6 timber-framed sliding sash with exposed sash boxes and horns, set in smooth rendered surrounds with projecting masonry sills. The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The west (rear) elevation is largely abutted at ground floor by the single-storey flat-roof extension; the first floor has three windows and the roof has two skylights, with a window to the left.

The walling is painted roughcast render with smooth render plinth and platband between first-floor sill levels. The pitched natural slate roof is finished with blue and black angled ridge tiles and has a red-brick chimneystack. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are present.

To the rear, access is gained through the carriage-arch of the adjoining building to the north. Two-storey rubble stone mews buildings, recently restored, stand to the north and west, forming a central paved courtyard.

The house does not appear on early maps; it first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map for Hillsborough in 1833 and on the Townland Valuation map of circa 1830, where it is shown as a small square building halfway up Lisburn Street. Lisburn Street is the oldest part of Hillsborough, and circa 1800 and 1803 maps demonstrate that the house was constructed between circa 1800 and 1833, when the street was named Great Newport Street in reference to the construction of the Lagan canal in the late 18th century. The majority of buildings on the northern half of the street date from this same period. The Townland Valuation of circa 1830 records that the property was exempt from valuation as it was worth less than the minimum value of £3.

By 1861, Griffith's Valuation noted that James Philpot, a local farmer, let the house from the Marquis of Downshire. At that time it was valued at £9 10s and described as a 1B+ class two-storey house measuring 9 by 7 yards; a two-storey outbuilding stood at the rear. Griffith's Valuation also recorded that Philpot occupied a row of five single-storey dwellings at the rear, valued between £1 and £1 10s each, let at 10s weekly rent and known as Bachelors Lane. Between 1861 and 1906, many occupants lived in these rear dwellings. James Philpot continued to occupy No. 32 Lisburn Street until his death in July 1887, leaving effects valued at £276 13s. 10d. and the main house to his wife Mary Philpot, with instructions that a house on Bachelors Lane be given to each of his four eldest children. However, by 1906, four of the five buildings on Bachelors Lane had been demolished and the remaining house converted into an out-office for the main house (itself removed between 1920 and 1966).

The 1901 and 1911 Census records show Mary Philpot living alone at No. 32 Lisburn Street, working as a dressmaker. The Census Building Return noted that the house possessed eight or nine rooms, whilst the surviving outbuilding at the rear was used as a stable, cow house and boiling house. Mary Philpot remained at the property until her death in March 1912, leaving effects of £246 8s. 7d. to be distributed by her son James Philpot. With her death, the house passed to Arthur Law, who first occupied it in 1914 and remained until 1930. James Philpot's will recorded that his daughter Phoebe had married a Joseph Law, though it is unclear whether Arthur Law was related or whether the house remained in the family.

The building remained unaltered until circa 1970, when the Housing Executive acquired the property and renovated it, resulting in significant loss of original fabric. The First Survey photograph shows that the house originally possessed sliding sash windows; these have since been replaced with more suitable Georgian glazing.

The interior has been recently refurbished with little or no historic fabric remaining. Although the building contributes to the character of Lisburn Street as part of an early 19th-century terrace on one of the oldest streets in the town, the replacement windows and significant internal alterations mean it does not meet the criteria for listing.