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

22 Main Street is a mid-terrace three-storey rendered house with a lower two-storey wing, built around 1770 and located on the east side of Main Street in Hillsborough. The building is rectangular in plan facing west.

The house features a pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and a pair of rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron guttering on iron brackets and a cast-iron downpipe serve the roof. The walls are painted rough-cast render. Window openings are square-headed with smooth render surrounds, painted masonry sills, and replacement 6/6 timber sash windows. The front west elevation is two windows wide to the three-storey section and a single window to the north two-storey wing. The ground floor has paired 6/6 timber sash windows with a central mullion and shared masonry sill. A square-headed door opening with smooth render surround, four-pane sidelight and timber panelled door occupies the central position. A square-headed carriage arch opening with steel lintel and pair of vertically-sheeted timber doors serves the northern wing. The north side elevation is abutted by the adjoining house No. 20. The rear elevation is partially abutted by flat-roofed extensions with a single window to the second floor visible. The south side elevation is abutted by the adjoining house No. 24.

The property has been substantially altered. A two-storey flat-roofed extension was added to the rear around 1987, and a single-storey conservatory was added around 1990. The front elevation retains its eighteenth-century proportions and contributes positively to the Hillsborough Conservation Area.

An original indenture dated 1773 between the Marquis of Downshire and James Henderson confirms the plot of land, with the house built shortly afterwards. Historical records show the house appearing on a map of Hillsborough from around 1800 as a single building with No. 24. At that time it was in the possession of James Henderson. By the 1830s, Henderson still occupied the house, which was valued at £10. Griffith's Valuation of 1861 records John McClune as owner, with the property let to John Levingston at 2/6 weekly rent. By this date the house had been subdivided into the current Nos. 22 and 24. The valuation describes it as a one-bedroom dwelling measuring five by seven yards and three storeys tall, valued at £4 10s. By 1864 the property was owned by James Steel. John Levingston remained the occupant until 1902. Margaret Gowdy, a local grocer, lived in the house from then until 1909, after which it fell vacant until 1917. Valentine Sillock then occupied the house until 1930. The outbuildings to the rear were converted into separate dwellings, creating McClune's Court. These have since been demolished.

The house was listed in 1976. Extensive restoration work was carried out to the interior in 1987, at which time the two-storey rear extension was added. Further renovations were carried out in 2009. Several Edwardian features including a fireplace and banister remain in the interior. Nos. 22 and 24 are notable as two of the earlier Georgian townhouses built on Main Street during the period 1770–1830, when many seventeenth-century thatched buildings were replaced. The existence of the original indenture makes these houses among very few early buildings on Main Street with a definite build date.

The house forms part of a terrace of various building types on the east side of Main Street within the Hillsborough Conservation Area.