Catholic Working Mens Club, 36 Hill Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1AR

Catholic Working Men's Club, 36 Hill Street, Newry

A three-storey classical Georgian house with basement and attic, dating from approximately 1820-1839. It forms the right-hand unit of a terrace of three similarly proportioned houses, built as part of the Downshire Estate's formal extension to the town laid out in the mid-18th century. The building is constructed of finely dressed granite ashlar and sits within a conservation area.

The west-facing façade is two bays wide with a pitched natural slate roof without chimneys, though three modern skylights have been inserted on the back pitch. Half-round metal rainwater goods with downpipes run at left and right. Four granite steps lead up to the front entrance at left, which comprises a modern six-panel painted door flanked by two ashlar granite Ionic columns supporting an entablature. Above is a semicircular radial fanlight of cast iron. A brass nameplate is affixed to the wall to the right of the right jamb.

To the right of the door are two 6/6 sliding sash windows without horns. All façade windows follow this same pattern: 6/6 sliding sashes at ground, first and second floors in vertical alignment, though those on the second floor are diminished in height. All have granite cills. A passage runs around the outside of the basement, formerly lit by two windows in line with those at ground floor. The left window is now infilled and the right has been enlarged to take a modern tongue-and-groove door. The basement passage is enclosed at street level by wrought-iron railings with urn-topped posts set on a finely dressed and chamfered plinth. These railings return on both sides of the entrance steps.

The left and right gables are abutted by adjoining buildings. The rear wall is of rubble granite brought to courses with stepped brick trimming around window openings. A flat-roofed extension rises from ground floor level to first floor height at right. Above the latter is a tall 6/6 sliding sash window with spoked head at the half-landing between first and second floors. At first floor centre is a 6/6 sash window, and a pair of timber casement windows above at second floor. To the left of these (which are diminished in height) is a modern sheeted fire escape door opening onto a metal balcony, from which steps descend to the first floor of the adjoining premises. All rear windows have granite cills.

The building originally served as a three-storey plus basement house. It appeared on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map and was valued at £42 in the 1838 valuation. The 1863 valuation records it as three and one-third storeys high plus basement. During the mid-19th century it functioned as a priest's residence before the clergy relocated to number 40 Hill Street. The building became the Catholic Working Men's Club around 1926, a use it continues to serve.

Although few original interior features survive, the elegant staircase is of architectural note. A post-World War II photograph in the Historic Monuments Record shows the façade much as it appears today, indicating that significant alterations have been limited.