Garage, 22 Dundalk Street, Newtownhamilton, Newry BT35 0PB

Garage, 22 Dundalk Street, Newtownhamilton

A terraced two-storey building over basement situated on the east side of Dundalk Street in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. Built pre-1830 as a dwelling house, it was substantially converted or rebuilt between 1929 and 1935 into a motor depot and garage.

The building retains its original plan form. The principal elevation faces west onto the main street. The pitched natural slate roof is equipped with clay ridge tiles. The rendered chimneystack with granite capping is located on the north party wall. Rainwater goods are modern uPVC, with a mixture of uPVC and cast-iron downpipes. The walling is painted render.

The ground-floor shopfront comprises a recessed entrance with a central square-headed door opening containing double-leaf four-panelled timber doors with glazing to the upper panels under a plain overlight. The principal entrance is flanked by two square-headed window openings with large plate glass windows over masonry stall risers. Two narrow square-headed door openings flank the main entrance to north and south, containing timber doors with mesh panels; the northernmost opening has concrete blocks infill. An aluminium cage to the front houses a historic petrol pump. The front elevation originally retained painted lettering reading 'STEEN'S MOTOR DEPOT', though this signage has since been painted over and replaced with modern attached signage. The first floor has a square-headed window opening with metal lintel containing a timber-framed linear window with eight glazed panels.

The rear elevation to the east is rubble stone walling with timber eaves. It contains a central square-headed door opening with iron lintel holding double-leaf iron doors to the basement, square-headed window openings, a single timber fixed-pane window with latticed iron grille over the ground floor, and a single timber six-over-one sliding sash window. Two top-hung timber casements are located at first-floor level. The north and south elevations form party walls with adjoining properties at Numbers 20 and 24 respectively.

The building occupies a prominent location on Newtownhamilton's main street, with residential properties on either side and opposite. The rear is bounded by a large grassy area with boundary wall.

This is a rare and well-preserved example of an early 1930s garage and petrol station in an urban context, employing naive vernacular 'deco' elements typical of how existing buildings were adapted to such commercial uses during that period. The property retains some original features consistent with its modest functional purpose.

Historical Context

The site was originally occupied by a dwelling house, evidenced as early as the 1860s. The house passed through numerous occupants during the later 19th and early 20th centuries: John Finnigan (1871), Patrick Lawell (1872), Samuel Bailie (1874), John Kane (1877), James Neill (1879), James Nugent (1888), Patrick McGeown (1879), Patrick Clernan (1904), Edward Boyle (1906), Macken, a tailor (1909), Michael Slane (circa 1910), Sarah West (1914), and James Toner (1915).

John Steen acquired the lease of the property in 1915. In the 1911 census he described himself as a grocer and bootmaker, and owned a shop almost directly opposite at present Numbers 21–23 Dundalk Street. The 1918 Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory records him also as a cycle agent, suggesting he may have used these new premises for that aspect of his business. Between 1929 and 1935, Steen either rebuilt or substantially converted the old house into the present motor depot, with changes so extensive as to constitute a practical rebuild. The property first appears as a 'garage and yard' in the General Revaluation book of 1935, in the name of John Steen.

Steen ran the garage with his son Robert James Steen (died 1979), the pair also operating a bus and taxi service in the area. Following Robert's death, the garage was operated by his son James, known locally as 'Jimmy' Steen, until the early 2000s. John Steen died in 1950.

The property served an important social function in the town and is of local architectural and historic interest. The building opposite at Numbers 21–23 Dundalk Street also bears the Steen name and has a historical connection to the garage.