Former Kinnahalla Youth Hostel, 78 Kilkeel Road, Hilltown, Newry, Co Down, BT34 5XH

The building, now a hotel, was originally a youth hostel constructed between 1940 and 1959. Designed by Phillip Bell in 1956, it was the first of the King George VI Memorial Hostels built in the UK, and opened in 1959. It was funded by a £10,000 grant and an additional £2,000 raised by the Youth Hostel Association of Northern Ireland. Designed to resemble a ski chalet along Continental lines, the original structure featured shallow overhanging pitched roofs, a rubble stone ground floor, and wet dashed upper floors, a style common in schools of the period. It was originally three storeys high and included balconettes on the end gable, serving male and female dormitories, along with steel-framed windows. The hostel accommodated 44 people and included facilities such as a drying room, a suntrap porch, a bicycle store, and an electricity generator; the warden had accommodation on the ground floor of a wing.

The building has undergone substantial alterations, rendering it unsuitable for statutory protection. A two-storey block abuts the north-west gable. The exterior is now characterised by painted wet dashed walls, uPVC window frames, and modern render architraves. A polished granite datestone on the facade indicates renovations in 1991 by Alan Cook Architects and Annvale Construction, with the inscription “The Richmond Fellowship 1991 / Kinnahalla”. A significant alteration involved steepening the roof pitches, transforming its appearance into that of a two-and-a-half storey building.