22 Victoria Square, Rostrevor, Co.Down

22 Victoria Square is an end-of-terrace three-bay two-storey Victorian house with attic, built in 1880 to designs by David Mahood, a local builder and contractor. It is one of five similar houses forming a terrace on the northwest side of Victoria Square, a formally designed Victorian development originally named Albert Terrace. The square is arranged on three sides around a central green, primarily accessed from Shore Road to the southwest.

The house has a T-shaped plan form facing southeast with a two-storey return centred at the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features roll-top terracotta ridge tiles and raised verge tiles. A rendered chimney to the northeast gable has corbelled coping with terracotta pots, while a similar chimney built in red brick to the southwest is shared with No. 20 Victoria Square. Scrolled brackets on painted timber eaves boards support a painted timber soffit to the roof overhang. The uPVC ogee moulded gutter discharges to a circular downpipe. A pair of dormers to the southeast have hipped slate roofs, lead flashings, terracotta ridge tiles and finials.

The walling is generally smooth rendered to the ground floor and rough-cast rendered to the first floor, with a smooth raised rendered sill course to the first floor. Square-headed window openings feature roll-moulded lips to the reveal edge at timber box frames, with three-over-three margin-paned timber sliding sash windows throughout unless otherwise stated.

The principal front elevation is symmetrical and faces southeast with a central entrance flanked by single-storey canted bays having hipped lead roofs and half-round cast-iron gutters. The entrance has a depressed-arched opening with a projecting roll-moulded edge to the rendered reveal, a square-headed six-panelled timber door flanked by side-lights with scrolled pilasters, and a fanlight with a glazed circular inset. A concrete pathway flanked by formal lawn with a pair of concrete steps leads to the entrance.

The southwest elevation is attached to No. 20 Victoria Square. The side elevation of the rear return is two-storey with a cat-slide roof and three-over-three timber sliding sash windows. The rear elevation faces northwest and is three-bay two-storey with a projecting central rear return having a cat-slide roof with terracotta verges. Three low-profile rooflights, possibly original, are roughly in line with the first-floor windows. The rear return has a single-bay single-storey abutment to the northwest with a monopitch slate roof. Square-headed openings throughout include half-glazed timber double doors with side-lights and an overlight to the right side of the return at ground floor, and a four-over-four timber sliding sash window to the ground floor at the left side. A single timber sliding sash window with margin panes is centred at first-floor level to the rear return.

A single-storey rendered outbuilding within the rear yard has a mono-pitch slate roof, abuts the rear elevation at 90 degrees, and is attached to the northeast boundary wall. It appears contemporary with the house and has a timber-sheeted door. The northeast elevation forms the gable end of the terrace. A single-storey wall attached to the rear of the gable extends northwest and forms a boundary wall with an access lane to the northeast. The side elevation of the rear return has a timber-sheeted door and a three-over-three sash window at ground floor; a door opening in the monopitched extension also has a single sheeted door. Cast-iron rainwater goods are used throughout, with some uPVC to the rear.

The house is set back from the road behind a low smooth rendered boundary wall with curved coping, square-plan piers with domed coping, and a decorative timber gate. The rear garden is enclosed by a rendered wall and includes formal lawn, paved paths, and a series of monopitched and pitched-roofed outbuildings adjoining the boundary, including a pitched-roof garage to the rear with a painted timber-sheeted door.