15 Windsor Hill, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1ER

15 Windsor Hill, Newry, Co Down

A two-storey, three-bay rendered house, built in the late 19th century (first appearing in the 1895 Valuation Book). It is a substantial example of Victorian suburban architecture, though not of sufficient special interest to warrant listing.

The house features a double hipped natural slate roof with a central valley and boxed overhanging eaves. Two rendered and coped chimneys rise parallel to the façade from behind the front roof ridge. The front, left and right elevations are rendered over a raised chamfered base course. Band rustication extends to the ground floor, with stepped render quoins applied to the first floor. A raised render platband separates the two storeys.

The main entrance is on the central bay of the façade, approached by three moulded granite steps. The door is four-panelled timber (the upper two panels larger) with a beaded muntin and raised and fielded bolection-moulded panels, retaining original brass furniture. It is set within a quarter-chamfered timber frame with three transoms and a side light with panelled apron, the whole contained within a segmental-headed opening with a roll-moulded chamfered head. Flanking this opening are panelled render pilasters with moulded heads that continue into the opening's reveal. At the top, panelled render corbels support a moulded cornice, above which sits a balconette comprising Gothic revival cast-iron railings over a plinth, terminated by panelled piers.

To the left and right bays at ground floor are single-storey canted bays, each with a raised base course and moulded cornice with raised fretted parapet. Each contains a 1/1 sliding sash window with horns, sharing a common granite cill. On the first floor, centred over the door, are a pair of 1/1 semicircular-headed sliding sashes with horns. Above each bay window is a 1/1 sliding sash with horns.

The right elevation is two bays wide, with the rightmost bay carried forward. The walls follow the façade detailing, with stepped quoins at each corner. Each bay has a single 1/1 sliding sash window with horns and granite cill on each floor. Ground-floor windows have voussoirs delineated in render channels; first-floor windows lack voussoirs, with the rightmost window to the first floor having horizontal bars to its bottom sash. The left elevation is a mirror image of the right, with the same fenestration scheme.

The rear elevation is abutted to left and right by lower two-storey returns, each with pitched natural slate roofs that abut the rear wall of the main block. The remainder of the rear wall is painted lined render, with a central panel raised forward beneath a cat-slide of the main roof. Between ground and first floors on this central panel is a semicircular-headed stained and leaded glass half-landing window. To left and right of this panel, filling the wall between the raised section and the rear returns, are single modern top-hung timber windows set in older openings. The rear returns have pitched natural slate roofs and painted rendered walls, with modern top-hung timber windows opening onto the rear yard.

The house is set within lawned gardens with an orchard to the rear right. A broad driveway with a modern garage runs to the front right. The property is raised significantly above the level of Windsor Hill and is approached by a double flight of steps from a car parking area. Originally the garden was much larger; land to the left now accommodates a more recent house.