Tobar Mhuire, 12 John Street, Crossgar, Co Down, BT30 9EG

Tobar Mhuire is a large two-storey hipped roof gentleman's residence built in 1864, set within its own compact estate on the southern edge of Crossgar. The building occupies the site of a late 18th century residence, Crossgar House, and is now Grade B1 listed.

The main house presents a symmetrical south-west facing front façade. At ground floor centre stands a large flat-roofed porch topped with a balustrade featuring curved balusters and squat panelled piers with urn finials. The porch can be entered from either the south-east or north-west, each with identical panelled timber doors with plain fanlights and moulded surrounds. Three tall, narrow sash windows with matching moulded surrounds occupy the south-west face of the porch. The porch is rendered with in and out quoins and an over-sailing cornice. The main façade has two sash windows with vertical astragals (2/2) flanking the porch on each side, with five similar but slightly shorter windows to the first floor, the central window set within a shallow recess. The north-west façade is three bays with the central bay recessed, containing four windows to each floor; the top left window is now a fixed light with stained glass. The south-east façade is in two uneven bays, the left projecting with a large gable conservatory/green house at ground floor and a matching window at first floor; the larger right bay has three windows to each floor.

The main house is finished in lined render with in and out quoins and bevelled base. The hipped roof has a slight overhang supported on paired brackets and is covered in natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. Six rendered chimney stacks with dentilled corbelling rise from the roof, along with a small cast iron skylight to the left of the rear elevation. Cast iron rainwater goods serve the building.

To the rear, two rubble-built wings link the main house to a large stable block now largely integrated internally. The south-east wing is two storey while the north-west wing is single storey, both with gabled roofs and running parallel to each other. The originally open space between them is now covered with a glazed hipped roof topped with ventilation ridges. The south-east wing's south-east façade has five windows and a modern glazed door to the ground floor and six windows to the first floor, all with frames matching the main house and cream brick dressings. The north-west wing's north-west façade has two windows, two timber-sheeted doors and three small roundel openings, similarly dressed in cream brick. The exposed section of the main house's rear façade is in three bays: the left bay is almost completely covered by the south-east wing; the right bay has three small stained glass windows near the eaves; the recessed inner bay features a large semicircular-headed sash window at stair landing level with margin panes. The inner faces of these bays contain two first floor sash windows without surrounds on the south-east side, while the north-west side appears blank.

The large stable block, now largely converted to living accommodation and integrated with the main house, is rubble-built with cream brick dressings to openings and hipped slate roof with cream brick chimney stacks. It is arranged around a substantial courtyard. A three-storey battlemented tower stands at the south corner of the block. circa 1960s, the single-storey south-east wing of the stable block was demolished and replaced with a large chapel, almost large enough to be classed as a church were it not attached to this monastery.

The north-west wing of the stable block has a right-of-centre segmental arched carriage entrance with timber-sheeted doors on its north-west face. To the left is a sash window with a large modern window beyond; to the right are three sash windows with a panelled doorway with fanlight. The first floor contains four sash windows, a roundel window above the carriage arch, and a small roundel window to the far right. Two cream brick chimney stacks serve this wing. The inner south-east façade has a very large segmental-headed window to the left on the first floor, created by partly blocking a former arched doorway and now with modern frame. Two sash windows occupy the first floor, with a roundel window centred above the carriage arch.

The north-east wing's north-east façade has six sash windows to the ground floor on the left with another window reduced in size, and five further sash windows of slightly varying size to the first floor left with a smaller window of modern frame. To the right is a large single-storey lean-to with modern windows to its north-east face (rendered) and a small upper level sash window to the south-east; a projecting section at its north end has a fixed light window to the north-east and sash window to the north-west. Above the lean-to on the main north-east façade are three squat windows with modern frames. The inner south-west façade of the south-west wing has six sash windows to the ground floor with two glazed doors (left and larger centre), and four sash windows to the first floor with a doorway to the far left opening onto the roof of a wing stretching from the chapel.

The exposed south-west façade section to the left has two sash windows to each floor with a single roundel opening to each floor; the exposed first floor right section has two small modern-framed windows. The exposed ground floor right section is finished in red brick with three modern-framed windows and a partly glazed door, two windows designed to resemble sash frames. The first floor has three sash windows at this side. The inner north-east façade of the south-west wing has five ground floor windows and a glazed door with semicircular fanlight, the first two ground floor windows with modern frames designed to resemble sash, and six first floor sash windows. The three-storey battlemented tower at the south end of this wing has two sash windows to each floor on its south-west side, a timber-sheeted door at first floor on the south-east with sash window above, and a similar window to the second floor on the north-east. All tower openings have cream brick dressings and quoins matching the stable block.