44 Canal Street, Newry, Co Down, BT35 6JF

A well-preserved mid-Georgian town house on the west side of Canal Street in Newry, constructed between 1820 and 1839. The building comprises three bays and three storeys, with a possible basement and attic space.

The roof is pitched with artificial slate and features corbelled oversailing eaves with plain slated verges. Rendered chimneys with corbelled copings rise from each gable end; the left chimney has two pots and the right has six. The façade is painted lined render with stepped render quoins to either side and a raised eaves course.

The main east-facing elevation has an off-centre entrance to the left of the central bay. Two granite steps lead to a ten-panelled painted timber door (arranged in three rows of three, with the top three panels smaller and a fourth horizontal panel at the bottom). The door is framed by an aedicule of paired three-quarter-attached Tuscan columns on plinths, supporting a moulded entablature. Above the entablature is a glazed semi-elliptical fanlight. Both door and fanlight are set within a semi-elliptical head with painted voussoirs over granite jambs. The left jamb has a raised impost and is shared with a coach-arch to the ground floor left. This arch contains a pair of large, stained tongue-and-groove sheeted doors with a wicket, set within a semi-elliptical head matching the front door details. The left jamb of the coach-arch forms a stop to the façade quoins.

All windows on the façade are painted timber exposed box replacement sliding sashes with painted granite cills. The ground floor right contains an 8/8 window. Below at ground level is an opening that appears to serve a basement. The first and second floors each have three equally spaced 6/6 windows, not aligned with ground floor openings. The second floor windows are diminished in height.

Both south and north gables are abutted by lower neighbouring properties and have their exposed sections finished in cement render. The rear elevation is unpainted cement render, with a carriageway to the right bay featuring an exposed painted timber lintel and rendered interior.

A single-storey extension wraps around the left corner and rear elevation. Its windows are 1/1 plastic with painted granite cills, comprising a single window to the left and right bays on both upper floors, and a central window between ground and first floors and between first and second floors. The extension has a pitched concrete tile lean-to roof flanked by flat felt roofs. Walls are cement rendered with two large picture windows and two small windows to the rear, and a two-paned modern glazed door. These inappropriate rear works devalue the building.

The rear features paving with a mature garden beyond, enclosed by rubble stone walls to either side.

Historical records show the building appeared on the 1835 Ordnance Survey town map. An 1838 valuation recorded the property as being occupied by Margaret Moore and measuring 32 feet by 30 feet by 28 feet (including the arch). The quality letter assigned in that valuation (1A) suggests an early 19th-century date rather than late 18th-century. The 1863 valuation confirmed similar dimensions and noted the presence of a cellar.

The building is located within a conservation area but is recorded only, not formally listed.