71 Hill Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1DG

71 Hill Street, Newry

A four-storey building with attic storey, forming the right half of an imposing classical rendered block on the east side of Hill Street. This building retains an elegant character and is impressive within its street context.

The structure is five bays wide, with a pitched natural slate roof and large chimney stacks to each gable. The rendered and painted facade features a parapet gutter with metal downpipes. The ground floor is articulated by six fluted tapering Doric demi-columns resting on squared plinths, which separate three doorways and two shop windows. A painted timber fascia board with moulded cornice, supported by the columns, runs the full length of the ground floor. At the centre is a plaque reading: 'Nos.71-73 Hill St / Site of the former Theatre Royal, / open 1783 / 1144 - 1994'. The ground floor of No.71 itself contains a shop front to the left of the building's section, with a two-paned window divided by a mullion, infilled transoms, and a roller shutter box. The shopfront is entered up two granite steps. Above, a four-panelled timber door with transom light leads to the upper floors, with a projecting plastic sign fixed over the transom.

To the upper floors, pilasters separate each opening and rise to parapet level, each resting on a moulded plinth with a moulded abacus and ornate Grecian-style capital. The first floor contains five equally spaced 6/6 sliding sash windows without horns, with deeply moulded architraves, Greek-key friezes, and moulded cornices. Window cills are the plinths above the fascia. The second floor has five window openings of diminishing height; the first and second windows from the left are 1/1 sashes without horns, whilst the remainder are 6/6. All have deeply moulded architraves and plain render cills. The pilasters terminate in Grecian capitals at second floor window head level. Above them sits a fascia of three broad bands of smooth render stepping outward as they rise. The third floor contains five equally spaced 3/3 sliding sash windows without horns, aligned with openings below. Between these, in line with pilasters below, are raised piers each with an instepped panel rising to parapet level and topped with a decorative semicircular antefix with open anthemion to centre. Between window head and parapet are raised render bands supporting a projecting overhanging cornice projecting over each pier.

The right elevation is abutted by a neighbouring property up to second floor level. The remaining walls are line-rendered with a banded chimney to the gable and a single 3/3 sliding sash window with render cill to the front side of the third floor.

Historical Context

This site originally housed the Theatre Royal, erected in 1783 as Newry's first purpose-built theatre, continuing in this use until 1832. An 1835 Ordnance Survey map shows two houses on the site, valued at £54 and £58 in the 1838 valuation. The present interior suggests a complete rebuild rather than refurbishment of the theatre. The block is known locally as 'The New Buildings' and was reportedly the first in the town built entirely of brick, suggesting construction in the mid-19th century rather than the late 18th century. An 1853 illustrated town map portrayal shows the building in its present form, though the ground floor street frontage was subsequently modified. Both properties were described as four and one-third storeys high in the 1863 valuation. No.71 was converted to a shop around 1914.

Setting

The building lies within Newry's conservation area.