86 Hill Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1BT

The building at 86 Hill Street, Newry, is a three-story corner building with attics, situated on the corner of Hill Street and Margaret Street. It is a complete modern reconstruction intended to replicate a previous building on the site and possesses little architectural or historic interest.

The site was previously occupied by the Victoria Hotel, originally an 18th-century coaching establishment known as the King’s Arms. A late 19th-century photograph by Lawrence depicts a significantly different structure with a different roof profile and window arrangement compared to the subsequent bank built on the site, leading to the bank being considered a 20th-century structure rather than an 18th-century one.

The original building, as described on a survey card dated November 1969, was constructed between 1800 and 1819, and featured slated roof, rendered walls, moulded string courses, modillions supporting plain eaves, iron finials to the main roof, and half-hipped dormers with pierced bargeboards. The building had double-hung windows with plain sashes, chamfered arrisses, wrought iron guards to the ground floor stone cills, and plain pilasters rising to consoles supporting a pediment over the main door. A moulded architrave with a keystone was present over the side door. The main elevation was five windows wide. The building was designed by G. W. Reside of Newry.

Records indicate a notable event occurred in 1806 when William Charles Yelverton, later Viscount Avonmore, and Marie Longworth stayed at the premises before their marriage at Rostrevor, an event followed by a sensational matrimonial case in Ireland. The bank was listed but subsequently delisted on April 21, 1994, to facilitate its complete rebuilding following bomb damage. The building is now demolished and located within the Carneyhough townland, within a conservation area.