41 Irish Street, Downpatrick, BT30 6AH

A mid-18th century four-bay terraced building, dating to around 1760, constructed probably as two separate houses. The three-storey structure with steeply pitched roof and natural slate covering occupies a prominent position on the south-west side of Irish Street in the medieval core of Downpatrick, set within a largely intact mid-18th and early 19th-century terrace.

The front elevation is rendered, lined out, and painted with quoins. The second floor contains four original 3/3 timber sashes with stone cills, arranged symmetrically. The first floor retains four original 6/6 timber sashes also with stone cills, all windows featuring exposed boxes without horns. The ground floor openings are now blocked and boarded, though traces remain of the arrangement documented in early photographs: a window and door to the far left, a central shop front (later occupied by J Doris Chemist and before that by John Campbell), and a blocked entry to the right providing access to the rear. The rear elevation is built of exposed greywacke rubble and contains a timber sash to the first floor and two timber sashes plus a circular 'porthole' window to the ground floor rear extension, likely an early 19th-century addition. A single storey L-shaped outbuilding abuts the south-east gable. Chimney stacks formerly existed on both gables.

The interior retains original features of significant interest, particularly the staircase and detailing to the second and attic floors, together with original internal joinery. The narrow strip plot to the rear survives in partial form, reflecting the medieval plot divisions still discernible along Irish Street.

The building is documented in early plans from 1708 onwards. The 1729 plan suggests it occupies the site of 'McGrory's tenement', then leased to Mrs Dunlop and James Tate. By the 1830s, it was rated at £22 under the occupancy of Adam Hughes. The property was converted to retail use by the mid-19th century, with a chemist and optician occupying the shopfront by the mid-20th century.

From the 1970s onwards, the building was incorporated into a security buffer zone for the adjacent police station. Around 1980, it was enclosed with a tall blast wall along with adjacent properties. This security arrangement lasted until 2015 when the police station was vacated and the blast wall removed in 2016. These external alterations and the conversion of the ground floor to office use have resulted in loss of character, though the retention of original fenestration to the upper floors and interior features preserves the building's significance as a very good example of early urban vernacular architecture.