Belmont Terrace, 18 & 18a Downshire Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1EE

Belmont Terrace, 18 and 18a Downshire Road, Newry, is one of the most impressive examples of mid-19th century villa architecture in Newry. Historical records indicate the house was erected in the mid 1830s: a sand and clay pit is shown at this location on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map, and the valuation book of 1838 names the occupant as George Ogle Godfrey. An 1846 publication described it as "a splendid new building." By 1858, the Ordnance Survey map records the building as "Belmont Terrace," suggesting it had by then been subdivided into two separate dwellings. In 1863, one house was vacant and the other was occupied by Robert Todd. A mid-19th century map of Newry shows the building before the right-hand extension was added and before the attic was raised to create a second floor. As originally built, this was a symmetrical arrangement of classical proportions. The first floor extension at the right is of some historical interest in illustrating the subdivision of the building, albeit at the expense of the overall composition. The complex internal plan form is also of architectural interest.

The main building is a three-storey, three-bay house with basement and an additional bay to the north, situated on the west side of Downshire Road. It has a natural slate hipped double-pile roof. A number of painted render chimneys rise from the roof at various points. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

The east-facing principal facade is three openings wide, finished in lined render with a broad smooth base course and banded rustication to the ground floor. There is a raised render platband between ground and first floors, a continuous render cill course at first floor level, and a thin platband between first and second floors. At second floor cill level there is a projecting moulded cornice, and at second floor window head level a further cornice and blocking course above. The second floor cill and blocking course have modern scalloped lead flashings.

The main entrance is in the central bay at ground floor level, set within a bow-fronted porch supported by four fluted Tuscan painted cast iron columns. A semicircular plinth of three granite steps supports the columns, with plinth blocks integral with the top steps. The front two columns are free-standing and divide the plinth into three equal openings; the remaining two are partly attached to the facade, with the doorway between them. The porch canopy has a smooth render frieze divided by an astragal, capped by a projecting roll-moulded cornice with blocking course over. Breaking the blocking course in line with each column is a semicircular-headed block. The porch floor is granite-paved.

The front door is six-panelled, each panel raised and fielded with a bolection mould, with a beaded muntin and a central vertical Victorian letterbox. The door jamb has reeded reveals. To either side of the door is a pair of granite pilasters with projecting granite plinth and moulded heads, supporting a moulded granite entablature. Between each pair of pilasters is a plain fixed sidelight with projecting granite cill and coffered apron panel. Over the entablature is a wide, shallow segmental-headed fanlight. Its glazing pattern is a symmetrical design consisting of a large hoop over the door with small rings at the cardinal points; this design is repeated three times on either side, each hoop diminishing in size as the fanlight tapers.

In the ground floor right bay is a margin-paned 6/6 sliding sash window with horns and a painted granite cill. To the left of the porch is a single-storey projecting bay with painted lined render walls and a base course matching that of the facade. It has a projecting roll-moulded cornice with blocking course over, and on the blocking course — to left, centre, and right — are raised semicircular-headed blocks matching those of the porch. The bay contains two 1/1 sliding sash windows with horns to the front, and similar single windows to each cheek, all with painted granite cills.

At first floor level are three equally spaced 6/6 sliding sash windows without horns, in line with the ground floor openings. Each has a moulded architrave which continues down from the cill course to the platband between ground and first floors, forming a panelled apron moulding in between. Each architrave head has a plain frieze with projecting moulded cornice. At second floor level are three modern two-paned recessed casement windows, in line with those below but less than half their height. There is a raised panel to each wall section.

Flanking either end of the facade is a pedimented single-storey distyle in antis — that is, a portico with two columns between pilasters. Three granite steps with granite retaining blocks to either side lead up to each portico, which is granite-paved. To either side of each portico are smooth rendered piers with raised base courses and coffered panels to the shaft, each topped with a moulded cornice and a semicircular-headed block with similar coffered inset panel. Abutting pier reveals are pilasters with raised bases resting on the top step and moulded heads supporting an entablature. The entablature has a stepped astragal to the frieze and a moulded cornice — a continuation of those to the side piers — and is additionally supported by two fluted painted cast iron Tuscan columns resting on the top step. Over the entablature, and between each coffered pier cap, is a shallow pediment.

The portico to the left of the facade is in poor repair with spalling render and a damaged slate lean-to roof abutting the back of the pediment, and was undergoing repair at the time of listing. Its inside walls are rendered with a raised base course and a blind doorway to the centre, featuring a tapering eared moulded architrave and head. The portico to the right of the facade now forms the entrance to a later first floor extension which abuts the right elevation of the main house. Its inside walls are lined render, with a doorway through at the centre detailed as the main entrance, except that the sidelights are four-paned with margins to the top and sides. The first floor facade of this extension rises from the pediment and is slightly stepped back from the main facade. Its wall is lined render with a projecting moulded cornice and blocking course over. At the centre of this facade is a 6/6 sliding sash window with horns; its cill is a continuation of the cill course on the main block, and it has a moulded architrave matching the other first floor windows but without an apron panel.

To the immediate right of the extension is a smooth rendered single-storey yard wall, to the centre of which is a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door with granite step. To the right of this wall, and also flanking the left portico, is an ashlar granite wall containing a semi-elliptical arch with rendered head and projecting rendered coping above. Both openings contain a pair of sheeted timber doors.

The left elevation of the main block is painted lined render. The middle section is three openings wide and projects forward from the general line of the wall; its gable is pedimented and is now flashed with scalloped lead. To the left and right are flanking sections, both blank and topped with a cornice and blocking course continuing from the front elevation. This gable is abutted at ground floor left by a single-storey extension which rises to a two-storey return at centre. The exposed section of the main block has, at ground floor right, granite steps leading down to a basement passage running below the abutting extension. Here there is a single 2/2 paired casement window with granite cill and security bars to the right. To the centre of the basement is a large opening on which building work was in progress at the time of listing. Much of the basement render had been lost, revealing granite blocks with brick snecking. The ground floor wall is raised slightly at the right to accommodate an internal niche and is otherwise blank. At first floor level, flanking the two-storey extension, is a window opening (possibly once 6/6) that is now infilled with lined render and has painted granite cills. At second floor level in the middle section is a 6/6 sliding sash with horns and painted granite cill. To its right, in line with the blind opening below, is a single 3/3 sliding sash without horns; to its left is a similar opening that has been infilled with concrete blockwork.

The abutting extension has painted smooth render walls with a broad base course, which appears to have originally been the retaining wall of the basement. The single-storey section has a hipped natural slate roof with semicircular metal gutters on plain projecting fascia boards. Its south-facing wall and left cheek each have a horizontally divided 2/2 sliding sash window with horns. The two-storey middle section has a monopitch natural slate roof. At ground floor left is a door with a pair of narrow two-panelled leaves (top glazed) and an eight-pane transom. To the right of this door is a 2/2 sliding sash window matching those to the single-storey section but with obscured glass. At first floor are two 2/2 sliding sash windows, the left one being narrower. The remaining cheeks of the extension are blank.

The rear elevation of the main block has painted lined cement render, with unpainted similar render to the basement, across which there is a passage. There is a chamfered platband between basement and ground floor, a broad raised platband between ground and first floor, a continuous cill course at first floor level, and a raised eaves course without a blocking course above. There are five nearly equally spaced openings to each floor, all in line vertically. The left basement window has been enlarged to form a pair of modern French windows. The remaining four basement windows are 3/3 sliding sashes without horns and with painted granite cills; the three to the right have security bars. The ground floor left and right windows are 6/6 sliding sashes. The remaining three to the centre are French windows: the second from left is a 6/6 sliding sash with hinged apron doors providing access outside; the third from left contains a narrow pair of glazed and panelled French windows with two-paned transoms over; and the fourth from left is identical and leads into an abutting link block which bridges the basement passage and leads into a free-standing games room in the rear garden. This link block has a pitched glazed roof and glazed sides over a rendered base course. At first floor are five equally spaced 6/6 sliding sashes, all without horns except the left two. At second floor are five 3/3 sliding sashes, all diminished in height and all without horns.

The right elevation is abutted at ground and first floor levels by the two-storey extension, whose facade has been described above in relation to the main facade. The remaining section of the main gable — the right-hand sections of ground and first floors, and all of the second floor — is painted lined render. The middle section of the wall breaks forward slightly and has a pedimented gable matching that to the left elevation. There are three openings to the second floor, all diminished in height: those to the centre and left are 3/3 sliding sashes without horns, and that to the right is now infilled with concrete blockwork. The two-storey extension has a flat roof concealed by the blocking course to its facade, and has painted eaves boards and semicircular rainwater goods to the side. Its walls are lined render. The basement wall is raised, with a chamfered platband between basement and ground floor. At basement level are two 3/3 top-hung casement windows, both lit by semicircular grills set into the ground surface. There are three openings to the ground floor: that to the left is infilled, and the remaining two are 6/6 sliding sashes with horns and painted granite cills. Above each window is a recessed rectangular panel. At first floor, to the right of centre, is a 6/6 sliding sash window with horns and painted granite cill, and to its right is a small narrow 4/4 sliding sash with horns and painted render cill. Abutting the right cheek of this extension is a single-storey lean-to with natural slate roof. Its north-facing elevation is blank. Its right cheek, facing the rear elevation, has a modern plywood and glass door to the basement left and a 3/3 sliding sash with horizontal bars and painted granite cill to the basement right. To the ground floor is a modern plywood and glass door, to the right of which is a 6/6 sliding sash with horns.

In the rear garden, aligned parallel to the main block and connected to it by the glazed passage, is a single-storey, single-bay games room. Described as viewed towards the back of the main block, it has a hipped natural slate roof with a wrought iron finial to the right hip (the left one is missing), overhanging eaves with fretted bargeboards, and a tall red brick chimney rising from the right gable. Semicircular metal gutters are mostly missing. The walls are unrendered red brick. The principal facade faces west to the garden. At the left is a canted bay with a hipped natural slate roof and no rainwater goods; it has a brick base up to cill level, three 1/1 sliding sash windows (one per cant), and a timber moulded dentil course at eaves level. At the right of this elevation is a 2/2 vertically divided sliding sash window with exposed box, timber cill, and moulded timber architrave. The right gable has a central projecting brick chimney and no openings. The left gable is abutted at the left by the glazed linking passage to the main block, with a four-panel painted timber door into the games room in the wall at left. The rear elevation is abutted to the left by a single-storey return. To the right is a 2/2 sliding sash matching that to the front wall right. The return has a pitched natural slate roof; the back gable has a single 2/2 sliding sash matching that to the facade, and its right cheek has a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door to the extreme right and a small two-paned casement to its immediate left. The left elevation is plain.

On the south boundary of the premises in the back garden is a two-storey random rubble granite outhouse in semi-derelict condition, with remnants of original doors and windows surviving. Behind this are two derelict lean-to outhouses within a walled enclosure. On the right boundary is a smooth rendered and much altered two-storey outhouse of similar dimensions to that on the left, now with modern garage door and window openings.

The setting comprises large gardens to the front and rear, mostly overgrown. There are entrances at each end of the front boundary, with a curving driveway up to the principal facade. The front boundary wall is rubble granite with simple ashlar block piers and pyramidal coping, fitted with modern metal gates. A benchmark is set into the wall to the left of the right-hand gates.