20 Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

No. 20 Bridge Street is a two-storey, single-bay terraced building, originally constructed around 1850 with a ground-floor shop and dwelling above. The architect is unknown. It sits on the north-east side of Bridge Street in Rostrevor, County Down, within the Rostrevor Conservation Area, and forms part of a terrace of three similar-height buildings alongside Nos. 18 and 22 Bridge Street. Despite the loss of its original shopfront, the building retains considerable character to its front façade, which is well-proportioned and modestly detailed in a manner typical of mid-Victorian commercial terraced buildings of this type.

The building has a rectangular plan form facing south-west, with a later single-storey monopitched rear return to the north-east. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled black clay ridge tiles and a square eaves cornice. Rainwater goods to the front elevation are metal half-round guttering discharging to circular-section downpipes; uPVC equivalents are used to the rear. A rendered rectangular-section chimney to the north-west is shared with No. 18 and carries three terracotta clay pots; a similar chimney to the south-east is shared with No. 22.

The principal south-west elevation fronts directly onto the public footpath along Bridge Street. To the south-east side of the entrance door is a square-headed, large rectangular painted timber shop window of three lights, with a depressed pointed arch spanning over two painted timber mullions. The outer lights have transoms at their lower third, each incorporating an opening casement. The entrance door is a painted four-panelled timber door with brass furniture, above which is a square-headed fanlight with replacement glazing. At first-floor level there is a double-hung 6-over-6 sliding timber sash window with horns and an exposed box frame, positioned centrally. The elevation is finished in generally painted lined cement render.

The north-west elevation is attached to No. 18 Bridge Street. The south-east elevation is attached to No. 22 Bridge Street. Access to the rear north-east elevation is limited, but where visible it shows the single-storey monopitched rear return to the right, which opens into a narrow yard enclosed by modern blockwork walling. The rear return abuts the longer return of No. 18 to the north-west. To the left of the rear return, the original building retains a single reduced bay with a single top-opening timber casement window visible at first-floor level. Walling to the rear elevation and return is finished in smooth cement render with uPVC rainwater goods.

The building sits within a group of three similar-height properties — Nos. 18, 20, and 22 Bridge Street — forming part of a terrace of shops with dwellings over, on the north-east side of Bridge Street. The street runs from Rostrevor's Square at its north-west end to a triple-span bridge over the Rostrevor River at its south-east end.

Historically, Bridge Street — originally known as Post Office Street — was fully developed by the turn of the 19th century. A pair of buildings on the site of Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street were recorded on the Townland Valuation Town Plan of around 1834, though it is uncertain whether these correspond directly to the present structures, as the layouts depicted do not match the current buildings. The accompanying Townland Valuation of 1838 records the two buildings as occupied by John Dornan and Christopher Ainsworth. Ainsworth's building was described by the valuer as a first B-class structure — that is, a building of medium age, slightly decayed but still in good repair — measuring 35 feet by 21 feet and standing 15 feet in height. The two original buildings were jointly valued at £15.

Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street appear with certainty on Griffith's Valuation and the accompanying Town Plan of 1861. It appears that Nos. 18 and 20 were originally built as a single composition, though subdivision had occurred by at least 1861, when the valuation plan depicted Nos. 20 and 22 as a combined property. Griffith's Valuation set the total rateable value of Nos. 20–22 at £25, noting that the building was leased by Robert Martin of Kilbroney House to William Calvert, a local grocer. Calvert occupied Nos. 20–22 until around 1880, when the property was acquired by David Sinton, also a grocer. The Annual Revisions record that Sinton installed a shopfront at the ground floor of No. 22, which increased the site value to £28.

The 1901 Census of Ireland recorded Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street as a single property — a first-class private dwelling and shop of ten rooms — with extensive outbuildings to the rear including a stable, coach house, cow house, piggery, barn, five stores, and a slaughterhouse. The Annual Revisions continued to record Nos. 20–22 as a single property with Sinton as occupant until the 1930s. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland, carried out between 1936 and 1957, slightly reduced the value of Nos. 20–22 to £27. In 1966 the property was subdivided: the Sinton family continued to operate a shop at No. 22, revalued at £22, while a Ms. Rose Greer resided at No. 20, which was also used as a hairdressing salon and valued at £16. No. 20 Bridge Street was listed in 1981.

In 1989 the interiors of Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street were significantly altered when the buildings were converted into three self-contained flats, and the ground-floor shopfront at No. 20 was removed at that time.

No. 20 has strong group value with its neighbours Nos. 18 and 22 Bridge Street, and the terrace as a whole is considered among the most significant buildings in the Rostrevor Conservation Area.