18 Bridge St., Rostrevor, Co.Down

No. 18 Bridge Street is a two-storey, two-bay terraced building, built around 1850, with a hair salon at ground floor level and a dwelling above. The architect is unknown. It sits on the north-east side of Bridge Street, Rostrevor, as one of three buildings of similar height that together form part of a terrace of shops with dwellings over. The building has a rectangular plan facing south-west, with a two-storey pitched-roof rear return projecting north-east into a rear yard, added later.

The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with angled black clay ridge tiles. A corbelled cornice runs along the front elevation, with cast iron rainwater goods including half-round guttering discharging to a cast iron polygonal hopper and a cast iron circular-section downpipe, shared with No. 16 to the north-west. The rear elevation has uPVC rainwater goods. There are three modern roof vents to the front. Two chimney stacks are present: a smooth cement-rendered rectangular-section stack to the north-west, shared with No. 16, carries two buff clay pots and two terracotta clay pots; a similar stack to the south-east carries three terracotta clay pots.

The principal south-west elevation faces directly onto the public footpath along Bridge Street. The ground floor features a painted timber stepped and arcaded glazed shopfront. A panelled painted timber door sits to the north-west side of the shopfront, with a square-headed fanlight above and brass furniture. The shopfront itself consists of two large square-headed rectangular windows with lined painted render walling beneath. The window to the north-west is set at a slightly higher level in response to the gradient of Bridge Street. Each window is three lights wide, with a depressed pointed arch in painted timber spanning over two painted timber mullions, flanked by moulded and panelled timber pilasters with plain moulded capitals. Above the shopfront, a painted timber fascia signboard is also stepped, with a simple projecting moulded timber cornice; it currently displays "HAIR VIVID STUDIOS" in applied modern lettering. The first floor consists of painted lined render walling with two equally spaced top-opening uPVC casement windows.

The building is attached on the north-west to No. 16 Bridge Street and on the south-east to No. 20 Bridge Street. Access to the north-east rear elevation is limited, but where visible it shows the two-storey rear return to the left projecting into the enclosed rear yard, which is bounded by modern block walling. To the right of the rear return, a single reduced bay of the original building is visible, with a single top-opening uPVC casement window at first floor level. The two-storey rear return has a two-part side-opening uPVC window at first floor level and a longer pitch to the north-west of the ridge; it is abutted on the south-east by a monopitched rear return belonging to No. 20. Walling throughout the rear and return is smooth cement render, unpainted, with uPVC rainwater goods and uPVC windows throughout.

Despite the replacement uPVC windows and some loss of historic detailing internally, the exterior remains well proportioned and modestly detailed, retaining considerable character typical of mid-Victorian commercial terraced buildings of this type.

The building forms a strong group with its neighbours, Nos. 16 and 20 Bridge Street, and the terrace as a whole is considered among the most significant buildings in the Rostrevor Conservation Area. Bridge 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.

In terms of historical background, the Rostrevor Conservation Area Guide records that the village consisted of only a few cottages in 1752 but had developed its present form — including a tree-lined square and a quay half a mile distant — by the early 19th century. Bridge Street, originally known as Post Office Street, was fully developed by the turn of the 19th century, with steady population growth through the Victorian period, coinciding with the arrival of the tramway from Warrenpoint in 1875 and the construction of the Rostrevor Hotel the following year.

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 not certain whether these correspond to the present buildings, as the layouts do not match. The accompanying Townland Valuation of 1838 records the two original buildings as occupied by John Dornan and Christopher Ainsworth. Ainsworth's property was described in detail as a class 1B structure — a building of medium age, slightly decayed but still in good repair — measuring 35 feet by 21 feet and standing 15 feet high. The two original buildings were valued together at £15.

Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street were first recorded with certainty on Griffith's Valuation and the contemporary Town Plan of 1861, which depicted No. 18 as a simple square-shaped building without its current rear return. It appears that Nos. 18 and 20 were originally constructed as a single composition but had been subdivided by at least 1861. The rateable value of No. 18 was set at £6, and it was initially leased to Patrick Brennan by Robert Martin of Kilbroney House. Brennan continued to occupy the address until around 1888, when David Sinton, a local grocer with business premises at the adjoining Nos. 20–22, took over the site. The Annual Revisions record that Sinton installed the ground floor shopfront and extended the building to the rear at this time, resulting in an increase in the rateable value to £8.

The 1901 Census of Ireland recorded Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street as a single property: a first-class private dwelling and shop consisting 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 No. 18 as a private dwelling and shop, noting that Charlotte Malcolm, a local milliner, occupied the building from around 1906 until the 1920s. David Sinton remained the recorded owner under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), which raised the rateable value to £23. At that time, the occupant was Walter Leonard Sargent, an RAF officer, and the dwelling space at No. 18 also extended into the upper floor of the adjoining No. 20. By the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the rateable value stood at £22 and the building was occupied by Joseph Sherry, a local artist.

No. 18 Bridge Street was listed in 1981. In 1989 the interior arrangement of Nos. 18–22 Bridge Street was significantly altered when the buildings were converted into three self-contained flats with retail units at ground floor level in Nos. 18 and 22.