Loane's Drapery, 4 Cardinal O'Fiaich Square, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, BT35 9AA

Loane's Drapery was a substantial two-storey rendered terrace house with shop dating from around the 1840s to 1859. The building has since been demolished and replaced with a new-build hotel.

The original structure was relatively plain in character, set in the middle of the terrace on the north-west side of Cardinal O'Fiaich Square at the centre of Crossmaglen. The front façade, facing south-east, was asymmetrical. To the right of centre stood a seven-panel timber door with large rectangular fanlight, encased with a moulded architrave featuring a 'keystone'. To the left of the doorway was a large shop front with plate glass windows flanking a panelled timber double door, also with a large rectangular fanlight, topped with a tiled panel of circa 1940s-50s type and a small central timber signboard. The mouldings to these openings may date from the late 19th or early 20th century. To the right of the house doorway was a plain sash window with moulded surround and hood on plain brackets, set on a sill course. The first floor comprised four plain sash windows with moulded surrounds featuring 'ears', also on a sill course. The front façade was finished in painted lined render with moulded quoins and a bracketed sill course.

The south-west gable was completely obscured by the neighbouring property. The upper third of the north-east gable was exposed, finished in plain unpainted render with a small plain sash attic window to the left and a Georgian-paned sash window (8/8) to the right.

The rear elevation of the original building incorporated a two-storey central projection with a shallow-pitched lean-to roof. The ground floor of this projection's south-east face contained a timber-sheeted door and plain sash window; the upper level had two plain sash windows. To the left of this projection, the original rear façade featured a sash window to the ground floor with horizontal glazing bars (2/2) and a first-floor window with Georgian panes (6/6). The rear elevation was finished in painted render. The roof of the original section was gabled and slated, with small cast-iron skylights to the left of the front and right of the rear. Three brick chimneystacks, probably dating from the early 20th century, and cast-iron rainwater goods were present.

In the mid 20th century, circa 1945-50, a very large plain single-storey gabled extension was added to the rear, spanning what had formerly been an open yard. This extension was finished in roughcast render with a hipped and gabled asbestos-slated double-pile roof incorporating large cast-iron skylights. It had projecting structural piers on its south-east face and no openings to its exposed faces. Beneath this extension lay a formerly open yard where two small original outbuildings (single-storey to the south-east and long to the north-west) had their roofs removed to accommodate the new structure. A large round metal plate in the centre of the yard may have covered a well. This extension significantly altered the character of the property but was a development of the business operation.

The interior of the shop was substantially altered after World War II but retained the original layout, with many original details surviving in the dwelling portion.

Historical records indicate that in 1836-8 the site was occupied by three two-storey dwellings already twenty years old. The valuation map of 1859 records a single building in place, described in the valuation notebook as two-storey, around twenty years old, and 'a good business concern', suggesting the building incorporated a shop from its inception or early in its lifetime. Around 1931 the property was purchased by Mr George Loane, who ran it as a drapery shop. The retention of the shop and dwelling as one unit was of considerable interest. The condition and construction of the rear extension, however, detracted from the overall character of the shop despite being a legitimate business development. The building was demolished in 2006 following structural engineers' advice.