41 Downshire Road, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1EE

41 Downshire Road, Newry

A one-and-a-half-storey house with semi-basement, built between 1940 and 1959. It is identical to its neighbour at 43 Downshire Road and represents a classic inter-war bungalow design, though it lacks special architectural or historic interest.

The house is three bays wide and symmetrical. It is roofed in artificial slate with a hipped roof, overhanging eaves, plain bargeboards, and terracotta ridges. A gabled dormer projects from the centre of the front pitch, and two cast iron skylights sit on the rear slope. Metal rainwater goods are ogee profiled to the façade and semicircular to the rear.

The front elevation presents bay windows to the left and right bays, each with a gabled roof tied into the front pitch. A stepped chimney rises from each side wall, its base connected to the roof by a small tiled gabled infill; the chimneys are painted wet dash with red brick coping. All external walls are painted wet dash render with a chamfered red brick basecourse. The ground falls away to the rear to accommodate a semi-basement with brickwork walls.

Three cement steps lead to the main entrance in the centre bay, which comprises a recessed porch with plain painted cheeks. The front door has three bottom panels and a glazed rectangular top panel containing a diamond of coloured leaded glass. The projecting bays to left and right are identical, each containing a rectangular window opening with concrete cill. Both openings hold four single-pane metal casement windows with leaded transoms above; the casements sit within timber frames and the transom lights feature Art-Nouveau floral glazing. A small fixed vertical leaded window sits in the gable above each bay. The central gabled dormer rising directly above the main entrance has plain bargeboards and dashed cement render walls with leaded cheeks, containing three metal casements, each with two-paned leaded transoms.

The left elevation has walls matching the façade and a projecting chimney breast with a recessed central panel. To either side of the breast are single window openings: the left contains a pair of metal-framed casements with plain transoms and painted concrete cill; the right holds a single casement with leaded transom. The right elevation has similar walls and chimney breast treatment, with a single metal casement on each side; that to the right has a leaded transom.

The rear elevation is abutted on the left by a two-storey flat-roofed extension. A garage door opens to the basement on the right, and three windows serve the ground floor: those to left and right are single casements with plain transoms, while the middle one is a two-paned casement with plain transoms. Return walls are smooth rendered at basement level and wet dashed at ground floor. An additional window serves each floor of the end wall, with another on the left cheek at ground floor. A door on the right cheek is accessed by a flight of concrete steps from a yard enclosed by a high corrugated iron fence.

The boundary to Downshire Road is enclosed by a wet-dashed wall with concrete saddleback coping. A pair of gates and smooth render pillars mark the left side.

The building does not appear in Valuation revision books prior to 1930, confirming its post-1930 construction date.