17 College Square East, Bessbrook, Co.Armagh

17 College Square East is a two-storey, two-bay late-Victorian terraced house built around 1883, possibly designed by civil engineer John Hardy, though the architect is unknown. The building forms part of College Square East, a formally designed late-Victorian square comprising 53 mill workers' dwellings arranged on three sides around a central bowling green and playground.

The house is constructed of random-coursed rock-faced local Newry Granodiorite with stepped red brick dressings to jambs and painted stone cills. It has square-headed gauged-brick door and window openings, and is roofed with pitched fibre cement tiles with roll-top black clay ridge tiles. The northwest chimney has been rebuilt in rustic red brick and carries two terracotta clay pots. Flush eaves feature alternating red and buff brick courses with a corbel course above. Metal rainwater goods serve the front southwest elevation, with uPVC to the rear northeast; half-round guttering discharges to circular section downpipes.

The front elevation faces southwest and is near-symmetrical, flush with the rest of the terrace. A modest gravelled front yard is enclosed by hooped painted metal railings with a matching foot gate. A paved path leads to a painted panelled timber door at the southeast end of the facade, fitted with a rectangular glazed light in its upper section, metal furniture, and a square-headed fanlight above. The facade displays regular fenestration: two windows at first-floor level aligned with ground-floor openings. Double hung sliding timber sash windows with window horns and granite cills face the front southwest; timber casement windows face the rear northeast.

An L-plan form extends to the rear, with a two-storey rear return added around 1988 and a monopitched corrugated Perspex roof covering the rear yard. The rear return has a single timber casement window visible at first-floor level in the northeast gable, with additional fenestration to the northeast elevation. Random-coursed rock-faced yard boundary walling features a painted planked timber door providing access from the rear access route to the covered yard. The rear return and facade have smooth cement render walling with uPVC rainwater goods.

To the northwest, the building is attached to No. 18 College Square East; to the southeast, it is attached to No. 16 College Square East. The house sits within the planned arrangement of College Square, where the eastern terrace is stepped in groups of six dwellings to respect the subtle site relief. Rear yards are enclosed by random-coursed rubble stone walling with square-headed door openings onto a wide rear access route. The central square is divided into three sections: a bowling pavilion and green to the northwest enclosed by hooped metal railings, a lawn to the southeast similarly enclosed, and an open children's playground in the centre featuring three granite monuments documenting the site's industrial heritage and benefactors. The village Town Hall (the former Institute building) is located to the southeast of this house.