34 Hill Street, Newry, Co Down, BT34 1AR

34 Hill Street, Newry, is a three-storey classical Georgian house with basement and attic, dating from the 1820s-1830s. It forms the central unit of a three-house terrace on the west side of Hill Street and is graded as a building of special architectural or historic interest (Grade B1).

The building is constructed in two bays and demonstrates the proportions and style characteristic of early 19th-century Georgian architecture. It remains virtually unchanged and is significant for its survival and architectural quality.

The facade is rendered in cement and painted, with an unpainted granite eaves course. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate and has two modern skylights to the rear pitch, while a cement render chimney rises from the left gable. Semicircular profiled metal gutters with a downpipe run to the right of the facade.

The main entrance is set at ground floor left, accessed via five granite steps. The six-panelled timber door features beaded muntins and bolection-moulded raised panels. It is set within a pair of Ionic demi-columns on moulded plinths supporting a moulded entablature. Above is a delicate lead peacock-tail fanlight within a segmental headed opening with pole-mould chamfered reveal. A brass plaque is fixed to the wall to the right of the door, and a modern security box sits above the fanlight.

To the ground floor right are two equally spaced 1/1 sliding sash windows with granite cills. The first and second floors each have three equally spaced 6/6 sliding sashes, diminished in height at second floor level. First floor windows have decorative wrought iron balconettes; second floor windows have plainer balconettes. There are no openings to the basement.

The front steps and basement area are enclosed by plain spiked railings with urn-topped decorative posts, all resting on a chamfered granite plinth. To the right of the front steps, six steps descend to a stone-flagged basement passage.

The left and right gables form party walls with adjacent properties. The rear elevation is painted lined cement render and is abutted on the right by a two-storey extension. At ground floor left are two 6/6 sliding sash windows, with similar windows at first and second floors (top ones diminished in height). At half-landing level between first and second floors, over the flat roof of the return, is a 6/6 sliding sash window with semicircular radially-glazed head. Modern plastic soilpipes run vertically at the centre. Both the ground floor and half-landing windows have security bars attached.

The two-storey return extension has a felted flat roof and painted render walls. At ground floor left is a modern timber door, with two three-paned windows to the first floor. This return is itself abutted by a second two-storey return with felted flat roof and painted render walls. Its left cheek projects slightly forward and features a three-paned PVC window with fixed metal security grill at ground floor, and two PVC top-hung windows at first floor, plus a small fixed window to the gable end. A third single-storey mono-pitched shed adjoins but is of no architectural interest.

The building appears on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map and was valued at £43 in the 1838 valuation. The 1863 valuation describes it as three and one-third storeys high plus basement. The house and railings form the extent of the listing. It lies within a designated conservation area and is of group value as part of the Georgian terrace.