Parochial House, 134 Dublin Road, Newry, BT35 8QT

Parochial House, 134 Dublin Road, Newry

A multi-gabled, two-storey house constructed entirely of rock faced granite ashlar, built between 1900 and 1919. The building is situated within the grounds of the Church of the Sacred Heart and accessed through gates on Dublin Road. It was designed by the Dublin architectural firm Ashlin and Coleman, who also designed the adjacent church.

The roof is gabled and hipped with Westmorland slates and black ridge tiles. Three rectangular chimneys are positioned on the front ridge, rear ridge, and front pitch of the façade roof, each with chamfered bases and projecting copings. The walls have a raised, smooth faced chamfered base course. Window reveals and corners are finished with smooth fielded edges. All gables feature corbelled skews and small central louvred vent openings. A continuous string course runs between ground and first floor levels.

The house is double piled with a projecting gabled return to the left of the main façade and a flat roofed two-storey extension to the rear right. All windows (except where noted) have chamfered rockfaced ashlar heads and granite cills, and are now white PVC double-glazed units.

The southwest-facing façade comprises a gabled return with two windows to the ground floor and two above, connected to a main block with a ground floor window to the right. A flat roofed rock faced granite porch with a tripartite stained glass window and modern timber door is positioned to the left, with one first floor window above aligned with the porch.

The northwest elevation is partially gabled to the right and hipped to the left. The base course extends only halfway along this side, whilst the string course continues to meet the rear extension. Three ground floor windows and two first floor windows light this elevation. The flat roofed rear extension abuts this side, stepped back slightly, with rock faced granite walls but no base course. A pebble dashed yard wall with a modern tongued and grooved door continues along the left.

The northeast (rear) elevation is enclosed within a yard. The roof is hipped to the right and gabled to the left. A flat roofed, two storey extension with a parapet wall projects from the right side, containing one window and door to ground floor and three narrow rectangular windows to first floor. The main rear pile has one ground floor window and two ground floor and two first floor windows on the left cheek. There is no string or base course on this elevation.

The southeast elevation consists of two gables with a gutter running from a parapetted join. A window sits to the ground floor right, whilst to the ground floor left is a canted bay window with a flat roof behind a parapet. One window sits below each gable at first floor level. A pebble dashed yard wall continues to the right.

The building has been subject to inappropriate alterations, including replacement of original windows with modern PVC double-glazed units and modern doors. It currently serves as a rectory and continues in residential use.