115 Glenarm Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Relatively small formal one and a half-storey gable-ended detached house of 1902-03, with later canted bays to each end and a c.1980s conservatory to the rear. Set on a steeply sloping site overlooking the coastline (off Glenarm Road) on the northern side of Larne, the property is believed to have built originally as a summer residence for local businessman, William Bailie. It is surrounded by a mature, well-maintained garden, and is reached via a drive which slopes off the main road. A raised parking area (which also includes a timber garage) opens off the main road also, this is supported by a battered retaining wall. To the east and slightly below the house there is a ‘twin burner’ limekiln (HB06/08/007).

The building is rectangular in plan with a two-storey return set to the north side of the rear. The symmetrical eastern front façade faces the sea.

To the centre of the east façade, there is a lean-to timber conservatory / sunroom, which covers the front entrance. The entrance itself has paired timber panelled glazed doors with plain margins and plain overlight, all set within a flat-headed opening that is surmounted by a squared drip moulding. To either side there is a flat-headed window opening, each surmounted by a similar drip moulding. The windows have painted timber sash frames- 4/4 with margin panes.

To the ground floor of the south gable is a canted single-storey bay with lead-clad mansard roof. There are windows to each face of the bay, each with sash frames similar, but not identical to those to front. Above the bay is a paired arrangement of window openings with frames similar (but not identical) to front.

To the left side of the west rear façade of the main block of the house there is a 2/2 sash window with margin panes as before; to the right side there is a c.1980s timber conservatory/ greenhouse. This obscures a doorway, which has a panelled and glazed door.

The north façade is composed of the gable of the main house and the side of the two-storey return. The gable is the same as that to the south, whilst the north side of the return has a doorway to left on the ground floor (which is now used as the main entrance), with two windows to the right and one to the first floor. All of the windows are of differing size and with variations of sash frames- plain tripartite to the first floor, 6/3 and 1/1 to the ground floor.

The southern face of the return has a variety of flat-headed window openings. Those to the ground floor have replacement modern frames with top openers whilst to the first floor there is a larger window with tripartite sash frame (similar to that on the opposite side of the return.) The west (gabled) of the return has no openings.

Walls are finished mainly with ruled and lined cement render; the west side of the return is dry dashed. The roof is pitched and covered with natural slate with red fireclay ridge tiles; eaves overhang with exposed rafter tails; verges also overhang and have plain timber bargeboards. There is a relatively large centrally located dormer to front, with a segmental roof. This is glazed on all sides. There is another smaller dormer to the rear which appears to be c.1980s. There is also a small Velux window to the south side of the return roof. Rainwater goods are uPVC. Chimneystacks (to all of the gables) are rendered and have profiled caps and various clay pots.

Setting

The coastal path slants steeply down from the main road; the upper section serves as the driveway to the house. The garden falls away from the front of the house platform to the coastal path; to the rear of the house, the hillside is informally planted and there are various pathways and steps. A raised parking area opens off the main road above; this is supported on a battered stone retaining wall, this area also includes a timber garage.

Historical information

According to the present owner, this house was built in 1928 as a summer / coastal residence for the Baillie family, the then owners of the Kilwaughter Lime Company. According to the valuation notebooks it was indeed built for a William Bailie, however, it is actually recorded as a 'new house' in 1903, and is shown (as 'Seabank') on the OS map of the same year. The valuers note the dimensions of the house as 45ft x 23 x 17 for the main block, with the return measuring 17 x 12 x 8, also making note of the 'CR' (cement render) walls, and that the slated roof. The cost amounted to '£340 + extras', with a later annotation estimating this at £384, and the land was leased from an Edward Coey with the ground rent fixed at £3.

The property passed from William to James Bailie in 1923, Evelyn J. Bailie in 1935 and Louise M. Bailie in 1971, the last-named also acquiring the freehold. The present owner bought the building in the 'early 1980s'.

The dimensions noted by the valuers in 1903 show that the bays to the gables are later additions, possibly of the 1920s. The current occupant added the conservatory / greenhouse to the rear post c.1982, as well as the margin-paned window frames.

The owner states that he believes that there is no association between the house and the near by lime-kiln.

The occupant's error in the dating of the house may stem from the fact that 'Seabank' only appears in the 'Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory' in 1927. It had, of course, been standing prior to this, but it was only in 1927 that the compilers of the directory included this section of Glenarm Road as part of the town of Larne itself.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI VAL/12B/7/13D Annual valuation revision book, Kilwaughter electoral district, 1897-1909
2 PRONI OS/6/1/35/3 OS map, Co. Antrim sheet 35, 1903
3 PRONI VAL/12A/1/76 Valuers' office notebook, Larne Union, 1903-04
4 PRONI VAL/12B/7/13E Annual valuation revision book, Kilwaughter electoral district, 1910-20
5 PRONI VAL/12B/7/13F Annual valuation revision book, Kilwaughter electoral district, 1921-29
6 PRONI VAL/12B/7/4E Annual valuation revision book, Carncastle electoral district, 1909-29 [The property was moved into this electoral district in 1923.]
7 Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory [1927 and 1928 editions] (Belfast, 1927, 1928)
8 PRONI VAL/3C/1/24 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Borough of Larne, Carncastle electoral division, 1936-57
9 PRONI VAL/4B/1/31 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland, Borough of Larne, Carncastle electoral division, 1957-72

Secondary sources
1 Information supplied by owner, April 2009
Secondary sources
1 Information supplied by owner, April 2009

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a good example of a small seafront 'villa' of the Edwardian era, whose quaintness echoes something of summerhouses (picturesque cottages) of the late Georgian / early Victorian period. It has been well-preserved both inside and out, and what changes have been made are generally in sympathy with the property, whilst its setting is substantially intact. Houses of this genre and in this state of originality are not common.