144 Ballyrobin Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey, four-bay gabled house with a small hipped roofed entrance porch and a gabled two-storey rear return. Main entrance faces north.

It was described in the first survey in 1972 as "A two-storey, three-bay harled and whitened house with slated roof and three brick chimneys. There is one Georgian-paned window, two retain Georgian frames in lower sashes, remainder have horizontal division. The entrance is contained in a hipped roofed porch with patterned fanlight. There is a lean-to extension to west end and a corrugated asbestos gable annex to east. All windows are unrecessed."
Currently the house is an empty and windowless shell but is in the process of being refurbished.

North elevation is asymmetrical: the main two-storey block has three window openings to the ground floor; single storey lean-to outbuilding to the west gable flush with main façade; single storey pitched roofed block extending from the east gable and set well back from the front wall.

Roof of man block is Bangor blue slates in regular courses; three chimneys, one on each gable and one in line with right-hand side of porch, red brick with projecting brick cornice; no rainwater goods in position yet. Walls smooth cement rendered but not flush.
Large boulders or corner stones project at base at left-hand extremity of main façade and at original right-hand extremity; also to right of entrance porch.
Window openings are rectangular with new concrete cills but windows not yet reinstated.
Porch comprises two short projecting nib walls of basalt rubble, roughly squared, partly pointed in cement; concrete head over front entrance opening; no door inserted yet; porch walls originally rendered.
Hipped roof slated as previous, with dark grey and brown ridge tiles.

Single storey wing set back to left: walls rendered as previous to main block, with a large projecting boulder at corners; roof slated as previous; red brick chimney on gable; no rainwater goods yet. One window opening to right-hand side, as previous, newly created from a partly built-up original doorway.
One doorway to left of window, rectangular timber sheeted, set in a wooden frame.

Lean-to addition to right, in same plane as main block: rendered as to main block, with flush eaves; contains a rectangular doorway.

East gable of main block is rendered as previous; one window to first floor to left-hand side.
East gable of wing blank, rendered as previous and of single pitch, with red brick chimney on apex, but originally double pitched, with a rectangular window, and no chimney.

Rear wall of wing is of rubble stonework to base, with modern concrete blockwork above: appears to be intended to be enclosed by a modern conservatory with concrete blockwork to plinth walls.

Rear elevation of main block of house: to right-hand side of the rear return, basalt rubble and fieldstone walling, partly harled, containing a rectangular doorway, newly created from an original window; to left-hand side of rear return, modern concrete blockwork, with raised patches of cement render to ground floor portion, containing two windows to first floor, one to ground floor with a large rectangular opening to the left of it, newly enlarged from an original smaller opening containing a window.
Lean-to outbuilding extending to left-hand side of main rear wall is also of modern concrete blockwork, with raised patches of cement render. Roof of main block has synthetic slates in regular courses, new replacements for original natural slates.

Rear return has roof of synthetic slates in regular courses, now projecting straight from main roof, at lower ridge height, but originally with a half-hip where it abutted the main block.
Gable of rear return is of basalt rubble and fieldstones, roughly cement rendered to ground floor area; large projecting boulder to each corner at base; no chimney at apex; one doorway to left-hand side at ground floor; one window to first floor, at right-hand side. East side of rear return is of basalt rubble and fieldstones, partly whitened and partly harled; rectangular doorway to right-hand corner at ground floor, with concrete lintel; one former window opening in ground floor to left of door, with red brick flat arch, now newly closed up with concrete blockwork.
West side of rear return has been cement rendered, keyed for another finishing coat; one window opening at ground floor level.

West gable of main block is smooth rendered but spalled at top right-hand corner and at base of red brick chimney on apex, to reveal concrete blockwork.
Verges currently open during building work. Ground floor has a full-width projecting lean-to outbuilding; roof of synthetic slates, but originally with natural slates; wall rendered as main entrance front, with large boulder near base at right-hand corner.

SETTING: The building stands in a rural area, situated on rising ground above the main road which it faces at an angle. Approached by a driveway which extends to a hard standing in front of house and an extensive hard standing to rear; grassy bank sloping up to hardstanding at front from main roadway. Agricultural lands to sides and rear, with mature trees along western boundary.

Historical information

Precise date of building not known but it appears on the OS map of 1832-3. Built as a farm house. Originally approached by a lane from the east leading into a front yard, and surrounded by detached outbuildings on three sides, as shown on the OS map of 1832-3; later approached by a lane from the main road to the north, over the Dun River, with most of the detached outbuildings removed, as shown on the OS maps from 1920 to the 1960s. A new road to the airport, laid out between the river and the house has left the house much closer to the main road, with a short driveway off it. House vacant and approaching dereliction by the early 1990s.

References – Primary Sources
1. OS Map 1832-3, Co Antrim 55.
2. OS Map 1857, Co Antrim 55.
3. OS Map 1920, Co Antrim 55.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest

Evaluation

This is a building of probably early 19th century date built originally in the vernacular tradition of largely informal design, with a ground floor plan which exhibits a traditional hearth-lobby layout, as presented by a 'jamb wall' containing a small 'spy' window located between the main entrance and the central fireplace. While the house retains the original pattern of openings to the entrance front and also the essence of its 'jamb wall' layout, it has lost a number of original features and undergone a number of inappropriate alterations, some of them fundamentally changing the appearance of the building. The original setting has also been spoiled. These changes are such that the house can no longer be viewed as an authentic example of a vernacular building, and irrespective of any individual surviving original feature, no longer represents the vernacular tradition in its totality.

General comments

The house is described as 'partially derelict' as it is windowless and lacks other finishes and fittings, but it is currently in the process of being rebuilt (June 2000).