3 Parade Ground, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 3AA

This house forms part of a terrace of seven dwellings, probably a remodelling of a former militia barracks dating from the mid- to late 19th century. The terrace occupies the site of the barracks of the Antrim Regiment of Militia, built by Lord O'Neill in 1816 at a cost of £2,000 to house the regiment's staff. Contemporary descriptions from the 1830s recorded the original barracks as three parallel ranges of buildings, with the front range facing the river comprising four contiguous two-storey houses, 130 feet long and 20 feet deep. The present terrace, with its seven houses and projecting porches, appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1903 but is shown as plain rectangular blocks on the maps of 1829 and 1858, suggesting the current configuration dates to the mid- to late 19th century, likely between 1860 and 1879. The parade ground that formerly extended for 184 yards in front of the barracks as a handsome gravelled space was later shortened by the construction of the railway viaduct in the mid-1850s.

The building is a two-storey, two-bay house constructed of smooth rendered walls painted white, with walls to the projecting porch having raised quoins to the outer corners, painted black. The main entrance is located in a projecting single-storey gabled porch on the east elevation. The porch roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with overhanging eaves and exposed rafter ends. Decorative timber barge boards to the gable are ornamented with scrolling fretwork. The porch is topped with a cast iron gutter and downpipe.

The east elevation comprises a two-storey main block containing two windows, one to each floor, to the left of the projecting porch. Windows throughout are rectangular timber white-painted sliding sash, 2 over 4 with horns, set in exposed sash boxes painted white, with projecting stone cills painted black. The porch front wall contains a window forming a pair with the adjoining house: a rectangular timber sliding sash, 1 over 2 with horns, set in a partly recessed frame with plain black-painted reveals and a projecting stone cill painted black. The side wall of the porch, facing south, contains the main entrance: a rectangular timber panelled door set in plain reveals with a modern concrete step.

The main roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. A chimney to the left-hand extremity is common with the adjoining property, constructed of squared sandstone in regular courses with a plain projecting block cornice and four pots—three original octagonal stoneware and one modern. The main block has a projecting eaves course on the frieze with a metal gutter and cast iron downpipe.

The rear elevation is two-storey with a two-storey gabled rear return. The rear return has smooth rendered walls painted white with raised quoins to the outer corners of a single-storey projecting rear projection, quoins painted black. Roofs are slated as the main roof. Overhanging eaves to the return and rear projection feature exposed rafter ends and plain timber barge boards with cast iron gutters and downpipes.

The south-facing side wall of the return contains two doorways and two windows. Rectangular timber sheeted doors lead to ground and first floor spaces; windows are rectangular timber sashed, 2 over 4 and 1 over 2, both with horns, set in exposed sash boxes painted white with plain reveals painted black and projecting concrete cills painted black. The door to the right is the rear door of the ground floor flat; the door to the left is the front door for the first floor flat. The gable of the return is two-storey, containing rectangular timber sashed windows, 2 over 4 with horns, with exposed sash boxes painted white, set in plain reveals painted black with projecting concrete cills painted black. The gable of the rear projection contains a rectangular timber sheeted door leading to an outhouse bin store.

The building stands within the built-up area of Randalstown, located in a terrace of seven houses facing the river but set well back from it with extensive hardstanding in front, partly surfaced in tarmac. The front boundary is formed by a low rendered retaining wall to the riverbank with a large metal pipe across it on concrete supports, viewed through a screen of mature trees. The front open area is bounded to the north by a basalt retaining wall surmounted by original iron railings, retaining the end of the elevated main street, and to the south by a tall railway viaduct, now defunct, built of snecked basalt rubble. The rear comprises an open yard or compound common to all houses in the terrace, mainly of hard surfacing. Slated single-storey basalt rubble garages or sheds form the west boundary to the rear area, with a concrete path immediately skirting the rear perimeter of this house.

After lying vacant for more than five years, the house was derelict by 1992, when it was repaired, extended at the rear, and converted into two flats. The building has good architectural and historic character, being part of a group with high setting value beside the river Main and a listed bridge and viaduct. The terrace is within a conservation area.