16 High Street, Antrim, BT41 4AN

16 High Street, Antrim is a three-storey, three-bay gabled building of mid-Victorian date, probably constructed between 1860 and 1879, though a building is recorded on the site from the 1857 Ordnance Survey map. It stands as part of a terrace of houses and shops facing the main street and was formerly used as a branch of the Northern Bank.

The building displays considerable architectural quality, retaining numerous original features both externally and internally. The south elevation presents the principal front, with a pitched roof of Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, hipped over twin bays, and two chimneys of red brick with red stub pots positioned on each gable. The walling is smooth rendered and painted with channelled rustication, a panelled frieze to the first floor, and a modillion eaves cornice to the second floor. A bracketed cornice runs across the ground floor.

The upper storeys feature canted bays and rectangular timber sliding sash windows of 1 over 1 proportion with horns set in moulded surrounds. The first floor has two windows in the central bay, with only one central window above in the second floor. The ground floor is occupied as a shop, with a large recessed central entrance flanked by modern glazed doors and fanlight, set between substantial plate glass windows. Above the shop front sits a modern timber sign. At each extremity of the shop front is a doorway: the left-hand doorway contains an original ironwork gate with plain grille, set between plastered piers with plain shafts, moulded bases and fluted capitals; the right-hand doorway holds a rectangular timber panelled door with plain fanlight over and similar pilasters. The shop front and doorways are set between rusticated piers with fluted capitals and moulded plinths. A cast iron downpipe stands to the right of the right-hand doorway. The deep bracket cornice projects forward below each oriel window above. The east and west gables, visible above adjoining properties, are smooth cement rendered.

The rear elevation shows a smooth plastered wall with one rectangular timber sliding sash window to each floor, these being 2 over 2 with horns set in plain reveals. The ground floor opens onto an alley leading to the street. The roof is Bangor blue slates in regular courses.

The rear return section is two-storey with an attic storey within a half-Mansard roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses. A gabled dormer projects from this roof. One chimney, smooth rendered with two red pots, serves this section. A PVC gutter is present. The rear wall is smooth cement rendered and partly lined. Two doorways are provided: one flush timber door to the left and one glazed flush timber door to the right. Two windows light the ground floor and two the first floor, with two further windows to the attic. These are rectangular timber sashed windows of 2 over 2 with horns, except for one first-floor window which is a modern fixed light with top-hung vent. Cast iron downpipes are positioned to drain the rear return. The west side of the rear return is two-storey, roof slated as the main section, smooth rendered, lined and blocked, with rectangular timber sashed windows of 1 over 1 and 2 over 2 with horns.

The building stands within the town's conservation area. To the rear, a yard is surfaced in cement screed with smooth cement rendered boundary walls. A small lean-to roofed outbuilding occupies the rear of the yard. The west wall features a timber boarded door leading into a side alley which connects to the main street at the front of the building.