163 Belfast Road, Muckamore, Co Antrim, BT41 2ET

163 Belfast Road, Muckamore, is an attached four-bay one-and-a-half storey house built circa 1820. It forms part of a picturesque group of six dwellings along Belfast Road that are notable for their style, character and arrangement.

The house has a rectangular plan with a pitched slated roof featuring deep overhanging eaves and a central polychromatic brick chimney with three clay pots. The gables are detailed with fretted timber bargeboards, finials and dropped circle motifs. The walls are finished in smooth render. The principal elevation faces north, with the entrance door located in the second bay from the left. Ground floor windows occupy all other bays on this elevation. The third window from the left is surmounted by a pitched dormer containing the first floor window. A second dormer to the east is shared with the adjacent property at 165 Belfast Road.

The windows are eight-over-eight uPVC sliding-sash units with horns, contained within original Tudor-arch-headed openings with painted masonry sills. These are replacements. The entrance door opening is Tudor-arch-headed with a moulded masonry surround and retains an original square-headed timber panelled door with glazed Tudor-arch panels in the upper sections.

The west elevation contains a single window at first floor level. The south elevation is partly obscured by a pitched roof extension built in recent years, which projects to the right. The exposed wall section has a single eight-over-eight square-headed uPVC casement window at ground floor. The extension includes a modern door on its east elevation and square-headed uPVC windows at each level on the south elevation. The east elevation is abutted by 165 Belfast Road.

Cast iron ogee gutters and round downpipes are present. The roof is finished in natural slate.

The site is directly accessed from Belfast Road to the north. The main elevation is flanked to the west by circular pillars with wrought iron double gates. The property is bounded to the south by hedge and to the west by timber fencing.

The house appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, and subsequent editions up to 1962 show the plan form unchanged, confirming that the rear extension was carried out in more recent years. According to the Griffiths Valuation of 1859, the property was occupied by John Wilson, with William Chaine as immediate lessor, valued at £2 5s 0d.

The modern uPVC windows and recent rear extension detract from the building's original appearance, but it remains of architectural interest as part of the group, with particular note given to its style, proportion, ornamentation and group value. The building retains local historical interest.