Summerseat, 119A Dunadry Road, Dunadry, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 4QJ

Summerseat is an early-to-mid 19th century house located on Dunadry Road, Dunadry. It presents a formalised entrance front in the Georgian tradition, though its ground floor layout derives from vernacular building types. The building has experienced considerable loss of original character through inappropriate alterations and removal of features.

The house is a two-storey, four-bay rendered and gabled structure. The principal element comprises a three-bay natural slated section with a symmetrical entrance front facing south, to which has been attached an adjoining asbestos-slated outbuilding at ground floor level with storage accommodation above.

The south elevation displays a roof of Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses across three bays, with asbestos slates to the left-hand end bay, finished with dark-toned ridge tiles. Two chimneys of modern brickwork with modern pots rise from the roof. The walls are finished in smooth cement render, lined and blocked, with a projecting moulded eaves course and quoins to the extremities. A moulded cast iron gutter, now in poor condition, runs along the eaves with a cast iron downpipe at the left-hand end, though the supporting eaves course is broken off at the right-hand extremity.

The ground floor windows on either side of the entrance are rectangular timber sliding sashes, vertically hung with tripartite glazing arrangements: 6 over 6 lights to the central light and 2 over 2 to the side lights, all without horns and in poor condition. These are set in stop-chamfered reveals with projecting rendered cills, surmounted by drip mouldings ornamented with paterae. The first floor windows are similarly sashed but of reduced height, with 3 over 6 central lights flanked by 1 over 2 lights, and without drip mouldings. A small rectangular timber fixed light with top-hung vent occupies the ground floor window of the left-hand end bay, set in plain reveals with a rendered hood moulding now broken off.

The entrance is set within an elliptical-arched surround that is stop-chamfered and surmounted by a drip moulding matching those of the ground floor windows. This recesses into an open rectangular flat-roofed porch with smooth rendered finish, painted white to the interior, though the modern red tiled area within the porch and the door surround itself have been substantially replaced. The doorway now contains a modern rectangular timber 4-panel door flanked by rectangular single-pane sidelights and surmounted by a radial fanlight with modern translucent glazing, now broken.

The west gable is rendered with a wet dash of black stone chippings, with a vertical strip of smooth render marking the boundary between the gable and the quoins of the entrance front. Overhanging eaves with timber barge boards, in poor condition, project from the roof. A cast iron downpipe to the right-hand side stops short of ground level. Two first-floor windows with metal frames are set in plain reveals with recessed cills; the left window appears to occupy a partly built-up doorway that has been rendered as part of the gable, with only a concrete base remaining from exterior steps that have been removed. The ground floor window is a large modern rectangular timber fixed light with top-hung vents, set in plain reveals with a projecting rendered cill.

The rear elevation is two-storey with slating matching the entrance front and rendering as the west gable. Cast iron guttering and downpipes stop short of ground level. Five first-floor windows comprise four rectangular timber sliding sashes of 6 over 6 panes without horns and with exposed sash boxes and projecting concrete cills, together with a smaller rectangular 4-pane fixed light or casement to the extreme right. Two ground floor windows consist of a large rectangular timber sliding sash of 6 over 6 with margin lights, without horns and in poor condition, and a smaller sashed window of 2 over 2 with horns. A deeply recessed rectangular timber glazed and sheeted door with two concrete steps is positioned to the extreme right.

Projecting from the main rear wall to the left is a lower lean-to block with a slated roof in poor condition. Rainwater goods and render match the main rear wall. Two windows with metal frames and small panes occupy this section, both in poor condition. The west side of the lean-to has a deeply recessed rectangular timber 4-panel door in plain reveals, whilst the east side has a metal-paned window. The east gable and east side of the lean-to are finished in smooth cement render, lined and blocked with quoins to the left-hand extremity. Overhanging eaves to the main gable are supported by a pair of shaped timber brackets with timber barge boards, while the lean-to extension has a flush verge. One ground floor window to the main gable matches those of the entrance front. Cast iron soil pipes rise from this elevation.

The building stands well set back from the main road within its own grounds and farmland. Access from the main road is via a tree-lined tarmac driveway which terminates in a large tarmac area in front of the house before branching eastward toward a recently built adjacent house. A short rendered screen wall projects from the entrance front near its left-hand end, connecting to an iron gateway linked to a single-storey rendered and gabled outbuilding to the south-west. To the west and north lies a tarmac and concrete farmyard surrounded by rendered outbuildings of no architectural merit. To the east is a grassy lawn opening toward the new house.

The precise date of construction is not documented, but a building appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, unnamed. This structure was named 'Brownstown' on the 1857 OS map, later being renamed 'Summerseat' by the date of the 1921 OS map. The building likely originated as a single-storey cottage subsequently enlarged and raised to two storeys by the mid-19th century. Its ground floor layout represents a development of the traditional hearth-lobby arrangement, with a jamb wall separating the front entrance from the original hearth position. The property was owned by James L. Drummond until 1984, when it was taken over by the present owner's family.