Craig's House, 59 Grange Road, Parkgate, Ballyclare, Co Antrim, BT39 0DH

Craig's House is an early to mid-19th century two-storey, three-bay masonry house in a vernacular Georgian style. It was built by James Ellison, who was born in 1810; the precise date of construction is not known, but the house appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1857 and nothing was shown on the site on the earlier map of 1832. Stylistically it appears to be a work of the 1840s. It is of local interest as a comparatively unspoiled example of its type, enjoying a pleasant rural setting.

The main entrance faces east. The east elevation is symmetrical, with one window to each side of a central doorway. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with a tiled main ridge and zinc to the hips. Two chimneys are positioned equidistantly, smooth cement rendered with plain projecting cornices and two pots each — the original octagonal creamware pots survive. The walls are of roughly coursed basalt rubble with later reticulated pointing, with rusticated granite quoins to the corners, a projecting smooth rendered plinth, and a projecting smooth rendered eaves course. Cast iron gutters are fitted throughout.

The windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, vertically hung, six over six panes, without horns, mostly retaining their original panes. They are set in plain rendered reveals with raised smooth cement rendered dressings laid over the original red brick dressings, which are still visible in places. Cills are of projecting stone, painted. An ornamented cast iron ventilator grille is set into the plinth below each ground floor window.

The main entrance is contained within a rectangular moulded opening with a cornice hood. The original rectangular six-panel door, with its cast iron handle and knocker, is recessed and flanked by a pair of black painted timber fluted Doric columns supporting a frieze and cornice enriched by a Greek key design. Above the door is a rectangular fanlight two panes wide with margin lights. There are two steps up to the front door: the lower one is concrete and the upper one is sandstone.

The south gable is smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, but blistered in places, with two small sections having fallen away next to the granite quoins on the right-hand side, revealing the rubble stonework beneath. The half-hipped roof has flush verges carried on a projecting rendered cove, and the cast iron gutter returns horizontally from the front elevation across the face of the gable. There are two windows: a rectangular timber sash to the ground floor, matching those on the entrance front, with plain reveals; and a semi-circular headed timber sliding sash to the first floor, six over six panes, without horns, with radial lights to the head, set in a slightly raised semi-circular headed surround. Projecting from the left-hand side of the south gable is a single-storey outbuilding with a slated hipped roof and basalt rubble walls, with tiled ridges. It has a rectangular timber glazed and panelled door set in a timber frame, recessed in crude rubble reveals, with some red brickwork incorporated into the wall to the left.

The rear elevation comprises the main front block with a lower rear return to the left-hand side and a lower two-storey lean-to extension across the rear face of the main block. The main block roof is hipped and slated as the front elevation. The wall above the lean-to is rendered with a wet dash finish and has a projecting eaves course; there is no gutter, but a short length of cast iron downpipe at an intermediate position and a short length of PVC downpipe returning from the gutter on the south gable, both discharging onto the lean-to roof below.

The lean-to extension has a roof slated as the main block, with a flush verge to the right-hand side. Its walls are roughcast, matching the rear of the main block, with a smooth rendered and painted plinth, a moulded PVC gutter mounted on a timber eaves board, and a PVC downpipe to the right-hand side. A cast iron soil pipe and a small PVC waste pipe are also present. There are three windows to the ground floor: from left to right, a rectangular timber four-pane side-hung casement in smooth rendered splayed reveals with a recessed timber cill; a similar casement set in a smooth rendered and painted surround with a keystone motif; and a metal fixed light with a top-hung vent also set in a rendered and painted keystone surround. There are two first floor windows: a semi-circular headed timber sliding sash, three over three panes, without horns, with radial lights to the head, with an exposed sash box, set in smooth reveals with a projecting cill of rendered bricks that are partly spalled.

The rear return is gabled, with flush verges to the gable. Its walls are roughcast, with a slightly projecting eaves course, a moulded PVC gutter on a timber eaves board, and a short PVC downpipe discharging into the gutter of the lean-to. One chimney, similar to those on the main block, has two original circular pots. There are two windows to the first floor: to the left, a small rectangular timber four-pane fixed light set in smooth reveals with a recessed cill; to the right, a larger rectangular timber replacement fixed light with a top-hung vent, double glazed with pseudo-small panes, set in smooth reveals with a projecting concrete cill. The west gable of the rear return is blank.

The north gable of the main block is blank, with a rendered wall finished in dry dash of stone chippings painted over, a smooth rendered plinth, a projecting eaves coving, and rusticated granite quoins to the left-hand side. The north side of the rear return is in the same plane as the north gable, but the walling is rendered with a wet dash finish painted over, with a smooth rendered and painted plinth and a projecting eaves course. The roof is slated as elsewhere. A metal gutter with a cast iron downpipe sits at the junction with the north gable, with a moulded cast iron hopper. There are two windows to the first floor — rectangular timber small-paned fixed lights with top-hung vents, set in smooth reveals with recessed cills — and three windows to the ground floor: one similar to the first floor windows, and two modern replacement double-glazed windows matching those on the south side of the return, with projecting concrete cills.

The house stands in a very rural area, facing the main road and set back from it within its own grounds. The front boundary is formed by a low basalt rubble wall with large basalt rock copings. The front gateway is recessed in curved screen walls, with a pair of scrolling wrought iron gates mounted on square basalt rubble piers with painted stone caps. The gateway leads to a driveway flanked by lawns leading up to the front of the house. To the right of the front gateway is a modern side gateway comprising snecked basalt piers with rock copings, hung with a pair of timber gates; a concrete driveway leads up to the rear of the building and to the farm buildings. A small mono-pitched rubble stone shed, formerly a toilet, with a corrugated iron roof, stands adjacent to the side gateway.

The rear yard is of concrete and is surrounded by one- and two-storey rubble stone outbuildings with slated roofs, ledged timber doors, and rectangular timber fixed light windows, some with top-hung vents, with red brick dressings to the window openings and PVC rainwater goods. The yard is entered by a pair of flat iron gates. A lean-to concrete block greenhouse sits at the south-east corner of the outbuildings, and there are corrugated iron barns to the west. The house and outbuildings are surrounded by agricultural land.