Glen Oak House, 1 Nutts Corner Road, Crumlin, Co Antrim, BT29 4BW

Glen Oak House

Glen Oak House is a 1½ storey residential building on Nutts Corner Road in Crumlin, substantially reconstructed from an earlier two-storey house. The main entrance faces west.

The west elevation is symmetrical, presenting five windows across the main block with segmental bays projecting from each end gable and a central entrance. The hipped roof is laid in Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with three hipped dormer windows similarly slated, their cheeks and fronts finished in matching slates. The walls are rendered in wet dash with crushed stones, and a smooth cement rendered plinth incorporates modern steel ventilator grilles positioned below each window flanking the doorway.

The entrance is recessed within a moulded semi-circular headed opening. The rectangular timber door is panelled with an unusual quadrant design to the lower portion and features a Victorian brass knocker. The doorhead carries a raised design of scrolling acanthus on the frieze, below a coved and ornamented cornice. A semi-circular fanlight with radial glazing bars sits above. Three broad stone steps lead to the front door. The windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, vertically hung with 3 over 3 panes and horns, set in moulded surrounds with exposed sash boxes and projecting stone cills. Dormer windows are small-paned rectangular timber casements. Moulded metal gutters with PVC downpipes run along the angles where the end bays meet the main block. The segmental single-storey bays at each end gable have conical roofs with small slates in regular courses; the northern bay carries a weather vane. Both bays have moulded g.r.p. gutters and two windows each, matching the main block windows except with curved heads and cills.

The rear elevation of the front block on the north side is blank. The roof slates as the front with one modern rooflight. One chimney, smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked with a moulded cornice, features a reused old pot.

The north elevation of the rear return is two-storey with a gabled roof slated as the front. Two chimneys stand on this elevation—one on the east gable and one at an intermediate position—each similar to the front chimney but with two pots. The walling is rendered as the front block, with moulded metal gutters and PVC downpipes. Ground floor has a rectangular doorway adjacent to the main block with a modern glazed and panelled door set in an original moulded surround. To its left are two French windows comprising new glazed doors with small panes in plain unmoulded reveals, followed by five rectangular windows of new four-light side-hung casement type in plain reveals with projecting concrete cills. The first floor has seven windows of varying size, all new rectangular timber casements with small panes.

The east gable of the return is two-storey with a flush verge, rendered walls as the front block, and a window to the first floor comprising rectangular timber small-paned casements. A large segmental arched doorway to the ground floor, built in brick, contains double doors of diagonal tongued and grooved boards opening to an open roofed yard area.

The rear elevation of the front block on the south side has a lower single-storey flat-roofed projection containing a rectangular window with small-paned casements and projecting concrete cill. This roof forms a roof terrace accessed from the first floor of the rear return. The rear of the front block roof slates as the front with one chimney and one hipped dormer to the right of the chimney, matching those to the front.

The south elevation of the return is two-storey but with a deep roof sweeping down low to single-storey height in places. The roof slates as the front. A large conservatory with glazing flush to the slated roof encloses part of the two-storey elevation, with former exterior windows and cills now contained within. A new chimney matching previous detailing stands to the right of the conservatory. Modern flush rooflight and glazing cover a yard area to the right-hand side. All windows are new rectangular timber casements.

The house stands well set back from the main road in its own grounds. An attractive, well-kept garden and lawns occupy the north side with a tarmac driveway sweeping to the rear. A concrete cobbled driveway branches to the front and continues to the south side. An extensive timber pergola stands immediately south of the house. Curved rendered screen walls project back from the end gable of the rear return to form a rear yard, enclosed on the east side by a two-storey range of much modernised and remodelled outbuildings, with a partly walled garden beyond. To the west and south, downhill from the house, lies an extensive former mill complex.