The Farthings, 1 Circular Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, BT37 0RA

The Farthings is a two-storey, three-bay brick house built around 1930, possibly designed by Robert Hanna Gibson. It stands in extensive grounds planted with mature trees on the north side of Circular Road in Jordanstown, within a residential area characterised by high-quality buildings.

The house is L-shaped in plan, faced east with a projecting gabled right bay and an extensive return extending to the west, with a full-height entrance bay at the re-entrant angle and an attached garage to the north. The architectural style draws on Arts and Crafts and Domestic Revival traditions, though it represents a late example of these movements.

The roof is tiled, partly gambrel, with a hipped M-profile on the south elevation and deep overhanging boarded eaves. Tall brown brick chimneysstacks with corbelled caps punctuate the roofline. Half-round cast-iron rainwater goods with decorated box hopper heads drain the roof. Bargeboards with drop finials ornament the gables. The walls are stretcher-bonded brown brick throughout.

Windows are aluminium side-hung casements set in timber frames, with no cills; all first floor windows have heads at eaves level. The principal elevation is asymmetrical. At the left is a full-height entrance bay with a tile-hung upper storey. The recessed entrance porch is offset, with a window to its right and a central window above. The central bay features French doors to the ground floor with integral two-pane sidelights, and a three-pane window to the first floor. The projecting right bay has a full-height canted bay, similarly detailed and tile-hung, supporting a jettied gable at first floor level housing an oriel window. The entrance is sheltered by a jettied-out gable over the oriel, all tile-hung. An open recessed corner porch with shallow Tudor-arched timber openings on each side and partial timber balustrade encloses the entrance, which features a tiled threshold and timber panelled door.

The south elevation has a central single casement at ground floor and double casements flanking it at first floor. The west elevation is largely abutted by the return and entrance bay. The exposed right side has two windows to each floor. The return has been modified with enlarged and replacement openings, and former door openings to the west gable have been blocked. The north elevation is abutted on the right by a garage extension detailed to match the house. The exposed ground floor displays a lean-to outshot at the left end with single casement and modern French doors; the first floor has one double and three single casements.

The house is set back from the road within extensive grounds accessed via a curved driveway flanked by timber gate piers. Lawns lie to the south and east, with a patio to the north.

The building first appears on the Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1932 and is captioned "Tol-Ana" on the Sixth Edition map of 1936–8. The site was originally part of the grounds of Edenmore, which formerly stood to the northwest of the current property. Earlier maps show formal grounds laid with avenues and drives. The house was built between 1928 and 1932. According to the current owner, large parts of the ground floor, particularly the stair hall, were destroyed by bomb blast in the early 1970s. Little interior detailing remains intact, with the exception of a small proportion of original joinery. A neighbouring property, also designed by Robert Hanna Gibson, shares many stylistic qualities including roof structure and tile-hung bays, though in contrasting materials.