Ashville, 25 Greystone Road, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 1HJ

Ashville is a two-storey, three-bay house built in an Italianate cottage style, constructed of roughly coursed basalt rubble with wide verges to its gabled slate roofs. The main entrance faces south.

The south elevation is symmetrical, with one window on each floor flanking a central projecting entrance bay. The roofs are covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with oversailing eaves supported on exposed rafter ends and oversailing verges to the gables. Moulded cast iron gutters serve the building, with a cast iron downpipe on the left-hand side of the entrance bay and a PVC downpipe on the right. The walls are of roughly coursed basalt rubble with a projecting smooth cement rendered plinth, painted, and similar end pilasters and frieze. The stonework has modern reticulated pointing.

Windows on the main front are rectangular timber sliding sashes without horns: 6 over 6 panes on the first floor, and 6 over 6 with margin lights to the sides on the ground floor. They are set in moulded stucco surrounds with red brick block dressings. The ground floor surrounds also include a frieze panel and moulded cornice. Projecting cills are of Tardree granite, painted. The main entrance comprises an original rectangular timber 9-panel door with a rectangular fanlight containing margin lights, recessed beneath a moulded cornice and bounded by full-height corner pilasters. Two original steps of Tardree granite lead to the door. To the right-hand side of the front door is an original bronze bell-pull of circular form. Above the entrance, on the first floor, is a window matching those previously described on the main front, surmounted by a small round-headed fixed light with brick dressings in the apex of the gable. The sides of the projecting entrance bay have similar walling to the main front, with one window on the ground floor resembling the first floor windows of the main front but sashed 4 over 4 with side margins. On the first floor is a blind window with similar first floor surrounds but blocked with basalt rubble.

The west elevation is of similar character to the south: two-storey, with similar walling, roofs, and cast iron rainwater goods. It comprises the end gable of the front rooms with the rear rooms set back to the left. The main gable has a shallow canted bay on the ground floor, stuccoed with plain moulded capitals to corner pilasters, a moulded entablature, and a plain blocking course. Rectangular timber sliding sash windows are vertically hung without horns: the central one is 6 over 6 with side margin lights; the narrow canted side lights are 2 over 2. Projecting cills are of Tardree granite, painted. On the first floor of the gable is one window similar to those previously described on the entrance front, but with the moulded surround damaged on the right-hand side. In the attic is a semi-circular headed timber sliding sash window, 1 over 1 with margin lights, without horns, set in a brick arch with brick block dressings and a projecting cill. The set-back block to the left has one window on the ground floor and one on the first floor, similar to the main entrance front. Set back slightly at the left-hand extremity is a screen wall to the rear yard, of basalt rubble with brick dressings to the yard door. The door is a rectangular ledged timber door. Brick block quoins mark an extension of the wall to the left projecting forwards, and the wall is topped with smooth cement rendered coping.

The rear elevation is two-storey and twin-gabled, with a double pile roof. The walling is as previously described but without the plinth; the roofs are as before. A PVC downpipe runs from the central valley and angles to the left-hand extremity. The ground floor has two windows to the right-hand side of a projecting single-storey rear return: rectangular timber sliding sashes, 4 over 4 without horns, with attached iron bars, set in brick surrounds with projecting granite cills, painted. To the right of these windows is a rectangular blind opening, dressed with brick and blocked with basalt rubble, which appears to be an original rear entrance. The rear return has a west wall of basalt rubble containing a rectangular door sheeted on its outer face, set in roughly rendered red brick reveals with a painted timber lintel and a rendered step. To the left is a rectangular timber window, a modern fixed light with a top-hung vent, in roughly rendered brick reveals with a plain timber lintel and projecting granite cill. The lean-to roof of Bangor blue slates is covered with asphalt and has a metal gutter. The rear return is contained on the north by a screen wall to the outer yard.

A small inner yard has a surface of large quarry tiles. On the west side is a single-storey outbuilding, smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, with a rectangular ledged timber door, a lean-to slated roof, metal gutters, and a cast iron downpipe. At the west end of the inner yard alley is a rectangular ledged timber door leading to the garden, with a timber lintel and a red brick flat arch above. The screen wall to the outer yard is of basalt rubble with smooth rendered coping and contains a brick-dressed flat arched open doorway in the centre. To the right is a modern rectangular timber fixed light with a top-hung vent, set in smooth rendered reveals with red brick block dressings and a concrete cill. To the left of the yard screen doorway is a yard gateway containing a pair of timber slatted and framed double doors set in brick piers with concrete copings.

The east elevation of the house is similar to the west, except there is a ground floor window without a canted bay: the window is sashed 6 over 6 with margins to the sides, in a similar surround to those previously described on the ground floor. Set back slightly to the right-hand side is the single-storey rear return containing two windows. The walling is of basalt rubble with smooth cement rendered coping and a brick nib to the right-hand end, in poor condition. The windows are rectangular timber sliding sashes, 4 over 4 without horns, with projecting granite cills, painted. The exterior face of the yard wall to the west is of basalt rubble with moulded rendered coping. The wall and coping are partly whitened where a conservatory formerly stood. A small segmental brick arched opening in the base of the wall at this point contains pipework formerly connecting to the conservatory.

The west gable of the two-storey barn is of roughly coursed basalt rubble with brick block quoins at the extremities and one narrow unglazed ventilation opening in each floor, similarly dressed. The north elevation of the barn is of similar character, with narrow ventilating openings in each floor and a rectangular timber small-paned brick-dressed window on the ground floor with a granite cill. The east gable of the barn has a rectangular timber single-pane fixed light on the first floor. The exterior face of the yard wall on the east side is of roughly coursed basalt rubble with rendered coping and brick dressings to a rectangular timber sheeted doorway. To the left of the doorway is a blind opening, red brick dressed and blocked with basalt rubble. At the right-hand extremity, set back in the angle with the two-storey barn, is a single-storey potting shed: brick plinth walls surmounted by tongued and grooved sheeting on concrete cills, with a corrugated iron roof and PVC gutter and downpipe. At the left-hand end is a derelict timber-framed and sheeted lean-to shed. The outer yard is surfaced with concrete.

The west side of the outer yard contains a single-storey outbuilding with a lean-to slated roof continuous with an open shelter to the left. The shelter has a timber beam supported on a circular cast iron column, with basalt rubble walls lining the interior, a simple open roof over, and a compacted earth floor. The single-storey outbuilding has walls of basalt rubble and red brick, one modern rectangular timber fixed light window, two rectangular ledged timber doors, and one brick-dressed open doorway with a half-height flat iron gate. The north side of the outer yard contains a two-storey gabled barn of basalt rubble walling with brick block quoins and brick dressings to openings. The roof is of Bangor blue slates in regular courses with black ridge tiles, cast iron gutter and downpipe. The ground floor has a large rectangular garage or coach doorway with a pair of sheeted timber doors, two smaller rectangular sheeted doors, and one rectangular timber horizontally pivoting window with roughly rendered reveals and a projecting granite cill. The first floor has two rectangular timber sheeted doors with rendered reveals and flush granite cills. Between them is a later gabled timber dovecote with corrugated iron sides, mounted on the wall with iron brackets. Projecting from the right-hand extremity of the barn is a single-storey lean-to block in red brick with a slated roof, metal gutter, cast iron downpipe, a rectangular sheeted door, and a rectangular small-paned fixed light with a projecting granite cill. The east side of the outer yard contains a single-storey outbuilding with a lean-to slated roof, metal guttering, and walls of basalt rubble with red brick dressings. It has three rectangular timber boarded half-doors, modern rectangular timber sheeted double doors to a garage, and an open-fronted wood store with a smooth rendered plinth wall.

The building stands within its own grounds, with its entrance front facing away from the main road. It is approached by a tarmac driveway with an entrance gateway comprising a pair of cast iron gates of ornamental character, set between square rendered and painted piers with moulded bases, courses, and weathered caps, flanked on each side by outward curving rendered screen walls with moulded copings terminating in end piers of similar detailing to the gate piers. The gateway faces onto a tarmac slip road, formerly the main road, which lies at a lower level than the new main public road. The front boundary is formed by a basalt rubble wall with rock copings, overgrown with creeper. Boundaries to the east, west, and south are formed by a belt of mature trees with hedges and fences. The grounds are laid out with lawns, shrubs, and mature trees. A tarmac area in front of the entrance elevation is bordered by grass. Compartmented areas to the garden are marked by hedges: one to the west of the yard is entered by a gateway comprised of a looped iron gate set between two square purple brick piers with large rendered caps surmounted by vases. A timber garden shelter stands in a compartmented garden to the north of the barn. To the east of the house in the garden is a gateway, now isolated but formerly leading to the farm, comprising a flat iron gate set between large circular piers of basalt rubble with rounded topped rendered caps. Beyond the garden on all sides is modern suburban housing.