Islandreagh House, 29 Islandreagh Road, Dunadry, Co Antrim, BT41 2HF

Islandreagh House is a well-preserved asymmetrical three-bay two-storey rendered farmhouse built circa 1820, located at the east end of Islandreagh Road in Dunadry. It sits within a largely contemporary farmyard complex and is approached by a rendered boundary wall-lined avenue with cylindrical pillars leading to a roundabout that opens onto the farmyard.

The house is rectangular on plan with a modern single-storey flat-roofed extension to the west gable and a three-window-wide two-storey addition dating to circa 1960 abutting the east end of the north elevation. Two modern single-storey flat-roofed quadrant linking blocks occupy the southeast and northwest internal angles. The pitched roof has painted timber overhanging eaves and bargeboards, with simple rendered gable chimneystacks. The walling is smooth rendered with V-jointed quoins.

Windows throughout are square-headed painted timber 6/6 sashes with rendered masonry cills, with original cylinder glass lights and moulded architraves, unless otherwise noted. The principal elevation faces south with an off-centre entrance. The two floors display three windows each, all hornless. The elliptical-arched entrance opening is of particular high quality, featuring a moulded painted timber surround with recessed panels to the soffits and a moulded architrave-transom supported on two Doric columns. A Regency-style spiderwebbed fanlight tops the opening, with geometric-glazed sidelights-on-plinths flanking a painted timber door of twelve raised and fielded panels, divided by a lock-rail into two sections: square top panels and longer rectangular base panels.

The west gable is abutted to ground floor by the flat-roofed extension. The first floor has one window, and a round-headed 12/6 sash lights the attic. The extension's west elevation features a flat-headed canted bay with a central 10/10 sash flanked by 6/6 sashes. The left end of the annex has an oculus with radial glazing. The south elevation of the annex has a single tripartite window flanked by 2/2 sashes; the north elevation has two square-headed 3/3 sashes. The north elevation of the main house is abutted at its left end by the modern north addition and has a quadrant entrance porch at the internal angle of that junction. The centre bay has two round-headed 9/6 sashes stacked to first floor level. Another window appears on this elevation, and two 3/3 sashes light the annex. The modern entrance porch has a central door flanked by a six-light casement on each side. The east gable has a single window to the first floor and a round-headed 9/6 sash to the attic, and is abutted by a modern glazed quadrant linking block to the north addition.

The house is set in extensive grounds with a gravel forecourt, manicured lawned gardens, box hedges to the front, and a modern glazed enclosed pool to the southeast. The farmcourt, which adjoins the southeast corner of the house, comprises three roughcast outbuildings, all multi-bay with pitched roofs and replacement painted timber casements. A single-storey stable block to the west has skylights and two stable half-doors. A two-storey garage occupies the north, and a third single-storey outbuilding abuts the right end of the addition's north gable. A detached modern range of outbuildings and a greenhouse lie to the northwest.

The house appears on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map as rectangular in plan at its present location, with detached outbuildings to the north and west that remained unchanged through the mid-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century surveys. The north and west buildings were merged by the 1921 Ordnance Survey map. Historical records show the property was owned by Mr. James Back in 1836, when the house, yard, and offices were valued at £4 8s 0d. By 1859, the property was occupied by Mr. William Back, who was also the immediate lessor, with the house, offices, and land valued at £12 0s 0d. The north addition, linking block, and entrance porch were added in the late 1960s, according to the owner.