31 Greenmount Road, Muckamore, Antrim, Co Antrim, BT41 4PX

31 Greenmount Road is a substantial 1½ and 2-storey house of asymmetrical plan, built from basalt rubble with sandstone dressings and steep pitched roofs. It dates from the mid-19th century and stands on a corner site in rural Muckamore, facing onto an entrance road to an agricultural college. The house forms part of an overall architectural composition with a similar house opposite.

The main north elevation features a roof of Westmorland green slates in diminishing courses, flat soffits to overhanging eaves with timber eaves board, and cast iron gutter and downpipe. The basalt rubble walls have tooled edges to corners at the extremities and to corners of window and door reveals. A raised sandstone stringcourse runs at first floor cill level to the main 2-storey block. The central chimney is of roughly coursed basalt rubble with tooled edges to corners and a plain block cornice. The 2-storey block contains two windows to the first floor and two to the ground floor, all coupled rectangular timber 6-pane side-hung casements. The first-floor windows have a soffit of eaves to the head; the ground-floor windows have timber drip boards, recessed cills, and segmental headed flat arches. All windows in the house are modern replacements. A lower 1½-storey block extends to the left, set well back from the main wall, with most of its ground floor behind a curved screen wall that encloses a small yard. This screen wall is of basalt rubble with sandstone block coping in line with the stringcourse. The west side of the yard wall contains a semi-elliptical archway with a rectangular ledged timber gate.

The north elevation of the house within the yard displays basalt rubble walling with a sandstone stringcourse. Four square ventilation openings at the top of the north wall are presumably for an original drying room in the loft above. Two recessed doorways are present: a rectangular ledged timber door to the left in a flat basalt arch, and a rectangular timber glazed and panelled door to the right set in a tongued and grooved sheeted screen within a segmental headed basalt flat arch. Cast iron gutter and downpipe serve this elevation. A lower 1½-storey block extends to the right, also set well back from the main wall to accommodate the main entrance on the west side of the 2-storey block. This right-hand block is roofed with slates as the main house and contains a small dormer window with rectangular timber coupled 4-pane casements and a partially flat roof. The walls are similar to the main block, with a projecting sandstone stringcourse at doorhead height. Cast iron gutter and downpipe are fitted.

The main entrance, positioned in the west side of the 2-storey block, consists of a deeply recessed rectangular timber glazed and panelled door, stained and varnished, beneath a rusticated sandstone flat arch which returns to form the stringcourse of the 1½-storey block.

The east elevation comprises the main 2-storey block with hipped roof and a lower 1½-storey block projecting forward centrally. The 1½-storey block has a central window of rectangular timber coupled 4-pane casements, deeply recessed with rusticated sandstone block dressings to the reveals, sandstone cill, and rusticated flat arched sandstone head which extends to each side to form a stringcourse. Below the cill is a shallow recessed panel of basalt stonework with tooled edges to the reveals but a rough finish to the ledge below. A modern flush rooflight is inserted in the roof above. A modern timber plant box with three iron mounts spans the west elevation across the cill face.

The rear elevation comprises the central 2-storey block with lower 1½-storey blocks set back to each side. The 2-storey block has two windows to the first floor and two to the ground floor, matching those on the north elevation. The left-hand 1½-storey block is similar to the north elevation, with a dormer window and an additional ground-floor window of coupled casements without dripboard and with a sandstone stringcourse as head. The right-hand 1½-storey block contains four small square ventilation openings at the top of the wall and a rectangular door to the left, modern stained and varnished with 15 panes of glazing, set below a sandstone stringcourse head.

The yard surface is concrete; the yard inner walls are of basalt rubble. The setting is rural and well-maintained, with tarmac paths to the main entrance and driveway to the west, lawns to the rear and east, and well-kept flower beds. The front and east boundary is formed by black stained timber fencing with an original wrought iron pedestrian gate of geometrical design on iron posts, and a pair of modern iron vehicular gates on steel posts to the driveway. A timber garage with a modern metal door stands at the end of the driveway beyond the house, and a metal oil tank on rendered plinth walls stands close to the rear elevation, to the east.