Laurel Cottage, 50 Shanes Street, Randalstown, Co. Antrim, BT41 2AA

A one and a half storey, single bay, direct entry thatched house with single storey lean-to annex. Approaching Randalstown from the direction of Belfast the house is situated less than half a mile from the centre of the town. The building that faces south-west is attached by the north-west gable to a modern one and a half storey house. The thatch roof covering, with three rows of scallops at the ridge and one at the eaves, terminates at the left (north-west) against the modern building and is finished at the opposite side by a tiled parapet and cement fillet above which rises a corbelled brick chimneystack. Flax has been used to cover the roof. The lean-to roof of the scullery is finished by means of a concrete coping at the front and at the side. The external finish of the building is of whitened roughcast with a black painted plinth, projecting at the front, and terminating at the eaves by a deep corbel course. The house with hard standing on all sides is fronted by shrub planting and grass behind a ranch style fence with stained finish. The entrance path is accessed by a modern decorative metal gate, hung on large unequally-sized pillars, and at the right hand (south-east) side of the building a gate constructed of timber uprights leads to the rear. The four-panel entrance door with upper panels glazed is protected by an open timber-framed porch with dwarf supporting walls, corrugated roof, plastic rainwater goods and a pair of ornamental lanterns. There is a raised area with whitened masonry flower boxes on either side in front of the annex and the intervening space between this and the entrance porch is raised slightly and paved with black-coloured hexagonal slabs. To the right (south-east) of the porch the living room is lighted by a plain glazed, timber-framed vertically-sliding window without sash stops and set within a plain raised cement surround. The frame is exposed and the sill is of traditional depth. A similar window fronts the scullery annex and there is a plain window, also in a raised surround, in the gable. The window lighting the living room from the rear is similar but with the sashes divided into two panes vertically and is provided with sash stops. The upper accommodation is lighted in the east gable by a window of the usual type but with horizontal division of the sashes and with sash stops. 04.02.2005 The house has now been demolished. This happened around the end of January 2005.