Lakeview, 99 Lurgan Road, Glenavy, Crumlin, Co Antrim, BT29 4QF

Lakeview is a Georgian-style house dating from the early 19th century, appearing on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832–3, though its precise construction date is not known. In the 1880s it was the residence of Lucas Waring, and in the 1890s of a Mr J. Balance. It was listed in 1976 when owned by Mr W. Boyd, and underwent a grant-aided repair scheme in 1979–80. While the exterior retains its original character and displays an unusual arrangement of roof timbers, the interior has suffered some inappropriate alterations.

EXTERIOR

The house is one-and-a-half storeys, with roughcast wet-dash walls incorporating crushed stone, painted white, a black-painted plinth at the base, and a projecting roughcast eaves course at the top. The roof is hipped and covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses, with brown ridge tiles. Two chimneys sit on the main ridge, positioned almost but not quite symmetrically. Both are smooth cement rendered with a projecting cornice and haunches rendered to an angle, all painted white, and each carries two octagonal moulded pots that appear to be reused 19th-century examples, fitted with wire cages at the top.

The main entrance faces north. The north elevation is symmetrical and five openings wide, with a central doorway flanked by two windows on each side, and surmounted by a small gablet containing a window. The eaves line is low but broken at the entrance bay by this small gablet, which has decorative timber barge boards. Cast iron gutters run to each side of the gablet, returning onto the side elevations.

The doorway is set in an elliptically arched opening with a raised smooth cement rendered surround, painted black to the extrados and white to the intrados. It contains a rectangular nine-panelled door, a replacement, with plate glass sidelights above the panels — also replacements — surmounted by an original radial fanlight. A modern metal lamp in an antique style is mounted on the keystone. The windows throughout the north elevation are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, six over six panes with horns; these are replacements, glazed with putty. The reveals are smooth cement rendered with exposed sash boxes, and the stone cills are painted black. A tarmac area lies in front of the house.

The east elevation features twin gables rising into the main hipped roof. Roof and wall materials match the north elevation, though the barge boards here are plain rather than decorative. There is one window to the ground floor on the left and two to the first floor, one in each gable, all matching those on the entrance front in detailing. A cast iron gutter returns from the entrance front on the right, with a cast iron downpipe; two further cast iron downpipes with moulded hoppers are positioned between the gables and at the extreme left; a large PVC soil pipe is also present. A concrete path runs along the east side of the house.

The west elevation is three windows wide at ground floor level, with two upper windows at each end set in wide gablets. The roof is hipped to the left and gabled to the right, with a chimney on the gable similar in character to those described above and surmounted by a television aerial. Cast iron gutters run to each side of the gablets and between them, served by three cast iron downpipes. Walls and windows match the entrance front. The wall returns at the right-hand end to form the south gable. A small flower bed skirts the west elevation.

The south elevation comprises the rear wall of the main block to the right and the projecting gable of a rear return to the left. Roofs and walling match the rest of the house. The rear wall of the main block has two windows with similar detailing to the rest: an eight-over-eight sash to the ground floor and a three-over-three sash to the small upper window. A cast iron gutter and downpipe serve the right-hand end. On the left, the side wall of the rear return contains a rectangular door — a flush timber door with a small rectangular window in a plain wooden frame and a modern brass handle — with a modern lamp on an iron bracket above. A cast iron gutter at wall head level discharges into the valley. A PVC soil pipe sits in the angle with the main rear wall.

OUTBUILDINGS

To the west of the courtyard, projecting forward from the south gable, is a single-storey outbuilding. Its walls are of rubble masonry, roughly plastered and whitened on the yard elevation, with a projecting eaves course of red bricks, partially whitened, and roughcast at the right-hand side where it continues from the return of the main house. The roof is Bangor blue slates in regular courses with brown ridge tiles, and there is a PVC gutter and downpipe. On the left-hand side of the yard elevation there is a segmental arched opening dressed with brickwork painted white, partly blocked with concrete blocks painted white, containing a rectangular ledged timber half-door with a concrete step. On the right-hand side is a rectangular ledged timber door painted black, also with a concrete step. The south gable is blank, roughcast to match the main house. The west side has rubble stone walling with a red brick eaves course and a slated roof, with no rainwater goods.

To the east of the courtyard is a two-storey outbuilding, with roughcast walls matching the main house and a red brick eaves course. The roof is slated in the same manner, with a PVC gutter mounted on a timber fascia board and a short PVC downpipe at the left-hand end discharging into the main house gutter. The ground floor of the yard elevation has two rectangular doorways and one segmental arched opening, partly blocked with painted concrete blockwork, containing a rectangular doorway. Two of the three doors are of the ledged timber half-door type. Between the doors are two small rectangular window openings, unglazed and fitted with iron mesh grilles, with no cills. The first floor has two large and two small window openings, all open with no cills. The south gable is cement rendered and whitened, containing a rectangular window with a six-pane timber fixed light with fluted glass and no cill. The north gable is of rubble basalt and contains a small rectangular first-floor window, a single-pane timber fixed light with a flat head of bricks on a wooden board and no cill. At ground floor level on this gable, an original doorway with a flat brick arch has been partly blocked with concrete block to contain an iron casement with a top-hung vent. The east side of the outbuilding is of rubble basalt masonry partly covered in creeper, with a red brick eaves course. The slated roof has some missing slates. Concrete block pens along the eastern side of this outbuilding are in a derelict condition.

SCREEN WALLS AND GATES

The yard is closed at its south end by a roughcast screen wall and gateway. The gateway comprises large square roughcast piers with pyramidal concrete caps, hung with a pair of scrolling ironwork gates of 20th-century appearance. The exterior face of the screen wall and gate piers is finished to match. Projecting forward from the right-hand side is a low curving roughcast screen wall containing a single gate of similar design. At the left-hand extremity, projecting forward at an angle, is a second gateway of two square roughcast piers with flat concrete caps and a further pair of iron gates of similar design; on the garden side these piers are of unrendered concrete blockwork. The gateways appear to date from the mid-20th century, with the western gateway not shown on the 1920 Ordnance Survey map but present in its current position by the 1965–6 survey.

SETTING

The house stands beside a lane in a very rural location, facing away from the lane, with an extensive garden to the north and west and agricultural land beyond. There is a hardstanding of loose chippings in front of the yard entrance, and the yard itself is concreted.