Erin Lodge, Rosepark Avenue, [off Killaughey Road], Donaghadee, Co Down

Erin Lodge is a well-maintained single storey Regency villa dating from 1824, located approximately 1 kilometre south-west of Donaghadee town centre on Rosepark Avenue. The house is set on a high basement and is now roughly U-shaped in plan, occupying approximately one acre which represents all that remains of a once much larger wooded demesne. Most of the surrounding land was sold in the 1970s for a modern private housing development.

The building was possibly built for a senior official or engineer working on the new Donaghadee Harbour. Contemporary records show that by 1836, the house was in the possession of Samuel Rea and commanded a rateable value of £20-9-0. By 1863, the rateable value had risen to £39-10-0 under the occupancy of Robert P. Maxwell. A western return or extension was added sometime after 1860.

The south facade is the main front, with a wide four-panel timber door positioned right of centre and reached by a flight of six stone steps. The door is surmounted by an elliptical radial fanlight with glazed and panelled margins. To the right of the door is a tall sliding sash window with horizontal and vertical astragals, its cill level with floor level. To the left are similar windows with raised sills. A later return projects to the far left, featuring a window and a centred basement door, with a gabled end containing a basement sliding sash window below a loft door at raised ground level. The north face of this return has a large coach arch, now blocked but retaining a small pass door and an irregularly shaped window. Behind a screen yard wall are three small windows resting on a shared sill, with a modern recessed door below.

A smaller gabled return projects from the left side of the west facade. The south face of this return has small sliding sash windows to both ground and basement levels, and displays an elaborate but inoperable water pump. The west facade of the return has two symmetrically placed sliding sash windows. A large glass house, now somewhat dilapidated, stands to the left of this return.

The north facade is divided into two halves: the right comprises the return's side, while the left is the main house. The return's north side has a modern recessed ground floor door reached by steps, with a sliding sash window to its right. The main house's north side features three ground floor sliding sash windows of varying sizes: the left is small, the centre is large with its cill resting on the string course, and the right is medium-sized. The basement contains two small sliding sash windows.

The east facade has a canted bay on the left with large windows to the ground floor and small ones to the basement. To its right are two similar windows, one each to ground and basement. A shallow projecting bay with a split pediment over follows, again with one window to each level. All windows are sliding sash throughout.

Generally, the ground floor rests on a projecting stone string course. The ground level rises to meet the floor level at the front; to the north the ground is steeply banked down to the basement floor level; to the west the ground level is almost level with basement floor level. The eaves overhang approximately 0.4 metres. All roofs are covered with Bangor blue slates and are generally hipped, with a very shallow pitch and flat centre section. Large carved Scrabo stone chimney pots sit atop the roofline.

Much of the original detailing to the airy interior is well preserved and the layout remains largely intact. The house was originally set picturesquely within its own extensive wooded park, though a previous owner disposed of much of this land, and the modern estate now surrounds what remains of the original grounds.