Ava Cottage, 535 Belfast Road, Ballygilbert, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 1UJ

Ava Cottage is a three-bay single-storey Tudor Revival lodge dated 1855, designed by Benjamin Ferrey. Originally built as a gate lodge at the entrance to the Clandeboye estate driveway where it meets the Belfast Road, it forms part of Lord Dufferin's mid-19th century estate improvements.

The building is L-shaped in plan with a gabled porch projecting from the internal angle. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with blue and black ridge tiles, raised stone verges, and kneelers. The walls are rendered with painted roughcast and smooth finish over a chamfered plinth. Windows are timber with transoms and mullions, glazed with lattice panes set in stone surrounds. Plastic rainwater goods are present.

The principal elevation faces north towards the road. The porch features a Tudor archway surmounted by a sculpted panel containing a coronet, the D&A (Dufferin and Ava) monogram, and the date 1855. The door is timber sheeted with cast-iron studs and ornamental strap hinges. A blind window appears to the left of the porch; the right cheek is not visible. The east gable has a single window with a blind recess above it. The south and west elevations were not viewed during assessment.

The lodge stands set back from the road in mature grounds, accessed from the north through a large electric steel gate. It is bound on all sides by mature hedgerow and trees, with a gravelled frontage and paved pathway.

Built as part of Lord Dufferin's ambitious early 1850s estate development—which included nearly two and a half miles of tree-lined driveway to Grey Point and the Helen's Bay station (opened 1865)—the lodge was listed in Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) as a gate lodge and plantation valued at £4, later raised to £5, and owned by Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye. The attribution to Ferrey, who was working for Lord Dufferin on various estate commissions at the time, appears in architectural literature but lacks clear documentary support. The building first appeared captioned on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858. By the third edition map (1900–02) it had been renamed 'Belfast Lodge'; other lodges on the estate, including 'Bangor Lodge' and 'Newtownards Lodge', are also recorded, with the Newtownards Lodge still surviving.

From 1903 the property was listed as the residence of Charles Nichol, leased from the Marquess of Dufferin. Valuer's notes from 1933 record that the gate lodge had by then become a house and garden, with the valuation raised to £10. At that date the accommodation comprised a kitchen, three bedrooms, and a scullery, with the occupant holding a service tenancy of 27 years. The property lacked mains gas and water, with an earth closet in the yard. Part of the roof was noted as being covered with corrugated iron. A substantial extension was added to the rear by 2011.

The building has undergone late 20th century alterations including the raising of the roofline at the west wing and removal of the diagonally set chimneystacks. The inappropriate extension and recent renovations have resulted in the loss of much historic fabric, and its character has been seriously compromised. The record notes that whilst the lodge retains some interest as part of the Clandeboye estate, it no longer meets the statutory and policy tests as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The property is included within the Helen's Bay Area of Village Character.