Prospect House, 4 Millisle Road, Donaghadee, Co Down

Prospect House is a large two-storey gabled town house with a substantial attic, probably dating from the 1760s. It stands on the east side of the north end of Millisle Road, south of Donaghadee town centre. The street slopes towards the north-west, and the house is built into a gentle rise.

The front south-west facade was probably originally symmetrical, but a possible lengthening of the house towards the south-east, likely carried out not long after construction, has made it asymmetrical. The original section remains easily discernible. The entrance, positioned left of centre, is reached by five pyramidally arranged stone steps. The door is panelled and has a semicircular fanlight with decorative tracery, set within a Gibbsian surround featuring blocked pilasters and architrave. To the left of the door, at a high level, are two sash windows with Georgian panes. To the right are two similar windows, and to the far right, on the ground floor of the south-east section (possibly added later), is a flat arch carriage entrance with timber double doors. The first floor of the original section has five evenly spaced windows matching the ground floor pattern. The upper level of the south-east added section features a large tripartite window with Georgian panes, set slightly lower than the first floor windows of the original section. The front facade is finished in roughcast with quoins, including quoins between the supposed original and added sections, reinforcing the extension theory. The exposed uppermost section of the south-east gable is plain rendered with two smaller attic windows matching the front pattern. The north-west gable is finished in plain render and painted. It has a first-floor window as the front and above it two attic windows as on the south-east gable. The rear facade is unrendered but whitewashed, revealing its rubble construction. Right of centre is a timber-sheeted rear door set in a recess, with a narrow pair of French doors to its right. Left of the main rear door is a small six-pane sash window at a high level. Directly above the main rear door, almost set on its lintel, is a tall stairwell sash window similar to those at the front. Directly above this is a smaller sash window lighting the attic stairwell. Left of the tall stairwell window at first-floor level is a sash window lighting the bathroom, matching the style of all others. The stonework to the rear facade suggests the south-east section was added later, as does the absence of windows to this section. To the far right on the rear facade there was formerly a single-storey extension, probably added in the early 1800s and rebuilt in Victorian times, but this was removed around the 1970s. The doorway between the house and the former extension is now filled with French doors. Some window openings to the rear facade appear to have been altered. The roof is gabled and covered in asbestos slates to the front and Bangor blue slates to the rear, with three large and two tiny Velux windows to the rear. Rendered parapets cap the walls. There are three rendered chimney stacks: two on the gables and one directly above the point where the south-east added section begins, further reinforcing that it is not original. In the centre of the front of the roof is a tiny circular skylight. This is a fine mid-18th-century house that remains largely intact and well cared for. Some alterations to the rear facade and kitchen interior have been made, but these detract only marginally from what remains an impressive residence.