Gate lodge to former Ballyalolly House, 20 Ballyalloly Road, Comber, Co. Down, BT23 5PN

Gate Lodge to Former Ballyalloly House

This small single storey gate lodge, dating from around the 1790s, originally served Ballyalloly House and stands on the north-west side of Ballymaleddy Road, approximately two miles west of Comber. The building is a compact, symmetrical structure with canted ends, a steeply pitched hipped roof, and a generally Classical appearance.

The south-east facing front façade features a central panelled doorway topped with a 'spoked' elliptical arch fanlight. To either side of the doorway is a small sash window with Georgian glazing bars. The front faces of each canted side have similar sash windows with Georgian glazing bars, while the back faces of the canted sides each contain a small window. The window on the north-east side is notably smaller, and its frame is modern, though made to resemble the original Georgian style windows. The front façade and canted sides are separated by panelled pilasters. The entire exterior is finished in rough cast and painted. The roof is covered in Bangor blue slates, and there is a single rendered chimney stack serving the original section. The building is fitted with PVC rainwater goods.

A large single storey hipped roof extension was added to the rear in 1992, with various modern window openings. A timber lean-to conservatory has been constructed on the south-west side of this extension.

The original Ballyalloly House was a large three storey hipped roof Georgian dwelling, probably constructed around 1790 by Colonel Annesley, likely a relation of the Annesleys of Mount Panther. The house subsequently came into the hands of John Hamilton, a Belfast banker, though by the time of the first valuation in 1834 it was owned by David Ker of Montalto, Ballynahinch. The 1863 valuation records it as leased to James Warnock, and by 1886 it was owned or leased by a Mr. Martin. The original house was demolished in 1935 by Captain Herbert Dixon (Lord Glentoran), who commissioned a new residence designed by Blackwood & Jury to replace it.

This gate lodge appears on Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 and 1858, and was likely built contemporaneously with Ballyalloly House itself. A small return appears to have been added during the first half of the twentieth century, probably when Ballyalloly was being rebuilt in 1935, at which point original architectural detail may have been removed. A further significant extension was added to the rear in 1992.

A second pre-1834 gate lodge to Ballyalloly House survives on the Hillsborough Road to the south-east, though it is simpler in appearance and has since been modernised and extensively extended.