Ballywhite House, 19 Lough Shore Road, Ballywhite, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1PD

Ballywhite House is a gentleman's residence of circa 1870, with substantial architectural and group value in the landscape of Portaferry. It may incorporate fabric from an earlier dwelling dating before 1834.

The main house is a large, two-storey, double-pile structure with a prominent projecting full-height Italianate porch to the front (south-west elevation) and extensive rear returns. The complex comprises a long rectangular double-gabled block with an accompanying substantial servants' quarters block to the rear (north-east), finished in plain lined render with a moulded base and cornice eaves course, Bangor blue slate roof, yellow brick chimneys, and cast iron rainwater goods, now largely replaced with extruded aluminium.

The south-west (front) façade is dominated by a central projecting full-height porch with corner pilasters rising to a frieze set below the first-floor window cill. The first floor features paired pilasters with floral capitals and frieze supporting a broken entablature surmounted by acroteria—heavy square pinnacles to the corners and a stylised floral and leaf pattern to the apex. Above the first-floor windows is a carved cartouche. The ground floor has a triple opening with columns having floral capitals serving as mullions, leading to double timber glazed doors; the first floor has a similar but shorter paired opening. Symmetrical wings flank either side of the porch. To the ground floor on each side are two windows with projecting moulded cornices supported on moulded console brackets; first-floor windows are less tall and lack decoration. Windows throughout are now two-pane PVC set within original openings.

The south-east gable features a ground-floor three-window semi-circular flat-roofed bay with moulded cornice and cope. The first floor has a centre window with a moulded triangular pediment on moulded console brackets, with windows either side having segmental arch pediments. The north-west gable mirrors this arrangement.

The south gable is double-piled. Its left side has a semicircular central single-storey bay with three windows as found elsewhere, each with a projecting cornice or canopy supported on decorative console brackets. The first floor contains three windows, each with a projecting entablature supported on decorative console brackets—the centre entablature is triangular while the left and right are segmental arched. The right section projects slightly and features a mullioned tripartite window on both ground and first floors; the first-floor windows are slightly shorter, with mullions formed as pilasters bearing decorative capitals. These sash windows have no astragals and no horns. Windows to this gable are all now PVC.

To the far right is a large, hipped-roof, two-storey irregular block serving as servants' quarters, appearing to have been constructed later and detailed simply with sash windows bearing vertical astragals.

A single-storey pitched-roof extension to the left of the front elevation leads to a "hot house" (conservatory), which has been recently reconstructed mainly in timber but reusing decorative cast iron brackets and simple ceramic floor tiles from the original Victorian structure. This in turn connects to the "ballroom" on the north-east—a large single-cell hipped-roof hall with exposed cast iron trusses internally. The ballroom roof is covered in Bangor blue slate. Large windows with Georgian panes (replicated in 2002) light the space, which appears simply detailed but is much obscured by plant growth. The hot house abuts the north gable (obscuring the ground floor), which is double-piled. The first floor of the main north gable has three equally spaced windows, each with a projecting entablature supported on decorative console brackets; the centre entablature is triangular while the outer two are segmental arched.

The rear returns may contain elements of a pre-1834 dwelling. Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1860 show a building of different size, shape, and orientation at this location. The 1838 valuation returns record a one-and-a-half-storey residence measuring 41 feet by 22 feet with extensive outbuildings, then belonging to Isabella McDonnell. By 1861, the property had been acquired by John Warnock, a solicitor originally from Downpatrick, who is believed to have built the present house around 1870, possibly incorporating the original dwelling within the rear returns. Warnock also built the small lodge along the main entrance drive to the west. The property was acquired by the present owner's family in 1918.

To the east stands a substantial collection of farm buildings of varying dates from the early nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century. Two buildings to the south-east of the house, probably early nineteenth-century, form an open-ended courtyard. Both are gabled and built in flat stone rubble. That closest to the house is whitewashed with a slate pitched roof and contains original horse stalls, cast iron mangers, and cast iron hopper windows inscribed with "Musgrave's Patent Belfast". The adjoining barn is L-shaped with a pitched roof finished in corrugated iron. Recently renovated, it has new timber windows and double coach doors with pass doors. The whitewash has been substantially cleaned to reveal multi-coloured stone rubble. Other nineteenth-century farm buildings and a farmhouse also stand within the Ballywhite House estate. Despite some alterations, Ballywhite House retains special architectural interest and has group value with the nearby listed gate lodge.