Harbour House, South End, South Pier, Donaghadee, Co Down

Harbour House is a good-quality, robustly detailed two-storey red brick lighthouse keeper’s house, built in 1864. It is situated within a small yard near the south end of the south pier of Donaghadee harbour, County Down. The house was constructed for the keeper of the Donaghadee lighthouse and has continued in this role.

The two-storey dwelling has a gabled facade. The front, southeast facade features a centrally positioned panelled door with a plain fanlight. To the left of the door is a PVC sash window with vertical astragals, and two similar windows are positioned to the right. The lower half of the front facade slightly projects at both the front and to the northeast gable, finished with a painted stone course. The first floor has four windows spaced unevenly. A timber sheeted door is located to the left on the ground floor of the northeast gable, alongside a single-storey gabled outhouse with a mono-pitched roof. Both the gable and the front facade are constructed from red brick with flush stone quoins, now painted. A slim, chamfered plinth runs along the base. The lower half of the rear facade and a portion of the southwest gable are integrated into the surrounding rubble wall, which projects outward; the upper portions are finished with plain render. A window, similar to that on the front, is present on the first floor of the rear facade. The roof is gabled, with a slight overhang to the eaves and exposed, curved rafter tails. Two brick chimney stacks with stone coping are visible, one on the southwest gable and the other off-centre. The roof is covered with Bangor blue slates. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. A rubble wall encloses the yard to the northeast and southeast.

According to the Commission of Irish Lights, the building was built in 1864 for the lighthouse keeper. An earlier building is shown on Ordnance Survey maps from 1858-60, which may have served as a previous lighthouse keepers’ dwelling. The listing includes the house, outbuildings, gates, gate piers, and boundary walling. The property is located within a conservation area and is owned by a public body.