‘Barholm’, 11 The Strand, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1PF

Barholm is a large, formal two-storey house built around 1825, with its front façade substantially remodelled in the 1880s. The building retains its special architectural character despite these alterations and is well proportioned and detailed throughout.

The house is situated on the north side of The Strand, west of Portaferry town centre, set back approximately 1.5 metres above ground level and surrounded by a rendered wall with privet hedge. Access is via recently constructed timber gates framed by rusticated rendered square gate pillars, with a short flight of steps rising to a small forecourt before the front door.

The symmetrical south-facing front façade features a central doorway with a six-panel door set within a timber and glazed porch with Bangor blue slated roof and eaves supported on decorative brackets. The doorway has plain fanlight and sidelights, with 'Barholm 11' painted on the fanlight, with lights also to the sides of the porch. The doorway is flanked by three-sided single-storey bays topped with parapets, each with a sash window to every face. Windows have simple surrounds with a moulded course roughly 300 millimetres above each surround. The first floor contains three sets of paired sash windows with similar surrounds to the outer pairs. The middle pair of windows have semi-circular arch heads and are encased with plain pilasters beneath the arches. A cill course connects to the top of the bays. The façade rises to form a parapet above the eaves course, decorated with ball finials at the edges and a central pediment with ball finial. A moulded shield is positioned at the centre of the pediment. Both gables are rendered and each has a single sliding sash window to the second floor set high at the eaves. All sections of the roof are gabled and covered with Bangor blue slates. The main roof has stone parapets and two yellow brick chimneys with matching pots. Cast iron down-spouts drain the roof.

A large gabled Edwardian-looking conservatory is attached to the east gable. To the rear façade, a large three-storey hipped-roof return forms the centrepiece. To the left of the return are sash windows to both ground and first floors, with a large galvanised metal extract duct further left and the rear wall of the conservatory to its left. To the right of the return is a single-storey flat-roofed extension with a sash window to the first floor. The east face of the return has a door to the left and a tripartite sash window to the right at ground floor level. The first floor contains a two-over-two sash window to the left, a six-over-three sash window at the centre, and a two-over-two sash window to the right. The second floor has a small paired sash window to the left and a tripartite sash window at the centre. The main return merges with a two-storey outhouse along the north side of the rear yard, which in turn merges with a single-storey mono-pitched outhouse on the east boundary. The resulting courtyard is finished in modern brick paviors. The west face of the main return has two modern windows to the second floor, one centred sash window to the first floor, and one modern window to the left of the ground floor. The flat-roofed extension has a modern window to the north face and two similar windows to the west face. The façade is finished in lined render and painted.

The rear of the building appears to retain its original full-height return. To the rear façade, the left section of the main return has sash windows to ground and first floors, flanked by a galvanised extract duct. The east face of the return contains a door and tripartite sash window at ground level, with multiple sash windows of varying designs across the first and second floors as described above. The west face has modern windows to the second floor, a centred sash window to the first floor, and a modern window at ground level.

The building's development history indicates that it dates from approximately 1825 and is identifiable with the house of matching dimensions recorded in the 1838 valuation returns, at which time it was occupied by one Cunningham Miller. The property included a coach house and stable house with loft to the rear. The Miller family remained associated with the property until at least 1870. Between approximately 1863 and 1900, and most likely in the 1880s, the front façade was remodelled with the addition of the bays and other modifications. The conservatory may have been added during this period, although a structure is indicated on its site in the valuation town plan of approximately 1863. In recent times the house was in the hands of the neighbouring Queen's University Belfast Marine Biology Station. In the early 1990s it was converted to a hotel with conference facilities for community use.