’Swiss Cottage’, 23 Ballyblack Road, Ballyhaff, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2AP

Swiss Cottage is a well-preserved, picturesque late-Victorian farmhouse situated on Ballyblack Road, approximately 2 miles south-west of Newtownards, County Down. Built around 1870, this unusual brick-built dwelling displays distinctive architectural features characteristic of the period, including Tudor-style pointed arch windows, decorative brickwork, mouldings, and a steeply pitched roof with Bangor blue slates, some courses containing decorative slates with rounded ends.

The house is constructed as one and a half storeys with prominent gables. The north front facade features a timber arch-panelled door with sidelights and panelled aprons, surmounted by a four-centred arch fanlight with tracery, all encased within an archivolt and pilasters rising the full height of the facade. Twin upper-level sash windows with four-centred arch heads and horizontal glazing bars sit directly above the doorway within the pilaster frame, set into a central gabled half-dormer with decorative shaped barges. To both left and right of the doorway are slightly projecting square single-storey bays topped with entablature and blocking course, each containing twin sash windows with moulded architraves and recessed panels below cills formed by three short pilasters rising from a chamfered base.

The main front facade is built principally in red brick with greyish-yellow brick quoins, eaves course, and decorative string courses between ground and upper levels and above the upper-level windows. The west gable is finished in roughcast render with two upper-level windows and a single centred ground-floor window, all matching those on the upper level of the front. Both gables feature decorative moulded barges.

A small two-level gabled extension finished in roughcast render is attached to the right (east) side of the main house rear. Its south side contains a centred upper-level sash window and three small, evenly spaced ground-floor single-light windows. The upper level of its east gable has a small sash window to the left side and barges matching the main house. Attached to the lower half of this projection's east gable and to the rear of the kitchen extension is a brick-built three-sided hipped-roof porch. The south and east sides of the porch feature casement-like windows with four-centred arch heads to the lights; the south-east corner contains a timber-panelled door with leaded sidelights and panelled aprons.

A decorative hipped-roofed timber conservatory is built into the intersection of the projection's west gable with the rear of the main house. The west gable's upper level has a small sash window to the right.

The east gable of the original house now features a single-storey gabled kitchen extension, built in 1996, which repeats many features of the main facade and successfully blends with the original structure. Its front facade is flush with that of the main house and contains a central timber-and-glazed double door with four-centred arch heads to the glazed panels and a segmental arch fanlight with greyish-yellow brick voussoirs. The doorway is encased with pilasters rising to a gable with decorative barges. The extension is constructed principally in red brick with greyish-yellow brick quoins and eases course, matching the original. Above the extension, the east gable is rendered and displays two upper-level sash windows with flat arch heads. The rear of the kitchen extension is rendered and contains a window similar to those on the porch but smaller.

The main roof and kitchen extension roof are pitched with Bangor blue slates; the porch roof has a similar combination including decorative slates with rounded ends, whilst the rear projection has plain slates only. The main roof has two centred greyish-yellow brick chimney stacks with decorative corbelling; a smaller matching stack serves the kitchen extension gable. Two small Velux windows are positioned to the rear of the main roof and a larger one to the rear of the kitchen roof. Cast iron rainwater goods are present throughout. Rubble-built outbuildings stand to the south.

Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 and 1860 indicate that a group of buildings existed on this site, though none matches the exact positioning of the present dwelling. The house itself is estimated to date from circa 1870 based on its overall architectural style. The porch extension and kitchen addition were constructed in 1996 and have been designed to maintain visual harmony with the original structure.