Millisle coastguard station houses, Ballywalter Road, Ballyhaskin, Millisle, Newtownards, Co Down, BT22 2NL

Millisle Coastguard Station Houses

A terraced block of five two-storey dwellings built on the eastern side of Ballywalter Road, approximately 2 miles south of Millisle, near the rocky shore. The buildings date from the 1870s, though a coastguard station had occupied the site since at least 1833.

The block is constructed primarily of rubble stone with sandstone dressings to the original openings and quoins. It has a rectangular plan with a projecting square tower at the south-east corner and a smaller projection at the opposite end. The main roof is hipped and covered in Bangor blue slate, with rendered chimney stacks. Most of the building has been painted, except for the square tower and south-east façade.

The square tower stands to the south-east, taller than the main block, and is topped with a shallow pyramidal Bangor blue slate roof and brick chimney stack. The tower features brick-built oriel structures on sandstone corbels to the first floor of three sides, each with segmental arch-headed window openings fitted with sash frames. The north-west face of the tower has a flat arch window opening with sandstone dressings and a sash frame. The ground floor south-west face contains a tiny sandstone-dressed slit window, whilst the south-east face has a modern hipped roof conservatory or porch.

No. 1 (north-west end) has a two-storey projection with the entrance on the south-west front façade, now surrounded by a modern hipped roof porch with PVC windows. The north-west façade of the projection features a small slit window with a flat pointed arch head on the ground floor and a brick-built oriel structure with PVC-framed window to the first floor. The front façade contains a central two-storey gabled bay with flat pointed arch windows to both floors, fitted with PVC frames and louvered shutters.

No. 2 has a front façade with a PVC door and fanlight to the right and windows to left and right on both floors, similar in style to No. 1 but without shutters.

No. 3 has a similar front façade to No. 2 but reversed, with a timber panel door.

No. 4 has a similar front façade to No. 2 but fitted with a modern timber and glazed door and modern timber windows.

No. 5 (south-east end) has a front façade similar to No. 3 but with a modern timber and glazed door and what may be original sash frames to the windows. The entrance door surround has been rendered.

The entire block has been substantially altered and extended in recent times. All dwellings now have large modern extensions, predominantly two-storey flat-roofed additions to the rear, with modern porches added to two houses. Modern window frames and doors have been installed throughout, giving the block an untidy appearance. A former boat house to the south-east has been converted to a dwelling.