Ravara House, 20 Manse Road, Ravara, Ballygowan, Co. Down, BT23 6HE

Ravara House is a compact two-storey gentleman's residence built circa 1836–8, possibly designed by Thomas Duff. The house stands at the end of a drive to the east of Manse Road, roughly half a mile south of Killinchy, with its symmetrical front façade facing north.

The centrepiece of the north elevation is a recently added flat-roofed porch with glazed French doors, four-pane sidelights, and a large fanlight with tracery. The doorway is flanked by simple pilasters and topped with a lintel frieze and cornice. On either side of the porch are eight-pane sash-like windows also flanked by pilasters. Above these are further sash windows with Georgian panes. The first floor carries three similar but smaller windows, the central one set on a slightly projecting bay. All first-floor windows on the north, east and west façades rest on a cill course.

The east and west façades are identical, each with two ground-floor windows and two first-floor windows matching those of the front. At the rear, a two-storey lean-to section is flanked by single-storey lean-to sections. The lean-to ensemble contains four small windows with modern frames at first-floor level, a timber-sheeted door at centre, and a large sash stairwell window with Georgian panes flanked by two smaller windows with modern frames. The north, east and west façades are finished in rusticated render at ground-floor level with plain render above, plain corner pilasters, and chamfered bases. The rear façade is rough-cast. The hipped roof is covered in pan tiles with two central brick chimney stacks. Cast iron rainwater goods complete the exterior. A courtyard of original-looking single and two-storey outbuildings stands to the rear.

The house was originally owned by a man named Wallace but was leased soon after completion to Reverend John Gamble, the first minister of Ballygowan Presbyterian Church. Gamble died in 1854. Valuation returns of 1863 record the house in possession of Michael Buckley. Between 1863 and circa 1890, the house and its farmland were purchased by the Ballygowan congregation for use as a manse, a function it retained until the church sold it in 1984. The current porch was recently built to designs by Robert McKinstry, replacing an earlier porch dating from approximately the 1940s.