Scrabo Isles, 61 Manse Road, Ballycullen, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4TP

Scrabo Isles is a large two-storey farmhouse built around 1870–80 on the site of a house documented from 1833 onwards. The building now functions as a nursing home and has been substantially extended in recent years. Originally a gentleman's residence standing isolated amid fields, it now sits surrounded by modern housing developments on the western outskirts of Newtownards.

The original structure is rendered externally with chamfered quoins and features a hipped roof clad in Bangor blue slates, with two small skylights to the rear and two centred yellow brick chimneys with corbels. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.

The south-east facade presents the principal elevation. A central doorway is encased with fluted pilasters and a cornice hood on brackets with a curved blocking course above. The door itself is a flush panel design with a plain fanlight above. A corrugated PVC porch roof extends from above the fanlight and connects to a large modern conservatory covering the ground floor to the left of the doorway and continuing around the south-west facade. To the right of the door are paired sash windows with simple moulded surrounds and a cill course. The first floor contains three evenly spaced similar single windows, also set on a cill course. Steps lead to the front doorway, with a recently added concrete ramp and metal rails for disabled access positioned to the right.

The north-east facade has three first-floor windows similar to those of the front elevation, though the central window has a modern frame without moulded surround. A ground-floor window is also present. To the immediate right is a recently added large single-storey extension with a hipped roof clad in concrete tiles and modern bay windows. This extension connects to a return wing whose north-east facade is flush with the main house.

The return's north-east facade has four first-floor windows: the far left is a very narrow sash window with period surround; the next is larger with matching surround but modern frame; the two rightmost are modern windows without surrounds. The ground floor has two windows with period surrounds but modern frames to the left and centre, and two tiny modern single-pane windows to the right. The north-west gable of the return is blank. The south-west facade of the return contains two modern first-floor windows and a flush panel door accessible via a metal fire escape stretched across the rear of the main house. The ground floor has one modern window to the left, two modern doors in the centre, and two further modern windows to the right.

The rear of the main house includes a large projecting bay stretching from left to centre. The ground floor of this bay contains a recent-looking doorway with modern glazed door and sidelights; to the right is a sash window. The first floor has two sash windows and a large tripartite window with coloured glass to the left. To the far right, the rear facade is set back. The ground floor of this set-back (north-west facing) section has a modern door; adjacent to it on the short south-west facing face is a sash window.

The south-west facade retains a canted bay in its centre, with a sash window to each face and a hipped roof. To the left of the first floor is a sash window matching the front elevation. A very large recently constructed single-storey extension extends from the west corner of the original house, covering most of the ground floor of the south-west facade up to the original canted bay. The conservatory from the front facade continues along the south-west elevation until meeting the canted bay and extension. The entire facade is finished in lined render.

The return has a gabled roof also clad in Bangor blue slates; the render at the north-west end looks substantially fresher than elsewhere, suggesting it was extended at some point.

Historical records show a building existed on this site from at least 1833, when the 1st valuation records indicate it was occupied by John McBlain. The Ordnance Survey maps of 1834 and 1858–60 confirm a building on the site, with the latter map marking it as "Scrabo Isles". By 1863, the property had been acquired by William Mayne, owner of nearby Mountpleasant, and was being rented to John Ferguson. The present house was probably built in the 1870s or 1880s, though the former outbuildings to the rear may survive from earlier in the century.

Rubble-built single-storey outbuildings with brick dressings stand to the north of the main house. A two-storey former outbuilding with rubble walls and brick dressings, located just to the west, has been converted to a private dwelling. When surveyed in 1972, the house stood isolated amid large fields. Today, the transformation is complete: Scrabo Isles has become a nursing home extensively extended and hemmed in by modern housing, its former rural character entirely lost.