55 Warren Road (former light house keepers' dwellings), Donaghadee, Co Down, BT21 0PQ

55 Warren Road is a Grade B2 listed building comprising a terrace block of five properties originally built as lighthouse keepers' dwellings. The block overlooks the coastline north of Donaghadee, County Down.

The building is a relatively plain two-storey structure with a rendered façade, hipped roof, projecting end wings, and flat-roofed porches. It exhibits a conservative late Georgian style appearance that initially suggests a date of the 1850s or 60s, but evidence indicates construction around 1884, coinciding with the building of the new lighthouse on Mew Island. It does not appear on the Ordnance Survey map of 1858-60. The properties are arranged symmetrically: the south-east wing contains all of number 53 and part of number 55; the north-west wing contains all of number 61 and part of number 59; the main central portion contains the remainder of numbers 55 and 59, with number 57 between them.

Number 55 is the property recorded. Its asymmetrical north-east-facing front elevation features a large full-height hipped roof projecting bay positioned left of centre. Between the bay and the rest of the elevation is a single-storey flat-roofed entrance porch with a panelled door on the north-west face and a window on the north-east face. This window has a sash frame with Georgian-like panes (two over four) and label moulding. The porch has a tall parapet with cornice-like string course. To the ground floor of the bay is a sash window with six-over-six Georgian panes and label moulding; an identical window sits to its right. The first floor contains three similar windows without label moulding, the leftmost positioned on the first floor of the bay. The elevation merges with number 57 to the right. The short south-east elevation (shared with number 53) has one window to ground floor and one to first floor, both corresponding to those at front. The rear north-west and south-west elevations are covered at ground floor level by a lean-to section. A modern PVC conservatory largely covers the south-west elevation of the lean-to. To the immediate right of this is a window with modern frame. The north-west elevation of the lean-to has a window with PVC frame and a doorway with mainly glazed PVC door. The first floor of the south-west elevation (above the lean-to) has two windows with modern frames matching the first floor front style. The first floor of the north-west elevation has a sash window matching the first floor front. The façade is rendered and painted white with an eaves course and bevelled base. The hipped roof is slated, as is the lean-to. Two relatively tall rendered chimney stacks are present; that to the north-west is probably shared with number 57. The rear lean-to includes a Velux window on its north-west-facing section. Cast iron rainwater goods are largely present. A small enclosed yard contains what appear to be two single-storey lean-to sheds or outhouses.

Number 55 has retained its original appearance to the front, but most window frames and the door to the rear are modern, and a large PVC conservatory has been added.

The building originally served the lighthouse establishment. In the 1960s, after lighthouse staff ceased to use the dwellings, the entire block was sold as a single unit. The new owner constructed a line of modern single-storey garages to the rear around 1969, positioned just beyond the back yards of each house. From around 1970 onwards, the individual dwellings were sold as separate properties. Number 63, at the north-west end, was used for much of the 20th century as a store stocking provisions for the lighthouse. The relatively spacious interior and surviving internal detailing support the circa 1884 construction date rather than the earlier stylistic appearance would suggest.