‘Minaki’ (Queen's University Marine Biology Station), 13 The Strand, Portaferry, Co Down, BT22 1PF

Minaki, 13 The Strand, Portaferry

A two-storey gabled and rendered terrace house built in 1815, situated at the western end of The Strand on the shores of Strangford Lough. The building is now part of Queen's University's Marine Biology Station.

The front (south) elevation is symmetrical, with a decorated doorway at ground floor centre. The door itself is panelled timber with a fanlight featuring tracery, encased by pilasters with an incised Greek key pattern and an entablature with fluting and moulded garlands. Three steps lead to the door, which opens into a vestibule with a panelled and glazed door, sidelights and a multi-pane fanlight. The house has a basement with the ground floor set slightly above pavement level.

To either side of the doorway is a three-sided projecting bay window with a hipped Bangor blue slated roof and three sliding sash and case windows without astragals. The base of each bay contains a single centre basement light, now boarded up. At first floor level are three sash and case windows without astragals. The second floor has three very short fixed windows with Georgian panes, the central example being narrower than its neighbours.

The rear elevations show a large single-storey flat-roofed extension to the left and a smaller lean-to extension to the right, which has a tripartite Georgian-paned window. At first-floor rear are two sash windows with 6 over 6 panes positioned at the extremes. A coach doorway with a segmental arch and simple moulded keystone provides access past the west gable to the rear. The façade is finished in painted lined render with roughcast applied to the rear. The gabled roof is covered in Bangor blue slate with a stone parapet to the west gable. One yellow brick chimney stack has a stone moulded cap with assorted pots. Cast iron gutters and downspouts are present, along with one Velux window to the front and two to the rear.

The early 20th-century additions include the decorated doorway and the ground floor bay windows, which do not appear on the 1900 Ordnance Survey map but may have been added shortly after.

Extensive outhouses stand to the rear. The property appears substantially as shown on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and the valuation plan of circa 1835–38. Historical records indicate that in circa 1835 the property was the home of William Greer and was confirmed to have been built in 1815. The house remained in the hands of Greer or his son of the same name until at least 1861.