137 Whiterock Bay, Killinakin, Killinchy, Co Down, BT23 6QA

137 Whiterock Bay is a two storey house built in 1936 in the International Style, designed by Philip Bell. The property sits on a slight rise on the south side of Whiterock Bay road, overlooking Strangford Lough, approximately one mile west of Killinchy.

Originally conceived as a cubist form, the house was roughly square in plan with a full height projecting bay to the front and a lower projecting section at the rear. However, it has been substantially altered in recent times. A large unsuitable hipped roof section now extends from the front to the west facade, and a substantial two storey extension has been added to the rear with extremely large windows occupying almost full storey height, with timber panels below the glazing.

Some original window openings remain on the right hand side of the east facade and corner windows to the front, though all have been fitted with modern frames of inconsistent materials. The entrance is now located at the far left edge of the east facade, as the original front entrance no longer exists. The original flat roof has been retained over the main body of the house, as has the roughcast to the facade, though the building is now painted cream rather than its original white, a treatment unsuited to a modernist dwelling of this type. A rendered chimney stack is located on the east side. Metal and PVC rainwater goods are present.

The house was one of four properties built around 1936 to complement the adjacent Strangford Lough Yacht Club. According to local tradition, these houses were constructed during periods when high tide prevented work on the club house itself. Philip Bell designed all four properties as weekend accommodation for sailing visitors, and they were originally built without running water or any form of power. Some alterations to the interior were apparently supervised by Bell himself in the early 1960s, but the external changes have considerably undermined the design intention, obliterating its overtly modernist origins.