Gate Lodge, 1 Groomsport House Road, Groomsport, Bangor, Co Down, BT19 6GH

Gate Lodge

A former gate lodge built around 1850 to designs by architect James Sands, located on the north side of Donaghadee Road, Groomsport. The lodge stands at the entrance to Groomsport House, the principal residence of the Perceval Maxwell family, whose fortunes were closely linked with Groomsport.

The building is a single-storey Tudor-Revival structure arranged symmetrically on a three-bay rectangular plan. The steeply pitched natural slate roof is dominated by a central chimneystack consisting of twin lozenge-stacks rising from an ashlar sandstone plinth. Moulded stone gutters with cast-iron downpipes run around the building. Both gables feature fractables with sandstone kneelers.

The walling is ruled-and-lined render with stepped sandstone quoins and plinth. Windows are uPVC casements with splayed sandstone sills. The principal elevation presents a symmetrical composition with a window opening to either side of a projecting gabled ashlar sandstone entrance bay. This bay contains a four-centred-arched entrance opening with hood-moulding surmounted by a blind shield. The door is timber-sheeted with cast-iron door furniture including a boot-scraper. The left and right gables are identical, each having a single ground-floor window with a blind-lancet niche at attic level. The rear elevation is completely abutted by a modern extension.

The detailing and ornamentation are well crafted and appropriate to the Tudor-Revival style. The lodge has however been seriously compromised by this modern extension and to some extent by the loss of the gate screen (HB23/01/016C).

The lodge sits on a small site with lawn to front and paved parking area to rear. It is bounded to the road by a basalt rubble wall with soldier coping, and to the access lane by mild-steel railings and gate. The site is accessed via the remains of the gate screen. The setting has been seriously compromised by a surrounding housing development of modern multi-occupancy residential units. Despite these alterations, the character of the lodge survives in its detailed craftsmanship and its connection to the main house sustains its special interest.

The lodge was added to Groomsport House shortly after the main house was completed in 1849, also designed by James Sands for Robert Perceval Maxwell. It is shown uncaptioned on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1858 and appears in Griffith's Valuation (1856–64) after the main house. Following the addition of the lodge and subsequent improvements, the valuation of the house rose from £58 to £75. In 1870, Robert P Maxwell became owner in fee of Groomsport House following his uncle's death in 1869 without issue. Robert P Maxwell's main residence was Finnebrogue in Downpatrick, but two of his unmarried daughters continued to live at Groomsport until they died around 1930. The house remained unoccupied during the Second World War and was used for secret military work. In 1951 the Maxwell family took it over again, and Gavin Perceval-Maxwell gradually restored it before selling it in 1968. The main house was opened as a hotel in 1994 but closed shortly afterwards, and in 1999 was converted to apartments.