143 Groomsport Road, Bangor, Co Down, BT20 5NZ

143 Groomsport Road, Bangor

A large asymmetrical two-storey Edwardian house built around 1910, influenced by Arts and Crafts design. The building has an oblong plan form with projecting bays and an adjoining former stable block. It is located off Groomsport Road, east of Bangor, overlooking Belfast Lough.

The roof is covered with rosemary tiles and has a hipped form with terracotta ridge tiles. Exposed timber rafters are visible at eaves level, with uPVC ogee moulded replacement gutters throughout. The chimney stacks are rough-cast rendered with brick courses at upper level, surmounted by masonry cornices with tall bowed terracotta pots.

The main walls are rough-cast rendered with a projecting plinth and quoins finished in red brick painted with an impervious weatherproof coating. The windows throughout are double-glazed replacement casements—timber to the front and uPVC to the rear, with some original came-lights sandwiched between the double glazing. The window cills are painted concrete with thin projected lintels.

The front door is round-arched panelled timber with a glazed upper portion and brass ironmongery, set within a deep stone surround with plain brackets supporting a Queen Anne style segmental-arched canopy. Access is via tiled steps flanked by a low wall with terminating ball finials.

The principal south-east elevation is asymmetrically arranged. From the left: a two-storey projecting hipped bay with a bow-bay window to the ground floor and a tripartite window to the first floor; a central section containing the front entrance with a tripartite light to the left and a keystone oculus to the right, with a matching oculus at first floor left, a central bi-partite window, and a Palladian-style window at landing level; to the right of centre a projecting gabled bay with decorative timber frame style and a jettied first floor, featuring a quadripartite window to the ground floor and a tripartite window to the first floor; and to the right, a one-window-wide bay with matching bi-partite windows to both floors.

The south-west elevation is symmetrically arranged with two matching bi-partite windows to the first floor. The ground floor is completely abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed timber glazed modern extension dating from around 1970.

The rear north-west elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The right-hand side comprises a pair of projecting gabled bays with matching bow-bay windows, tripartite first floor windows, and decorative timber frame style gable heads. The left-hand side contains the rear entrance at the far left with various sized casement windows to both floors.

The north-east elevation has a single window located centrally at first floor level and is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey flat-roofed garage infilling a former stable yard. This garage subsequently connects the original L-shaped, one-and-a-half-storey pitched-roofed stable block and hay store to the main house body. The north-east face of the stable block is further abutted by a single-storey garage with a timber-sheeted folding door mounted on rails and a diagonal lattice window centrally located on the door, together with a diminished chimney matching the style to the left-hand side. The south-east gabled face of the stable block is abutted by a timber-framed greenhouse, with a modern garage door to the left located between the gate piers of the original stable entrance. The existing piers are terminated with ball finials.

The house is accessed via a pair of matching gated entrances serving long driveways which flank the large garden to the front. Original piers exist at the left-hand entrance, although not currently in use; modern gates are hung on concrete piers finished with cement render. The front garden is obscured from public view by landscaped vegetation, with a long gravel path running down the centre leading to a small circular water feature. The rear gardens are flanked by individual Victorian dwellings and slope towards the shore with panoramic views across Bangor and Belfast Lough. Adjacent to the modern extension on the west side of the house is a small swimming pool installed around 1970 and a small timber cabin. The rear garden is bounded by a low dry-dash wall, beyond which lies a further plot of land under the same ownership. At the north-easterly part of the garden is a small concrete garden compound and outbuilding.