Ardress House, Ardress East, Loughgall, Co.Armagh

Ardress House is a 17th-century farmhouse substantially enlarged during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The original core of the house, located in the centre of the present entrance front, is a two-story, five-bay, gabled-ended structure of double-pile form, with two slight projections to the rear. It is variously dated to around 1660, 1664, and 1675. Between the late 1770s and early 1780s, the house was expanded by the addition of bays to each end of the entrance front, raising of the front facade to create a parapet, and the construction of a pedimented Tuscan porch, all designed by George Ensor, an architect from Dublin who married Sarah Clarke, the Ardress heiress, in 1760 and subsequently retired to the house. Internal remodelling, including plasterwork in the drawing room executed by Michael Stapleton of Dublin, also took place during the 1770s to 1780s under Ensor’s direction. Around 1810, Ensor’s son, also named George, added a three-bay rear return and curving screen walls. Ardress House remained in the ownership of the Ensor family until 1960 when it was acquired by the National Trust in a dilapidated state. Nineteeth and twentieth century additions were demolished in 1961, and the house was subsequently opened to the public. A gate lodge, originally built for George Ensor, was formerly located opposite the present gate piers but has since been demolished. The listing includes associated outbuildings.