Ballycastle Credit Union, 1 The Diamond, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AW

Ballycastle Credit Union, 1 The Diamond, Ballycastle

This is a three-storey terrace building with a bank front, located on the north-west side of The Diamond, close to the south-west end of Ann Street. The asymmetrical front elevation faces south-east.

The building originated as a mid-nineteenth-century dwelling house, occupied by a family named Thompson from at least 1859 (who operated a tannery to the rear). Photographic evidence from around 1900 shows the house in its original state. It was substantially remodelled around 1918-20 to serve as a branch of the Belfast Banking Company. The Credit Union acquired the building in 1970, when the Belfast Banking Company merged with the Northern Banking Company to form the Northern Bank, and the Ballycastle branch relocated to newly-built premises on Ann Street. A large two-storey extension was added to the rear, probably in the 1980s.

The ground floor features a relatively large panelled door with segmental-headed fanlight to the right, and to its left a large window with mullioned and transomed timber frame, segmental heads to the upper lights, and etched glazing to the lower lights bearing Credit Union logos. The doorway and window are flanked by panelled pilasters with dentilled capitals of varying widths. The rest of the ground floor façade is finished in rusticated render with a bank front topped with a laminated signboard bearing raised uncial lettering and a projecting cornice above, with recent projecting lights to the cornice. A bevelled base course runs across the ground floor.

The first floor contains three evenly-spaced windows with mullioned and transomed frames and moulded cornice-like shallow hoods above, supported on decorative brackets (probably dating from around 1960s). These are notably small and unusual for their position. The second floor has three slightly narrower but taller windows with plain sash frames and similar moulded hoods. Both upper floors are finished in plain render with in-out bevelled quoins. The exposed second-floor levels of the south-west and north-east gables are blank and finished in plain render.

The rear elevation consists of a large two-storey flat-roofed extension finished in unpainted cement render. To the left of the ground floor is a large porch recess containing a small window with modern frame and a metal-sheeted door on the south-west side. To the right of the porch recess are two windows with modern frames, and the first floor has three evenly-spaced windows with similar frames.

The gabled roof of the main section is finished in asbestos slates with a slight overhang and plain barges. There are no chimney stacks. The rainwater goods are PVC.

The building makes a material contribution to the streetscape, though it is an altered example of an early twentieth-century bank that is not of special architectural or historic interest. It is situated within a conservation area.