53 Drumagarner Road, Kilrea, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5TE

An asymmetrical, detached, two-storey farmhouse with origins predating 1830, extensively modified and expanded during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The building began as a single-storey vernacular dwelling, was later raised to two storeys, and finally extended by a bay to the west around the turn of the 20th century. The irregular façade reflects this evolution from vernacular dwelling towards a larger, more formalized house. Despite incremental alterations to the exterior which have reduced its architectural interest, the house makes a contribution to the architectural heritage of the Kilrea area.

The house is rectangular on plan, five openings wide, with a single-storey mono-pitched return to the centre of the rear elevation. It sits in an elevated position on Drumagarner Road, south-west of Kilrea town, overlooking fields to the south. The pitched slate roof features four irregularly spaced brick chimneys with an array of clay pots and angled terracotta ridge-tiles. Rainwater goods are modern uPVC mounted on uPVC fascia and boxed eaves.

The walling is pebble-dashed over a projecting rendered and painted base, with similar strip quoins to the corners. The south-east and north-east corners project extensively at the base. Windows generally have projecting painted sills with profiled brackets and moulded, raised architraves featuring projecting keystones on the ground floor; plain rendered architraves appear to the rear. Upper-level windows are 2/2 timber sashes, whilst ground-floor windows are early 20th-century transomed and mullioned timber casements with leaded stained-glass inserts to upper sections and scrolled cast-iron handles. The principal south elevation is asymmetrical with five vertically aligned but irregularly spaced openings, with the entrance door positioned right-of-centre. This door is a replacement timber-panelled design with glazing inserts and a narrow coloured-glass transom above. Doorways are contained within similar surrounds to window openings. The west elevation is blank. The north elevation is asymmetrical with five windows to the upper floor, including a diminutive six-pane original casement to the centre above the mono-pitched return, which matches the main building in style. This return features uPVC windows on each side with an additional small window immediately to the left, and a plain timber door to the left. The east elevation has two windows to the upper floor and one to the left of the ground floor.

Historically, the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 recorded the building as originally thatched and single-storey with two thatched single-storey outbuildings, valued at £2.15s.7d. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830 shows the dwelling with additional rectangular outbuildings to the south, surrounded by a small plantation of trees with an orchard and garden beside the road. By the second edition of 1853, a further structure had been added and tree planting extended to field boundaries. By the third edition of 1905, outbuildings had been slightly extended. According to Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, the house was home to Creighton Hutchinson, who leased the 'herd's house, office and land' from Rev John T Paul. The buildings were valued at £2.10s and the farm comprised over 63 acres. Thomas Hutchinson became occupier in 1879, and the farm remained in the Hutchinson family. A bog was added in 1908, increasing acreage to over 70 acres, and the Hutchinsons became owners in fee in 1916 under land purchase legislation. The 1901 census records bachelor Thomas Hutchinson, farmer, living with his widowed sister Bessie Hunter. The six-room slated house was designated first class with seven windows to the front elevation. By 1911, Thomas Hutchinson lived with his two nieces, and the house had been extended by a bay to the west, providing two extra windows in front and three further rooms. The building continues in use as a domestic dwelling.

The property is accessed via curved walls and two pairs of squared piers with heavy coping, projecting bases and pyramidal caps. These are pebble-dashed and painted in a decorative style similar to but more ornate than the house, supporting metal gates with semi-circular headed upper sections over rhythmic arrows. A bitumen path leads to the house. A small path with an original cast-iron gate leads north to the farmyard area, which contains numerous small and substantial outbuildings generally roughcast with slate or corrugated roofs. Some timber-sheeted half-doors remain, though most have been replaced with modern metal alternatives. Barrelled roof elements line the wall abutting the south-west corner of the main house. These outbuildings appear to date from no earlier than the turn of the 20th century. The farm remains in operation with main access via a separate entrance to the south on Drumagarner Road.