Kilnadore House, Gates And Walling, 1 Coast Road, Cushendall, Co Antrim

Kilnadore House is a detached, three-bay, two-storey dwelling built around 1850 in the Italianate style, finished in painted roughcast render. It sits on an elevated site on the south side of the Coast Road in Cushendall, County Antrim, set slightly back from the road within its own grounds, with the River Dall running along the west side. The listing covers the house itself together with its boundary walls, piers, and iron gates.

The building is T-shaped on plan, facing north, with a central entrance porch to the front elevation. Its pitched natural slate roof is finished with roll-moulded black clay ridge tiles, lead valleys, and rendered profiled chimneystacks positioned at mid-ridge with vented circular clay pots. The eaves are wide and bracketed — a characteristic Italianate feature — with replacement uPVC rainwater goods to the north and south elevations, and cast-iron gutters and circular downpipes to the east and west. Painted roughcast render covers the walls throughout, with painted masonry sills and decorative stucco window surrounds.

The symmetrical north-facing front elevation is the most architecturally accomplished face of the building. At its centre is a square-plan pitched slate roof entrance porch with a round-headed door opening framed by an architrave surround. The original hardwood door is round-headed and panelled, with a round-headed plaque above bearing the name "Kilnadore House." Ground-floor windows are coupled 1/1 timber sliding sash windows set in openings with architrave surrounds, bracketed sills, and pediments supported on console brackets. The first-floor window to the central front gable is round-headed with a keystone, maintaining the Italianate character.

The east side elevation is three bays wide and two storeys tall, with a central gable matching the style of the front gable. The ground floor has a square-headed replacement window with a decorative stucco motif above it; the first floor has a round-headed window with a 1/1 timber sliding sash. To the left of this elevation is a small lean-to extension with a timber sheeted door and a square-headed fanlight above.

The rear elevation reads as a single storey due to the fall in ground levels, which places it at first-floor height. The original gable to the left side survives, containing a central square-headed window opening with a 1/1 timber sliding sash. To the right is a later flat-roofed extension in painted roughcast render with smooth rendered corner bands, a parapet wall with a concrete coping concealing the roof behind, and a square-headed door opening fitted with a painted flush timber door that gives access to the garden at first-floor level. A small lean-to shed with corrugated metal walls and roof sits to the left side of the rear. The west side elevation was partly obscured by overgrown vegetation at the time of survey. Visible portions show square-headed window openings to the modern extension fitted with replacement timber casement windows, and the main gable of the dwelling contains a large square-headed window at ground level with a replacement timber casement window, while the first floor repeats the round-headed window arrangement seen on the front elevation.

The mixture of windows across the building is notable: some original 1/1 timber sliding sash windows survive alongside replacement timber casement windows, and the replacement uPVC rainwater goods detract from the historic character. The modern flat-roofed extension to the rear is not considered sympathetic and impacts on the overall authenticity of the building.

The setting reinforces the character of the house. A bitmac driveway and a concrete-paved area to the west lead to the garden, which sits on a steep gradient abutting the rear of the flat-roofed extension. The entire grounds are enclosed by a limewashed stone wall with capping stones and square stone pillars with diamond-shaped capings, containing cast-iron gates.

The building carries considerable historical significance. It was not recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 but appeared on the second edition of 1857, consistent with a construction date of around 1850. It was originally built as the village's police barracks, constructed on land leased from Henry Hugh McNeile, a magistrate and prominent local landowner who resided at Parkmount in Belfast. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records the police barracks as being valued at £8. The building served in this policing function until around 1875, when a new barracks was established at nos 10–12 Mill Street. It then remained vacant for over a decade, still in the ownership of McNeile.

In 1892 a Mr Alexander McAlister purchased the lease but only briefly occupied the house, and by 1899 it had passed to Joseph Duffy, a schoolteacher at the National School on High Street. By the time of the 1911 Census of Ireland, Kilnadore House had been purchased outright by Daniel Lynn, a local cycle merchant who operated business premises at No. 2 Coast Road directly opposite. The census building return classified Kilnadore House as a first-class dwelling comprising eight rooms, and noted a number of farm buildings on the property including a stable, two cow houses, a piggery, and a fowl house. Lynn benefitted from what the Cushendall Conservation Area Guide of 1993 describes as an explosion in the popularity of cycling and the birth of cycle touring clubs in the early decades of the 20th century, which brought the recreational possibilities of the Glens of Antrim within reach of almost everyone. In 1926 he opened a general store and tearooms at No. 2 Coast Road for local residents and tourists passing through the village. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the value of the house was assessed at £30, rising slightly to £32 by the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), at which time the property was occupied by Joseph Lynn, who continued to operate the shop opposite. The Lynn family remained at Kilnadore House until at least the 1970s.

The 1903 Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Cushendall indicates that the overall layout of the dwelling had remained broadly unaltered since the turn of the 20th century, though a two-storey rear extension was added at some point in the mid-20th century. In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described Kilnadore House as "a pleasant two-storey cottage of the 1850s, with wide eaves, ornamental eaves-brackets, round-headed windows, finished in roughcast with stucco trim." The house was included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to have been designated in the province at that time — when Cushendall was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. Kilnadore House was subsequently listed in 1976.

Despite the detrimental impact of the flat-roofed rear extension, the building retains its essential Italianate character through its round-headed windows, wide bracketed eaves, and decorative stucco detailing. It is considered an unusual design for a former police station and is of special architectural and historical interest, particularly for its social contribution to the local community throughout much of its history.