4 The Square, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

4 The Square, Cushendun, County Antrim

No. 4 The Square is a two-storey, three-bay house built in 1912 to designs by the London-based architect Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), best known for his later Italianate tourist village of Portmeirion in Wales. It sits at the centre of a planned square of seven closely related Edwardian-style houses arranged around three sides of an enclosed green in the heart of Cushendun village, and is the centrepiece of a nine-bay block that forms the south-west side of the square. Ownership of the whole group passed to the National Trust in 1954.

The square was commissioned by Ronald John McNeill (1861–1934), a prominent local landowner and Ulster Unionist politician who lived at nearby Glenmona Lodge with his wife Elizabeth Maud (d. 1925). McNeill specifically requested that Williams-Ellis design the houses in a Cornish cottage style in honour of his Cornish-born wife. McNeill was a significant public figure: he served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1922–25), Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1925–27), and twice represented Britain at the League of Nations, signing the Kellogg-Briand Pact on behalf of the British Government in August 1928. He was created the first Baron Cushendun in 1927, a title that became extinct on his death in 1934. His residence, Glenmona Lodge, was burned to the ground in 1922 as a direct consequence of his outspoken opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Williams-Ellis went on to redesign Glenmona Lodge in 1923–24 and also designed the nearby Maud Cottages, both of which are listed separately and contribute to the group value of this part of the village.

The square as a whole consists of three two-storey blocks. Two four-bay blocks at the north-west and south-east ends were built as large individual dwellings (nos. 1 and 7), while the nine-bay building between them contains five smaller dwellings (nos. 2–6). No. 4 occupies the central position in this nine-bay block, directly to the south-west of the pillared entrance from the Main Street, which is formed by a pair of circular white painted rendered pillars carrying iron gates. The seven houses were first depicted on the Ordnance Survey town plan of 1922 in their current layout. The group represents a deliberate break from the vernacular building traditions of Ulster and forms a significant part of early 20th-century planned development in the village.

Externally, the house is finished in white painted render set on a plinth painted in a contrasting colour. The principal elevation faces north-east onto the enclosed green and is reached by a paved stone pathway from the main entrance gates. The most prominent feature of this front elevation is a two-storey projecting central bay with a pitched roof that rises out of and extends into the mansard roof of the main block. A semicircular arched doorway in this central bay contains a painted panelled timber door with small multi-pane upper lights and painted metal door furniture. Above the first-floor window of the central bay is an elliptical stone plaque inscribed 'RMN MDCCCCXII MMN', recording the initials of Ronald McNeill and Maud McNeill and the date 1912. The first-floor window on this central projecting bay has timber shutters painted in a contrasting colour. To either side of the central bay on the ground floor are double-casement windows with small Georgian-style panes, each aligned with slated dormer bays above on the first floor.

The mansard roof is steeply pitched in slate, with dormer windows on the lower slope set at a steeper angle than the upper slope, and a concrete ridge. Two tall painted rendered chimney-stacks rise at mid-ridge, each with black painted clay pots and stepped cornices. The eaves overhang deeply, with exposed painted rafter tails projecting beyond the face of the wall. Half-round cast-iron guttering discharges to circular-section cast-iron downpipes at either end of the nine-bay block. The north-west and south-east elevations are adjoined to the neighbouring properties (nos. 2 and 3, and nos. 5 and 6). The south-west elevation overlooks a small paved yard and garden to the rear and has an irregular fenestration pattern: double-casement windows to either side of a single doorway with a painted panelled timber door, a single casement window to the right, and two slated dormers to the mansard roof above that are not aligned with the bays below. The blocks are linked at the corners of the square by rendered arches containing painted timber gates, enclosing a green behind a white painted rendered and stone boundary wall.

Internally, the plan is rectangular, with a single staircase rising to the first-floor rooms contained within the mansard roof.

The house was initially valued at £7 when built. Its first recorded tenant was a Ms. Margaret Hamilton, who remained in occupation until 1930. By the time of the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the McKendry family were in occupation and the rateable value had fallen to £5. From 1947 the house was occupied by a Ms. Kathleen McNeill, who remained until the 1970s. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the rateable value had risen to £17 and 10 shillings. A general renovation carried out around 1987 included repairs to the chimneys and replacement of the entrance door. A further renovation around 2011 involved reslating the roof and restoration of the windows.

The house was listed in 1980, the same year the buildings were included in the Cushendun Conservation Area, which was designated to protect and enhance the special qualities of the village. The village lies within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, close to the River Dun. No. 4 has strong group value with the other houses on the square (nos. 1–7), the nearby Maud Cottages, and Glenmona Lodge, all of which were designed by Williams-Ellis and together represent a rare and cohesive episode of planned Edwardian development in rural Ulster.