'Kate's Barber Shop' and apartment, 55 and 55A Castle Street, Ballycastle, County Antrim, BT54 6AR

Kate's Barber Shop and apartment at 55 and 55A Castle Street is a three-storey terrace building with a shop on the ground floor and residential accommodation above. Located on the sloping south side of Castle Street to the west of Ballycastle town centre, it assumed its present form around 1860, when an earlier, probably mid-18th century two-storey dwelling was raised by one storey. The building retains traditional vernacular Georgian character and is considered to be of special architectural and historic interest.

The asymmetrical north-facing front elevation features a shop front to the right on the ground floor, comprising a panelled and glazed door with a large plate glass window, both set within pilaster jambs and surmounted by a laminated signboard with projecting cornice. Photographs from the 1970s show that this shop front has been altered in recent years; the pilasters were originally panelled with incised roundels to the capitals, and the signboard was painted timber. To the left is a segmental-headed carriage archway without a door. The first floor contains three unevenly-spaced windows with horned timber sash frames in Georgian proportions (six panes over six), set in broad boxes. The second floor has three similar but smaller windows (three panes over six), aligned with those below. The front façade is finished in painted plain render, and cast-iron rainwater goods serve the front elevation.

The rear elevation is more complex. To the left is a large, modern single-storey flat-roofed return, finished largely in painted roughcast. The main rear façade contains, at ground level, a doorway with a modern timber sheeted door positioned beneath a modern metal staircase serving a first-floor doorway. To the left of this is the back end of the carriage archway. The first floor has a window to the left with modern timber frame, a doorway with recent panelled and glazed door to the right of this, and an enlarged window opening with modern frame further right. The second floor contains two windows with similar frames, those to the right appearing to have been enlarged. The gabled roof of the main section is slated with two rendered ridge chimneys at either end. The return has a flat roof covered in felt.

Historical records provide detailed information about the building's evolution. Valuations from 1835 and 1859 describe the site as containing an old two-storey house with dimensions of 14 feet by 26½ feet by 14½ feet, plus an additional section over the gateway measuring 8 feet by 26½ feet by 9 feet. The 1859 valuation records a property in bad internal repair, containing a shop and kitchen on the ground floor, three rooms on the upper floors, and two garrets. The valuation records show no explicit mention of significant structural changes between 1859 and subsequent valuations, suggesting that the addition of the third storey likely occurred shortly after 1859, possibly during repair work noted in the 1859 assessment. This theory is supported by the building's Georgian vernacular appearance and the broad sash boxes, which suggest alterations happening soon after 1859 rather than later.

Occupancy records trace the building's commercial and domestic use over more than a century. Daniel Kelly is recorded as the occupant in 1835, with Robert McVicker as tenant in 1859. McVicker was succeeded by Andrew Verdon in 1864, William Kilpatrick in 1873, James McElroy in 1875, Patrick Doony between 1876 and 1881, and William Glass between 1881 and 1884. In 1884 the lease was acquired by Jane Verdon, who also ran the neighbouring public house, with Archibald Coyle, listed as a victualler in Bassett's 1888 directory, taking over the tenancy and remaining until 1919. William Johnstone followed, and in 1929 John McKeague acquired the lease, also operating the adjoining public house. John McAllister occupied the property from this time until sometime before 1935, when Robert Brown succeeded him. Subsequent occupants included Denis J. O'Connor from 1941 to 1959, Ellen O'Connor from 1959 to 1960, and Patrick Hill from 1960 to approximately 1964. Daniel Donnelly is listed as the occupant in 1965, remaining there until at least 1972. The building is noted as containing a bakery in 1966 and appears to have become a drapery shop in the mid-1970s. It now contains a barber's shop with an apartment over. The property lies within a conservation area.