Seaport Lodge, Portballintrae, Bushmills, Co. Antrim, BT57 8SB

Seaport Lodge is a symmetrical three-bay, two-storey detached Georgian house with a central bow bay, built around 1770 and situated prominently on the western tip of Portballintrae bay. The building has a rectangular plan with a two-storey bow bay to the front, single-storey bow bays to the north and south, and a two-storey return to the rear, all set on a stepped plinth.

The exterior is rendered in painted ruled-and-lined and roughcast finish with a continuous string-course between floors and a moulded cornice featuring a large dentilled, dog-tooth and fluted frieze. The hipped natural slate roof has rendered chimneystacks rising from a balustraded parapet with piers topped by square pinnacles, parapet gutters and cast-iron downpipes to the rear.

Windows throughout are boarded over and feature full moulded architraves. The first-floor windows are square-headed, while the ground-floor openings are three-staged full-height Venetian-style windows with heads springing from semi-engaged columns with fluted capitals.

The symmetrical east front elevation displays a two-storey bow entrance bay to the centre, flanked by left and right bays each comprising a square window over Venetian-style windows. The entrance comprises a double-leaf three-panelled timber door with brass furniture, surmounted by a boarded fanlight, flanked by panelled pilaster jambs with fluted capitals and archivolt, accessed via a step laid with modern red tiles. The door is flanked by two round-headed window openings of the same style, with three windows above.

The symmetrical south elevation has three window openings at first-floor level, with the rightmost window blank. The bow bay to the ground floor centre contains a Venetian-style window flanked by full-height square-headed blank window openings on either side.

The west (rear) elevation is abutted to the left of centre by the two-storey return, which features a round-headed stairwell window to the centre, with windows to first and ground floors to the right and two covered basement openings. The return is four windows wide at first-floor level on its south elevation, with two windows to the ground floor and a single-storey twentieth-century flat roof extension at the left. A six-panelled modern timber door is positioned to the right. The north elevation of the return has two windows at first and ground floor levels; the left section is recessed with a first-floor window not visible at the time of inspection. The west gable has a window to first and ground floor right of centre. The north elevation is detailed as the south.

The building is prominently sited on a large plot on the western tip of the bay, visible from most parts of the village. The grounds are lawned to all sides with gravel to the front forecourt and tarmacadamed yard to the rear. The site is bounded to the north coastline by a simple timber fence and accessed from the southeast by a replacement timber gate supported on painted square gate piers with pointed caps. The property is approached by a gravelled laneway from the south, lined with modern two- and three-storey detached houses and apartment blocks. To the south, at Bayhead Road, stands the former land steward's house and stables, now known as Beach Park.