51-57 Ann Street, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AA

A 6 bay wide, 3 storey building with basements and back returns, erected around 1900 and first appearing on the Ordnance Survey map of 1904. It forms a group with its neighbour to the north, which shares similar design characteristics.

The ground floor contains a shopfront with a recessed entrance and large display windows separated by pilasters. Above the display windows runs a long glass name fascia with bold lettering reading "Finnegans". At the left end is an entrance door to the flats above, surrounded by neoclassical plasterwork including pilasters, frieze and pediment. At the far right is another door with a glazed panel and rectangular fanlight. The first floor is marked by a continuous stringcourse, and the unusual feature of six circular windows with centre mullions positioned high on the façade between the stringcourse and gutter. The façade wall is cement rendered, lined and painted below the stringcourse. The roof is slated with two Velux rooflights and chimneystacks at each end, with a single aluminium half-round gutter.

The building originally functioned as a dance hall and recreation space on the first floor, with two shops on the ground floor—one a chemist and the other a retail shop, later operating as a hot food bar. The distinctive circular windows reflect this original use as a dance hall. The original ornate shopfront inscribed "Ramsay" was removed in stages during the 1980s and 1990s, replaced with the current shopfront.

To the rear the building extends to 4 floors including basement, with 2 to 3 storey back returns between which a galvanised steel fire escape is positioned. The rear walls are smooth rendered, lined and unpainted. Windows to the flats are PVC vertical 2-pane type, though some former double hung sliding sash 4-pane windows and the rear circular windows are retained. The rear roof is natural slated with two Velux rooflights. Access to rear entrances is via the entry gateway of No. 49 where a step gradient leads to a lower level. A stone-faced store stands behind the building. The building continues the building line of Ann Street and, though not significantly higher than No. 49, reads as a substantial building. A previous owner was M. Kelly.