12 Shore Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

No. 12 Shore Street is a mid-terrace, two-storey, two-bay rendered Georgian-style townhouse built in the early 19th century, most likely around the 1830s, on the north-west side of Shore Street in Cushendall, County Antrim. It forms part of a continuous terrace of similar houses that front directly onto the pavement, and it shares group value with its neighbours.

The building is rectangular on plan, with its principal elevation facing south-east. The roof is pitched and covered in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles. A single smooth rendered chimney stack, shared with the adjacent property to the right, sits to the right side and is capped with lead. Rainwater goods are replacement PVC half-round guttering fixed to a stepped masonry band.

The principal elevation has a smooth rendered painted finish. All window openings are square-headed and sit on masonry sills, though the ground-floor bays are not aligned directly with the windows on the floor above. To the left on the ground floor there are coupled 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sash windows; the two single windows on the first floor are also 6/6 exposed box timber sliding sashes. To the right on the ground floor is a square-headed door opening, slightly recessed, fitted with a replacement painted timber door with a square six-pane glazed vision panel. The door opens onto a threshold one concrete step up from ground level. The south-west side abuts No. 10 Shore Street and the north-east side abuts No. 14 Shore Street. The north-west rear elevation was not visible at the time of survey.

The majority of the buildings along Shore Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the Turnly family. Francis Turnly, Cushendall's proprietor, had travelled to China in 1796 where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this money to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. At the time of purchase the village consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge. Turnly — described by the architectural historian Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property" — developed the village into a coastal resort to accommodate the growing number of tourists passing through on their way to the Giant's Causeway. This development included the erection of hotels, such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street, and numerous commercial properties.

A row of buildings along the northern half of Shore Street was already depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832, suggesting No. 12 dates from the early 19th century. The buildings may also have been recorded in the Townland Valuations of 1834, though the loss of the associated town plan makes it impossible to identify specific properties in that source. No. 12 Shore Street was first recorded with certainty in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, which set its total rateable value at £5 and 10 shillings. At that time the house was leased from the Turnly estate by Charles Douglas, whose family remained at the address until around 1918. Following Charles Douglas's death around 1897, the property passed to his widow Eliza.

The Census of Ireland of 1911 described No. 12 as a second-class dwelling comprising three inhabited rooms, with rear out-offices including a piggery, fowl house, potato house and store. Around 1918 the property was acquired by a Mr Denis McCurdy. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland, covering the period 1936 to 1957, the building was occupied by a Mr Morris Finlay, and its rateable value was increased to £7. The valuer recorded that Finlay operated a shop from the address; this shop was removed from the premises in 1951. The occupants continued to change with some frequency until 1964, when a Mr Michael Brennan purchased the building outright from the Turnly estate. Brennan was still resident at the close of the Second General Revaluation of 1956 to 1972, by which time the rateable value stood at £18.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's guide for the Glens of Antrim described the north side of Shore Street as "a miscellany of two and three-storey houses, stuccoed, rendered and pebble dashed." The buildings along Shore Street were included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975, only the second conservation area to have been designated in the province at that time — a distinction described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." In the same year Cushendall was selected as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year.

Despite the replacement modern front door, the principal façade retains considerable historic character, including its timber sliding sash windows and natural slate roof. The building makes a valuable contribution to the Cushendall Conservation Area and its setting within the town centre remains authentic.