12 High Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim, BT44 0NB

No. 12 High Street is an end-of-terrace, two-storey, single-bay house built in a late-Georgian style, constructed prior to 1857 and possibly as early as 1834. The architect is unknown. It stands on the south side of High Street in the centre of Cushendall, within a terraced row that steps progressively uphill to follow the steep slope of the street.

The building is rectangular on plan and well proportioned. Its principal elevation faces north and is finished in smooth painted render (white), with a slight step back to the right side. The duo-pitched roof is covered in natural slate with terracotta clay ridge tiles, and there is a single rendered chimney stack with circular clay pots to the right side. Half-round replacement uPVC guttering is fixed to a painted timber fascia and discharges to a circular uPVC downpipe on the left side of the front elevation; a few original rise-and-fall brackets survive on the right side.

All window openings are square-headed, set on painted masonry sills with a black-painted plaster band to the reveals. The ground-floor and first-floor openings are not vertically aligned with one another. Windows are multi-paned timber sliding sash with exposed box frames: the ground-floor window has 6-over-6 lights, while the pair at first floor each have 3-over-6 lights. The square-headed front door is vertically sheeted timber painted black with a square glazed aperture at the top; its plaster band surround matches the window reveals. The door opens directly onto a threshold set level with the external ground. A small hard-standing to the front is enclosed by a lime-washed stone wall and a replacement timber sheeted gate.

The east elevation abuts the adjacent No. 10 High Street, with the gable projecting above No. 10's roofline in unpainted smooth render. The west elevation rises to only single-storey height at ground level — that is, first-floor level relative to the street — due to the slope, and is largely obscured by vegetation. It rises up towards the former Layd Primary School, which is adjacent. The south (rear) elevation was not accessed during the 2015 inspection.

A subsequent inspection in January 2017 recorded deterioration and alterations to the rear and front of the property. A ground-floor timber lean-to at the rear was found to be in poor condition, roofed in fibre cement slate. Heavy-duty plastic sheeting was covering the rear wall and first-floor windows. The original front door had been replaced with a modern uPVC door.

No. 12 High Street forms part of a group with the adjacent Nos. 6–10 High Street (inclusive), together creating a stepped terrace climbing the hillside that is considered among the most interesting features of the Cushendall Conservation Area. It sits between No. 4 High Street and the former Layd Primary School.

The majority of buildings along High Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century under the influence of the Turnly family, who were the landowners of Cushendall. Francis Turnly, the proprietor of the settlement, had travelled to China in 1796 where he accumulated a fortune of approximately £75,000. In 1801 he used this to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. At the time of purchase, Cushendall consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge. Described by architectural historian C. E. B. Brett as an eccentric character who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property," Turnly developed the village into a coastal resort, capitalising on increasing tourist traffic passing through on the way to the Giant's Causeway. Hotels such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street and numerous commercial properties were erected during this period.

No. 12 High Street may date from as early as the Townland Valuations of 1834, though it is difficult to identify specific structures in that source due to the loss of the accompanying Townland Valuation Town Plan for Cushendall. It is first recorded with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 valued the property at £2 and 10 shillings and recorded it as leased by the Turnly family to a Mr. Archibald McKeegan. Occupants changed frequently during the late 19th century. The 1901 Census of Ireland recorded the house as occupied by James Speers, a local mariner, and the accompanying building return described it as a second-class dwelling consisting of three rooms. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1903 depicted the house in its current layout, suggesting few changes to the site since the turn of the 20th century. By the time of the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), a Mr. Thomas Swan was the occupant and the property was valued at £4 and 15 shillings. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) it was occupied by a Mr. E. McGaughey and valued at £6.

In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society's guide to the Glens of Antrim described High Street as "an outstandingly attractive street, of quite exceptional merit and character, climbing very steeply indeed from the crossing of the main street to Court McMartin, almost every building in it of individual merit apart from the value of the group as a whole; the roofs, gables, doors and windows rise in an irregular staircase up the hillside." The guide described Nos. 6–12 High Street in particular as "a pleasant jumbly group of small houses clambering uphill." The buildings along High 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, described as "testimony itself to the special qualities of the village." In the same year, Cushendall was chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year.