73 Castle Street (including 'Cut & Style'), Ballycastle, County Antrim, BT54 6AS

Two-storey terraced house with shop, built around 1790, situated on the south side of Castle Street close to Ballycastle town centre. A shop was inserted into the ground floor in the mid 19th century, and mid to later 20th century extensions were added to the rear. The building is of considerable architectural and historical interest.

The asymmetrical front elevation faces north. To the right of centre is the house doorway, with a plain surround, panelled door, and three-pane rectangular fanlight. To the left of the doorway is the shopfront, which has a central, partly glazed timber door (of recent date) with a three-pane rectangular fanlight above. This doorway is flanked by relatively large plate glass windows; both the house and shop doorways are encased with timber pilasters, and the whole ensemble is topped with a painted timber signboard with a projecting cornice. To the right of the house doorway is a window with a plain surround, a horned timber sash with Georgian panes (six over six), and a broad box. The first floor has four evenly spaced uniform windows matching the style of the ground-floor window to the right. The front façade is finished in recent unpainted lined cement render with a deep eaves band.

To the rear, the left-hand side of the elevation has a two-storey gabled return with a full-height lean-to projection to the east side. To the right-hand side there is a modern-looking flat-roofed single-storey return with a terrace on its roof. At the south end, the two-storey gabled return abuts a large modern-looking single-storey section with a flat roof.

On the ground floor of the east face of the two-storey return there is a small window with a modern frame; directly above it at first floor level is a slightly larger window with a horned timber sash frame (two panes over two). On the south face of the lean-to there is a ground-floor doorway with an original-looking partly glazed door, and a first-floor window with patterned glazing. On the south-facing gable of the return there is a window with a modern timber frame. The large modern single-storey section attached to the south end of the return has a large picture window with a modern frame to the right-hand side of its east face; to the left, the line of the façade is recessed and there is a smaller window, also with a modern frame. The single-storey extension to the right-hand (east) side of the rear elevation has a window with a modern frame to its south face, and a doorway with a modern partly glazed door to its west face.

The rear façade of the main section of the building is partly exposed at first-floor level, where there is a window to the left with a modern timber frame containing stained glass, and a doorway to the right with a modern partly glazed timber door giving access to the roof terrace. This rear façade, together with the return and the flat-roofed extension to the right, is finished in painted roughcast. The single-storey section at the south end of the return is finished in dry dash. The roof of the main section is slated and has two Velux windows to the rear. Rainwater goods are a combination of cast iron to the front and a mix of cast iron and PVCu to the rear.

To the rear of the building there is a small garden, at the south end of which stands a two-storey gabled outbuilding set at a lower level. This outbuilding has whitewashed rubble walls, a slated roof, and a variety of windows, some modern and some traditional. The ground floor continues to be used as a shed and store, while part of the upper floor has been converted to living space.

The building's history is well documented through valuation records. A house measuring 30 feet by 23 feet by 18½ feet, with a kitchen part shed of 16½ by 11 by 9 feet, an addition in the rear described as a part shed of 15½ by 8 by 6½ feet, and a cellar of 14 by 14 by 6½ feet, is recorded on this site in the first valuation of January 1835. As these measurements appear to match the main section of the present building, and as later valuations record no major structural changes outside of the returns, this is almost certainly the same building visible today. The precise date of construction is uncertain, but the valuers regarded the property as relatively old (graded 1B+) in 1835, suggesting it was probably more than 25 years old at that time. The staircase, which appears to be largely original, is consistent with a construction date of around 1790.

A James Keenan (also recorded as Keennan) is noted as the occupant and leaseholder in both 1835 and 1859. He is listed as a woollen draper in Pigot's Directory of 1824 and as a linen and woollen draper in Slater's Directory of 1856. The 1859 valuation records similar dimensions to those of 1835, with the building described as containing a shop, and a kitchen and small room over in the larger of the returns. In 1866 the lease passed to a Mary Thompson, who remained in residence until 1901; between that date and 1922 the property was listed as occupied by the representatives of Mary Thompson, followed by Frank Mooney (1922 to 1943) and then Cassie Mooney. The current owner's family appear to have acquired the property in 1962, with the shop recorded as a hairdressing salon from 1964 onwards. The valuation records offer little guidance as to when the return assumed its present form or when the extensions were added. The flat-roofed extension appears to be of relatively recent construction, probably from the 1980s or 1990s, though map evidence indicates that an extension of similar size was already in place earlier in the 20th century. The property has been renovated recently, with the render to the front façade and the shopfront renewed.