45 Ann Street, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AA

45 Ann Street is a late 19th-century building erected around 1880 in Ballycastle town centre, standing directly onto the main street pavement. Originally the residence of C P McCaughan, a Councillor, it has since been converted to commercial use with a shop on the ground floor.

The building is three bays wide and three storeys tall on its front elevation. The ground floor comprises, from right to left, a four-panelled door serving the living accommodation above, a four-panelled shop door, and a shop window divided into six panes. Each of these elements is flanked by pilasters with smooth rendered masonry between them. Above runs a long narrow fascia bearing painted lettering in lower case, unframed but with a cornice. The first and second floors each contain three double-hung sash windows with two panes; those on the second floor are slightly lower in height. The front wall is smooth rendered and painted. A half-round metal gutter and single downpipe drain the roof, which is slated with a chimney stack at each end.

The rear elevation shows a main street-front block of four storeys, three bays, with a roof of Bangor blue slates in regular courses and a PVC gutter and downpipe. The wall is rendered with wet dash and features rectangular fixed-light windows with top-hung vents, appearing to be timber. Projecting from the rear wall is a full-width two-storey return with smooth cement-rendered walls. The upper floor has rectangular fixed-light windows with top-hung vents; the ground storey contains a doorway and shop window surmounted by a fascia name board on brackets. The sloping rear yard is covered with small concrete paviors, and the rear boundary is formed by a pair of modern iron gates set in a rendered wall.

When visited in 1998, the building retained a Victorian staircase with bulbous newel post and turned balusters, stained glass windows to the vestibule door, and original Victorian fittings including fireplaces. Following Listed Building Consent granted in 2001, the building was renovated in 2002 with grant assistance from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the International Fund for Ireland, and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland Lottery Fund. As a result of these works, the entire interior has been rebuilt, resulting in the complete loss of all original interior elements. The front façade, including shopfront and plaster, has been replaced with a replica of the original, and a new rear return has been added, with the loss of original character to that elevation. The combined impact of these recent alterations has removed the special architectural interest of the building.