61 Dhu Varren, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT56 8LN

61 Dhu Varren, Portrush

A dramatic flat-roofed building in the modern style, located at the top of a rise overlooking the sea and coast road at the western edge of Portrush. The building has an L-shaped plan with the top of the L cantilevering out 4 metres towards the view, while the base drops into the back of the hill to form a two-storey entrance block. A concrete frame is exposed on the main north and east sides (the inside of the L) and infilled with timber panelling or glass. The building appears to rest on massive sandstone retaining works, which also enclose a raised garden and form the eastern gable.

The building is entered from the south at the head of an entrance drive connecting to a cul-de-sac. The southern elevation is enclosed and formal. At the eastern end, a 150mm-deep stone gable projects. Adjacent is a horizontal timber-sheeted garage door, separated by a small concrete column from the entrance door with a larger side window, both in timber and glazed with a single central rail. This group is surrounded by a small projecting concrete canopy, currently painted mustard. Above at first floor, a range of vertical timber sheeting aligns with the garage, with a large window aligning with the entrance door and sidelight. Above these, clerestory windows run the length of the group; those aligning with the garage have closer-spaced mullions. To the west the elevation is smooth plastered and painted white. The ground steps up to first floor level with concrete steps and a simple metal rail. A long row of windows, the same depth as the clerestory but dropped to align their base with similar depth from the roof, runs along this part of the façade at first floor, lighting the kitchen behind. At the top of the steps a small 2-metre projection houses a timber-sheeted exit door from the kitchen, with a sandstone rubble end wall facing south without openings. Unlike the east gable, the flat roof with a 350mm-deep timber fascia projects over this wall.

The west elevation is single storey and mainly plastered, with low-key timber-framed windows lighting bedrooms along the southern end. As the ground falls away towards the sea and the building becomes cantilevered, the concrete frame is exposed at the base of the floor with the deep white fascia providing a matching horizontal at the top. Vertical timber sheeting clads the building between. Before the cantilever begins, a full-height window projects at an angle away from the building towards the north-west view, with a concrete base, fascia and timber sides. The cantilever is expressed by two large concrete angel brackets equally spaced under the width of the projecting room, tapering along their length and projecting into the ground as well as extending 4 metres under the room. The room above projects a further metre. On the seaward elevation the full width and height of the room above is glazed (three windows wide with a thin horizontal rail at balustrade height). The east side of the room is clad in vertical timber boarding; to the west it is as already described. A vertical concrete column separates this treatment from two bays of glazing moving towards the corner of the L. This glazing is divided into three panes at clerestory level over each large bay. The clerestory here is narrower, with vertical timber boarding 200mm deep separating the glass from the fascia above. At the corner of the L on this eastern elevation is an abstract composition in colourful tiles, located between concrete base and fascia, overlooking a linear pond which runs down part of the north façade. The pond is currently empty.

On the north façade the concrete frame returns with glazing as already described overlooking the pond. The clerestory in this section is completely sheeted in vertical timber. At the eastern end the building projects towards the view by 2 metres, enclosing the eastern end of the pond. This projection is clad in stone and forms a base across a large glazed window facing north for the full width of the remaining façade as the ground drops away, stretching from floor to ceiling though clad in vertical timber boarding to balustrade level. On the eastern gable the wall is clad in stone, angling back at first floor to reveal the side of the window described above. At ground level three square concrete-lined windows are punched through to the garage. A low chimney tops the gable with a Victorian pot.