3 Mill Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

3 Mill Street is a substantial end-of-terrace commercial building of five bays and three storeys, built around 1895 and rendered over red brick. It stands on the northwest side of Mill Street in the centre of Cushendall village, positioned between Turnly's Tower to its northeast and No. 5 Mill Street to its southwest. It is larger in scale than the other terraced buildings along Mill Street, and serves as an architectural bridge between the terrace and the tower. The building retains considerable historic character both inside and out, and is a significant component of the historic village centre.

The building is rectangular on plan, facing southeast. Its pitched roof is covered in natural slate — partially removed at the time of survey — with terracotta ridge tiles, three rendered profiled red brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods. The walls are finished in painted ruled-and-lined render over red brick, with painted rusticated render quoins. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and original horizontally-glazed timber sliding sash windows with convex horns; these are 1/2 lights to the second floor and 2/2 lights to the remaining floors.

The five-bay three-storey front elevation has a carriage arch opening to the left and a traditional shopfront with the principal entrance to the centre. The shopfront comprises a large timber-framed display window and a recessed shop entrance with a double-leaf glazed timber door framed by slender pilasters. To the right of the shop is a square-headed door opening with an original timber panelled door featuring bolection mouldings, sidelights, and an overlight, also framed by pilasters, with the whole surmounted by a plaster fascia and cornice. The carriage arch has a replacement pair of vertically-sheeted timber doors.

The southwest side elevation is abutted by the lower adjoining building at No. 5. The rear elevation is abutted by a flat-roofed ground-floor extension; the rear walling retains its original lime-washed rough-cast render and original 1/2 and 2/2 horizontally-glazed timber sash windows. The northeast side elevation is blank, with partially exposed red brick walling, and fronts onto the garden of Turnly's Tower.

The setting includes a small enclosed yard accessed via the carriage arch, and a small two-storey building to the rear of the site.

The building was constructed in 1895 on land owned by John Turnly, on a plot previously recorded as building ground. Its construction closed one of the last remaining gaps along Mill Street, a street developed by the Turnly family from the early 19th century, with most of its two- and three-storey buildings erected in the first half of that century. Francis Turnly, the proprietor of Cushendall, had travelled to China in 1796 and amassed a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he purchased the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000 and renamed 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 as an eccentric character who effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property — developed it into a coastal resort to serve the growing number of tourists passing through on their way to the Giant's Causeway, with hotels and numerous commercial properties erected in consequence.

The Annual Revisions record that upon completion the building comprised a house and shopfront valued at £17, and was initially occupied by Robert McAlister, described in the Census of Ireland as a local provision merchant. The 1903 Ordnance Survey Town Plan shows the building in its current layout, with the coach arch and a single-storey outbuilding to the rear. The 1911 Census Building Return described it as a first-class dwelling with eight inhabited rooms and a number of out-offices — including a cow house, a piggery, and a fowl house — contained within its sole outbuilding. Patrick McAlister continued to reside at No. 3 until his death in 1917, after which the property was acquired by James Whiteford, who maintained it as a grocer's shop. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the building's rateable value was increased to £27. Ownership passed with considerable frequency between the 1930s and 1960s, moving from the Turnly estate to Ada Douglas around 1951. By the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the property was occupied by Kathleen McCaughan and had been valued at £41.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described Mill Street as "an outstandingly good street by Ulster standards; there is almost nothing to jar the eye … this street demands, and deserves, the most careful and sensitive consideration of any change of any kind." The buildings along Mill Street were subsequently included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area in the province to be designated at that time, described as testimony in itself to the special qualities of the village — and in that year Cushendall was also chosen as one of Northern Ireland's four pilot schemes for conservation during the European Architectural Heritage Year. No. 3 Mill Street was listed in 1976.

The building underwent an extensive renovation in 2001, which included the reconstruction of one of its chimney stacks, the re-slating of the roof in Bangor Blue slates, and the replacement of defective window frames.