14 Ann Street, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6AD

14 Ann Street, Ballycastle

A relatively large and well-preserved two-storey terrace shop and house of pre-1834 construction, set on the north-west side of Ann Street within Ballycastle town centre. The building is three bays wide with two-and-a-half storeys, featuring a simple but extensive later Victorian shop front and a large carriage archway.

The front elevation comprises a segmental arch gateway on the left, with a shop front featuring a central shop door with fanlight, flanked by display windows of six panes each, all framed with narrow pilasters. Above the fascia (which carries painted lettering and cornice) is a door to the first floor with fanlight. The first floor contains three double-hung sliding sash windows with two panes, one positioned centrally over the gateway, and a single storey-height tripartite window where each light is a double-hung sliding sash of two panes. A half-round metal gutter and single downpipe drain the façade, which is finished in smooth rendered and painted plaster with a painted plinth. The natural slated roof features a single two-pane traditional cast iron rooflight.

To the rear, a two-storey three-bay back return with double-pitched roof extends from the main building, fitted with modern windows except for one double-hung sliding sash of two panes. A further shallow two-storey back return, formed in the angle created by the first return, features a lean-to slated roof and double-hung sliding sash windows of two panes. The rear yard is enclosed by a wall separating it from the passage connecting to the gateway. No. 14 maintains the building line of the terrace and generally retains its 19th-century character both front and rear.

Historical context

The first valuation of December 1834 records a relatively old house of similar dimensions to the present building on this site, then occupied by Reverend William Stewart, possibly a Presbyterian minister. Later valuations record no major changes to the property apart from the shop front, suggesting that the 1834 house is the building seen today. Based on the valuer's comments, the building was probably constructed around 1800 or slightly earlier, and may have been one of the 127 two-storey houses mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835. By 1859, the property had become the local constabulary barrack, containing three rooms below, five over, and garrets, with two further rooms in the return. It remained a barrack until 1878, when Michael McCaughan is recorded as resident. The building remained in McCaughan family hands until around 1932, when Albert Smyth-McVicker became the occupant, remaining there until at least 1957. According to the present owner, the large window on the right-hand side of the first floor was inserted at some point by a tailor to maximise available light.