10 Main Street, Cushendun, Co.Antrim

No. 10 Main Street, Cushendun, is a modest two-storey, two-bay house constructed between 1832 and 1857, built at the same time as its immediate neighbours at nos. 6 and 8 Main Street. The building does not appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 but is recorded on the second edition of 1857, placing its construction within that period. The architect is unknown.

The house has a rectangular plan-form and faces north-east, giving panoramic views of the coastline. Its construction is of white painted rough-cast render set on a plinth painted in a contrasting colour. The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and a single white painted rendered chimney-stack positioned at mid-ridge, topped with circular black clay pots and a stepped cornice. The eaves are stepped with half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

The principal north-east elevation faces onto the junction of Main Road and Bay Road, accessed via a tarmac footpath. The fenestration is irregular: a single 6-over-6 timber sliding sash window with horns sits to the left of the elevation, with a matching 6-over-6 sash above it at first-floor level; to the right sits a gabled entrance porch added in approximately 1987, constructed in emulation of pre-existing porches at nos. 6 and 8. This porch contains a vertically sheeted timber door with metal door furniture and a narrow multi-pane Georgian-style window to its north-east face, with a pitched slated roof over. Small-pane Georgian timber sliding sash windows throughout have exposed box frames painted in a contrasting colour, contributing a cottage character to the facade. The south-east side elevation is of white painted rough-cast render topped by a rendered chimney-stack and is otherwise blank. The north-west elevation, including the entrance porch and rear return, is similarly of white painted rough-cast render and is blank on all faces.

To the rear, the south-west elevation overlooks a modest yard of concrete and grass, enclosed to the north-west by a rough-cast rendered wall with a low timber fence above, and to the south-east by a high timber fence. The rear elevation is abutted by a single-storey rear return. The fenestration here is irregular: a paired timber sliding sash window sits to the right of the rear return at ground-floor level, with a single timber sliding sash window at first-floor above, not aligned with the ground-floor bays. The rear return contains a vertically sheeted timber door opening onto the rear yard. Nos. 6, 8, and 10 Main Street are linked at each gable end by a low white painted rendered wall with vertically sheeted timber gates giving access to the individual rear yards. No. 10 sits at the northern end of this row of three.

The house is of considerable local historic and social importance and carries strong group value with its neighbours and the surrounding streetscape. It is situated in the heart of the village of Cushendun, immediately adjacent to The Square — a planned group of seven two-storey cottage-style houses arranged around three sides of an enclosed green — and close to Maud Cottages. The street scene as a whole consists of white painted rendered two-storey houses of similar character and scale.

The village of Cushendun developed from the early 19th century in direct response to the disruption of Continental travel during the Napoleonic Wars, when Ireland became a popular destination for British tourists. The previously isolated Glens of Antrim became accessible with the construction of the Coastal Road between 1832 and 1842, and villages such as Cushendun and Cushendall were transformed from minor settlements into popular seaside resorts. A number of summer houses and so-called Bathing Lodges were built along the coast by city-based professionals and merchants during this period, including the substantial residences of Glenmona Lodge and Glendun Lodge at Cushendun. Nos. 6–10 Main Street are contemporary with the laying out of the coastal road and the initial development of the village.

Griffith's Valuation of 1859 records that No. 10 was originally valued at £2 and 5 shillings and was leased by Edmund McNeill of Cushendun House — now demolished — to a Mr. Patrick O'Hara. The O'Hara family remained at the property until 1895, when the McKernan family took up residence and continued there until the 1940s. During the 1911 Census of Ireland the house was occupied by Mrs. Sarah McKernan and was described as a second-class dwelling consisting of three inhabited rooms, with a fowl house as its sole outbuilding. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the property's value was raised to £3 and 10 shillings, and records show it was occupied by the Darragh family in 1940. Ownership of nos. 6–10 Main Street passed from the McNeill family to the National Trust in 1954. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) the house was occupied by a Mr. R. J. McBride and had been further increased in value to £7 and 15 shillings. A 1972 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide described nos. 6–10 Main Street as "three older small two-storey white-washed houses of character." The buildings were listed in 1980, the same year they were included within the Cushendun Conservation Area, which was designated to protect and enhance the special qualities of the village. The Annual Revisions Town Plan (c.1909–c.1935) confirms that the gabled entrance porch at No. 10 was not an original feature and was not added until approximately 1987, modelled on the porches already present at nos. 6 and 8.

At the time of survey the building remained in use as a private dwelling. It lies within the Cushendun Conservation Area and within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.