20 High Street, Cushendall, Co.Antrim

20 High Street, Cushendall, is a detached, symmetrically fronted, three-bay, two-storey house over a concealed basement, with a two-storey rear return, forming a T-shape on plan. It dates from before 1857 and possibly from the 1830s or 1840s, built in the Regency manner. It sits on an elevated, landscaped site on the south side of High Street, facing north, set back slightly from the street, with views overlooking Cushendall village centre to the east.

The roof is hipped natural slate with rolled lead ridges and two rendered chimneystacks rising from the rear elevation. Rainwater goods throughout are plastic, fixed to overhanging sheeted eaves. External walls are painted rough-cast render with a smooth rendered plinth course and smooth rendered corner strips. Window openings are square-headed with painted masonry sills and replacement timber sliding sash windows with ogee horns — six-over-three panes to the first floor and six-over-six to the ground floor.

The symmetrical three-bay front elevation has a central square-headed door opening fitted with a replacement timber panelled door and a replacement rectangular overlight. The surround is a painted stucco composition comprising ribbed panelled pilasters and a corbelled cornice. The door opens onto two stone steps, beside which sits a cast-iron bootscraper (listed as part of the extent of the designation alongside the house itself). The east side elevation is symmetrical, two bays wide and two storeys tall, with windows similar to those on the front. The rear elevation is blind. The two-bay, two-storey gable-ended rear return has uPVC windows and a lean-to uPVC conservatory to its east side. At basement level on the rear elevation, a single square-headed door opening to the right is fitted with a steel door, reached by stone steps. A single square-headed door opening on the west elevation of the return has a replacement timber glazed door. The west side elevation is abutted by a lean-to single-storey accretion with a natural slate roof and a single six-over-six timber sash window to the north; the west side of the rear elevation also has uPVC windows.

The front of the site is enclosed by a rough-cast rendered wall with cement coping. A vehicular opening lies to the west; a single pedestrian opening is hung with an original spear-headed wrought-iron gate on cast-iron posts, reached by a short flight of stone steps. The front area is gravelled. Number 20 is one of four detached houses built on a steep gradient along this part of High Street; a small front paved area is enclosed by original iron railings with decorative cast-iron heads, set in a low rendered plinth wall with an iron pedestrian gate.

The building was possibly recorded in the Townland Valuations of 1834, though the accompanying town plan for Cushendall has been lost, making individual structures difficult to identify with certainty in that source. It appears with certainty on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 and in Griffith's Valuation of 1859, which recorded the property at an original value of £17 and 15 shillings, leased by the Turnly family to a Ms. Rachel Parr. The Parr family continued to occupy the house until around 1884, when it was briefly used as the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks for the village. By around 1885, the constabulary had vacated and a Ms. Elizabeth Cooper had taken possession. The building changed tenant with some frequency until around 1898, when it was occupied by Mr. James McElherron, a clerk employed at Cushendall's Petty Sessions Court, which was originally on Mill Street but later relocated to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in the late 20th century.

The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1903 showed the building in its current layout, though it also indicated a number of rear outbuildings, now demolished. The Census of Ireland building return of 1911 described it as a second-class dwelling with six inhabited rooms and extensive outbuildings including two stables, two cow houses and a barn. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the rateable value was raised to £23, and records show the McElherron family remained until around 1937. A Margaret Corrigan occupied the house from that year until 1966, when it fell vacant. By the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the total rateable value stood at £24.

The majority of the buildings on High Street were erected in the first half of the 19th century by the landowning Turnly family. Francis Turnly, Cushendall's proprietor, had travelled to China in 1796, where he accumulated a fortune of around £75,000. In 1801 he used this to purchase the estate of Newtownglens from the Richardson family for £24,000, subsequently renaming the settlement Cushendall. At the time of purchase, the place consisted of little more than a number of insignificant cabins, a mill and a bridge. As the number of tourists passing through the area on the way to the Giant's Causeway increased, Turnly — described by Brett as an eccentric who "effected extraordinary improvements in buildings and roads on his property" — developed the village into a coastal resort, with hotels such as the Glens of Antrim on Shore Street and numerous commercial properties.

In 1972, the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society publication on the Glens of Antrim described High Street as "an outstandingly attractive street, of quite exceptional merit and character, climbing very steeply indeed from the crossing of the main street to Court McMartin, almost every building in it of individual merit apart from the value of the group as a whole; the roofs, gables, doors and windows rise in an irregular staircase up the hillside." Number 20 was described in the same publication as a "three-bay two-storey house in the Regency manner, with very wide eaves, white painted roughcast, glazing-bars, hipped roof; and a curious simple doorcase incorporating five mutules and guttae." The buildings along High Street were included in the Cushendall Conservation Area in 1975 — only the second conservation area to be designated in the province, and a testament 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. Number 20 High Street was subsequently listed in 1976.

Northern Ireland Environment Agency Historic Buildings records note that the building underwent extensive works at an unrecorded date, including the reconstruction of a chimneystack, reslating, and the installation of new window frames and a new door. The historic integrity of the house is reduced by the uPVC conservatory to the rear, though the building retains its external historic character to the symmetrical front facade, and its continuing presence enhances the historic setting of High Street.