101 - 103 Main Street, Bushmills, Co. Antrim, BT57 8QB

101–103 Main Street, Bushmills, is a two-storey, two-bay painted rendered end-of-terrace house with a ground floor shopfront, situated on the west side of Main Street on the southern side of Bushmills village centre, with the Bush River to the west. The building stands on a rectangular plan and originally comprised two separate dwellings. It was first constructed between 1834 and 1857, then underwent a major refurbishment — or possibly complete reconstruction — in around 1926, which resulted in the installation of the ground floor shopfront and the appearance of the building largely as it stands today. A further renovation around 1991 included reslating the roof and re-rendering the façade. Planning permission was granted in 2013 for refurbishment, shopfront restoration, and replacement of the rear extension to provide a shop unit and residential accommodation; the current large two-storey rendered extension to the rear was built around 2013–14. At the time of survey the building appeared to be occupied as a single private dwelling.

The roof is a pitched replacement natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. The original chimney stack has been removed. The front elevation is finished in painted render, with painted corner quoins to either side and a painted rendered plinth at the base. The principal elevation faces north-east and is accessed directly from the paved footpath on Main Street. It is three bays wide at ground floor level and two bays wide at first floor, the two levels not being vertically aligned. The ground floor contains a timber shopfront with a large timber-framed window divided by vertical and horizontal glazing bars, with semicircular arched heads to the top panes. To the right of the shopfront are two entrance doorways: the left-hand doorway contains a timber panelled door with a glazed top pane, and the right-hand opening contains a timber four-panelled door with an integrated sidelight and glazed top pane; this right-hand doorway is not in use. The doorways are slightly recessed and are not centred on the elevation. At first floor level on the front elevation there are 1-over-1 replacement timber sliding sash windows with exposed sash boxes and moulded horns. Half-round uPVC guttering to the front elevation discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe.

The south-east gable elevation is blank with a smooth re-rendered painted finish. The south-west rear elevation is abutted by the modern two-storey pitched roof extension; the main rear wall is of smooth re-rendered painted finish with a single uPVC window at first floor level to the right side, and a lean-to extension below abutting the two-storey rear return. An entrance doorway on the south-west side of the rear return — reached by two steps up — contains a vertically sheeted painted timber door. All windows to the rear are timber-effect uPVC, as are the rainwater goods to the rear elevation and rear return. The north-west side is joined to the neighbouring property at 99 Main Street. To the rear of the property there is a single-storey rubble stone outbuilding with brick surrounds to its doorway and window opening; the door and window are replacement timber, with replacement uPVC rainwater goods. There is also a small painted stone lean-to to the rear.

The front façade shopfront and the windows and doors are replacement timber. The overall extent of alteration to the external fabric has resulted in a significant loss of original historic character.

The building's history is closely connected to the early 19th-century reconstruction of Bushmills village by the MacNaghten family of Bushmills House, who acquired the estate in 1787 and from the 1820s extensively rebuilt the village. The detailed Townland Valuation Town Plan of around 1834 and the Townland Valuations of 1835 record that a Class 1C structure — that is, a slated building that was old and out of repair — stood on the site of nos 97–103 Main Street in the early 19th century. This was subsequently demolished and replaced with the current houses, which were first depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 recorded the total rateable value of nos 101–103 at £3 and 10 shillings and noted that the building was initially leased by Hugh McNaul, a prominent local landowner, to a Mr Patrick McKay. Occupants changed frequently over the following four decades, and by the turn of the 20th century the property was leased by a Mr Samuel McIlheny to James Allen, a local car driver. The 1901 Census of Ireland described it as a second-class dwelling consisting of seven rooms, with a stable, shed, and store as outbuildings to the rear. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1902 continued to depict the building on its original layout.

The Annual Revisions record that the major refurbishment or reconstruction of around 1926 increased the rateable value of the property to £10. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) raised this further to £15 and noted the building was then occupied by a Mr Thomas McAlister. By the 1950s the property had been purchased outright by a Ms Anne McCullough, who remained at the address until at least the 1970s. By the close of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the total rateable value stood at £27.

In 1972 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide for North Antrim described Main Street, Bushmills in general terms as follows: "A well-scaled street. Many good doorways and shopfronts remain, although there is the usual profusion of signs. While no building apart from the former Courthouse is worthy of individual mention, the unity of the street frontages must be maintained." The building was listed in 1980 and subsequently included in the Bushmills Conservation Area, designated in 1992 to preserve the built heritage of the village, which possesses the highest number of listed buildings in the north-east of Northern Ireland. The building was delisted on 10 October 2019 on the grounds that the cumulative alterations to the external fabric have resulted in insufficient architectural and historic interest for it to be considered special.