79 & 81 Main Street, Bushmills, Co Antrim, BT57 8QB

A two storey, three bay, semi-detached house and shop on Main Street in Bushmills, dating to the late 1820s. The building was constructed during a period of significant rebuilding in the village undertaken by the McNaghten family of Bushmills House.

The building is located on a corner plot with its Main Street façade facing north-east. It has been heavily renovated with pebble dash finish applied to all external walls. The roof is of man-made slate with a large chimney at ridge level, rendered in pebble dash with one pot (sized for two to three additional pots), and stone coping. A single PVC down pipe is positioned near the corner with Main Street.

The Main Street façade consists of three equally spaced openings at first floor level. At ground level there is a window to the south-west, a central paneled timber door of modern construction aligned with the central first floor window, and to the north-west a second similar door with a shop window opening adjacent. There is no formal shop front; the openings are simple pebble dashed recesses. The corner elevation is blank pebble dashed wall.

The rear façade is similarly finished in pebble dash. At first floor, two casement windows to the north-west are positioned within openings of proportions suggestive of former sashes. A third window to the south-east has a higher cill and is vertically subdivided, indicating a bathroom, with a soil vent pipe adjacent confirming this. At ground level there is a casement window of vertical proportion. A single storey flat-roofed return projects from the rear, housing the kitchen and covering most of the rear façade, with space left for an oil tank adjacent to the boundary. The building has a long rear yard partly enclosed by a one metre high pebble dashed wall with concrete coping.

Historical records show the building indicated on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map. The 1832 map records it as a block with separate small outbuildings; a similar pattern appears on the 1857 and 1902 maps. The modern rear return is not indicated on the 1972 map. The building formerly featured a cut sandstone chimney similar to others near the Market Square, suggesting landlord influence on its design.

When surveyed in 1972 for the First Survey of buildings of special architectural or historic interest, it was described as "a two storey three bay rendered building with quoins. The roof is slated, chimneys are stone." It had a pilastered shopfront, panelled street door, and 12-pane Georgian glazed windows. The shopfront extended across the shop to enclose both the shop and house doors, with thin pilasters supporting a sign board detailed as a classical entablature. The shop window was divided into three vertical divisions with a central horizontal bar, with a deep timber recess under the cill. The shop door was glazed in its upper half. The stone chimney on the gable was constructed of sandstone. The building was listed at grade B in 1980.

Significant inappropriate alterations to the shopfront, exterior walls, windows, and internal appearance have reduced its architectural and historic character. The building was heavily renovated around 1980 without the permissions required for works affecting a listed building. Enforcement action was considered by the Environment and Heritage Service in 2004 but was concluded inappropriate to pursue. The building was delisted on 5 July 2004. The building currently remains within a conservation area and continues in use as a shop.