Cromore Lodge, Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT55 7PW

Cromore Lodge is a symmetrical single-storey gate lodge built in sandstone around 1875 to designs by the prominent Victorian Ulster architect Charles Lanyon (1813–1889). It stands on the west side of Cromore Road, southeast of Portstewart, in the townland of Ballyleese North, and forms the entrance to the Cromore House estate. The lodge and its associated gate screen are listed together.

The building has a rectangular plan with a hipped natural slate roof featuring leaded ridges and hips. One of its most distinctive features is the central sandstone chimneystack, which has an overhanging saddleback coping carried on bracketed overhanging eaves, with flues projecting from the gables — a relatively unusual form that gives the lodge much of its character. Moulded kneelers are present to the portico. Rainwater goods are vestigial plastic on the overhanging bracketed eaves.

The principal (south-facing) elevation is dominated by a twin-arched central portico with round-headed openings, plain impost mouldings, and a painted balustrade to the east and west openings. The central entrance, flanked by pilaster responds, has a cornice to the ceiling. Windows flank the portico on either side. The walling to the front and sides is sandstone ashlar on a projecting plinth. The west elevation has three window openings. The east elevation also has three window openings, centrally grouped. The north (rear) elevation is painted rubble stone with red brick dressings, and has an entrance door to the right of centre flanked by two windows to the left and one to the right, with projecting masonry sills. All window and door openings are currently covered with metal sheeting, though original joinery may survive beneath. Roof: natural slate. Walling: sandstone ashlar to principal elevations, painted rubble stone with red brick dressings to rear. Windows: metal sheeted. Rainwater goods: plastic.

The lodge sits to the right of the entrance to the Cromore House estate, with its east gable facing the original gate screen, which comprises rusticated sandstone gate piers with pyramidal caps and cast-iron spear-headed gates and railings. The site is overgrown, with ivy and vegetation to the north and east and mature trees to the west. The lodge is clearly visible from the main road into Portstewart town centre and makes an important contribution to the architectural character of the area.

The architectural style closely follows the Italianate formula lodges associated with Charles Lanyon, and the attribution to him is well supported. Writing in 1972, Girvan described it as "Italianate with a two-arch porchway and outsized gabled chimney." Lanyon was the leading architect and engineer of the Victorian period in Ulster.

The history of the entrance arrangements to Cromore House is complex. The first gate lodge to the estate stood at the original south-west entrance and is visible on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830, where it appears to have been a small Georgian lodge; it had been demolished by the time of the second edition, around 1860. In 1856, John Cromie — who had made numerous alterations to Cromore House in 1834 — created a new entrance avenue from the eastern perimeter of the estate to give access to the newly opened railway station. Although various sources, including Dean's gazetteer of Ulster gate lodges, state the current lodge was constructed around 1857 to serve this new approach, it does not appear on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of around 1860, and the Annual Revisions records confirm it was not erected until between 1874 and 1876, when it was first recorded and jointly valued with the main house at £87 (the lodge itself being valued at approximately £2, given that Cromore House and its outbuildings had previously been valued at £85). The plan of the building remained unchanged in all subsequent Ordnance Survey editions, and its valuation did not fluctuate through to the end of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904 recorded the building as a square-shaped structure at the eastern perimeter of the estate.

The lodge was listed in 1977, the year after Cromore House. Following the sale of the estate by the Montague family in the late 20th century, Cromore House was taken into use as University of Ulster accommodation, but the gate lodge has remained vacant. An application to convert it to licensed premises was refused, primarily because the proposed extension was considered overly large and out of keeping with the listed building in terms of scale and form, and because of the potential impact on the Cromore House demesne. The lodge remains unoccupied and inaccessible, with all openings covered in metal sheeting.

Despite its dilapidated condition, the lodge retains its original proportions, well-preserved architectural detailing, and much of its overall character. It is considered a good surviving example of an increasingly rare building type, and carries significant group value as part of the Cromore House demesne. This record was formerly known as HB03/07/010 and has been renumbered as part of the Cromore House group.