Ballyarnett Farm, 50 Beragh Hill Road, Londonderry, ** See General Comments **

Ballyarnett Farm is a large two-storey Arts and Crafts style villa built towards the end of the 19th century (1880-1899), located on an elevated site overlooking the former Ballyarnett racecourse. The house is constructed in red brick with distinctive multi-gabled rosemary-tiled roofs and tall Tudoresque brick chimneys. The composition is characteristic of the Arts and Crafts movement, with several gables treated with red hung tiles while others feature black and white timber and plaster detailing.

The main entrance and west facade consists of a gabled two-storey projection with a longer two-storey block set at right angles. The gabled portion has a ground floor shallow rectangular bay with pitched leaded roof and a centrally positioned transom and mullioned window with the head terminating against the bottom course of hanging wall tiles on the gable. A red brick porch with glass roof nestles within the angle of the two blocks, with the entrance door set in the flanking wall. To the south is a floor-to-ceiling window with French doors and a shallow rectangular bay window, which is a relatively recent construction replacing a projecting chimney.

The south facade fronting Beragh Hill Road is five bays long, expressed by large gables at either end and three gabled dormers between them. The west bay features a two-storey shallow canted bay with tile hanging in the gable. The east bay has a shallow rectangular bay with heavy black timber in herringbone pattern and white plaster infill. Ground floor windows are tall two-light and single-light with transom, repeated at first floor but in reduced height, creating a lively composition. The east gable is terminated by a projection of tall moulded chimney stacks. The east facade mirrors the west, with an additional narrow gable indicating the double-pile plan arrangement and a secondary entrance. The north or rear facade comprises the return ends, a small rear courtyard, and a small lean-to utility block.

The roofs are laid in Rosemary tiles with diagonal patterning on shorter roof lengths. Eaves overhangs are present on the west and south facades, while elsewhere the tiles form the verges. The house exhibits fine internal arrangement and detailing throughout. The detailing bears the hallmark of Derry architect R Eccles Buchanan, though no drawings survive.

Ballyarnett is set within a garden on an elevated site, with mature trees. The main avenue approach terminates with double wrought iron gates set between brick piers with a curved wall sweeping in from the road verge. Across Beragh Hill Road is a walled garden.

The house was built by Barry McCorkell (d. 1895), who married into the Browne family. The McCorkell family had significant involvement in Derry's commercial life, particularly in the shipping trade of the late 18th and 19th centuries, and later in the grain business. The site previously held a cottage-like structure belonging to James Browne, valued at £13 in Griffith's Valuation of 1858. The Ordnance Survey map of 1830 shows a long cottage-like plan on the site, which was likely partially demolished during construction of the new house, with the south gable of the former roughly coinciding with the north gable of the present building. Some chimneys have been lost, notably the one that originally echoed the east gable projection at the west end. A floor-to-ceiling window with French doors now occupies space previously taken by a projecting chimney, with remnants of the original chimney visible at first floor level.

The listing extent includes the house, front boundary wall, piers, and gate.