Knockrath, 5 Forthill, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 3BB

Knockrath is an asymmetrical three-bay two-storey detached red-brick house built around 1920 and situated on a large mature site at Fort Hill, north of Lisburn city centre.

The rectangular main block features two two-storey returns to the rear, with the eastern return being longer and having a hipped roof. Two-storey canted bay windows project to the south and west elevations. A single-storey extension with conservatory was added to the rear in 2002.

The roof is pitched and hipped with natural slate covering, finished with decorative terracotta ridge tiles and finials. Red-brick chimneystack with sandstone plinth and clay pots rise prominently, with decorative bargeboards and finials adorning the gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are installed on overhanging eaves.

The walls are constructed in English garden wall-bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth. A decorative brick string course runs above the ground floor windows, with a sandstone string course between the two storeys. Windows are predominantly bipartite or tripartite 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns and projecting sandstone sills, set in segmental-headed reveals. Most feature decorative sandstone keyblocks. The canted bays contain paired windows with dentilled eaves.

The principal south-facing elevation is two openings wide to the left, with a gablet over the first-floor window and a single-storey slated open porch adjoining a projecting gabled bay to the right. The gabled bay contains a two-storey canted bay window. The porch is partially glazed with decorative timber struts resting on a brick and sandstone plinth, accessed by three terrazzo steps. The entrance door comprises two raised-and-pointed panels with a decorative carved panel below a corbelled sill; side lights and a segmental-headed transom light frame the opening, which is fitted with brass door furniture.

The west elevation has a bipartite window to the first floor and tripartite to the ground floor on the left; a gabled bay to the right contains a two-storey canted bay window.

The rear north elevation is abutted by the hipped return at left and gabled return at right, further abutted by the 2002 single-storey extension with conservatory opening westward. The gabled return has a bipartite window at first-floor left; the hipped return has a single ground-floor window and two first-floor windows to its west elevation.

The east elevation has a projecting square bay to the centre with a leaded and stained glass stairwell window above a diminutive window. The right section is three openings wide with an entrance door at left. This entrance comprises a half-panelled timber door surmounted by a transom light and decorative timber canopy with exposed rafter ends and brackets terminating in drop finials. The left section is blank with a projecting chimney flue, the chimney having been removed.

The property is set on an elevated site within mature grounds. Lawned and shrubbed gardens surround all sides, enclosed by a mature hedgerow. Steps to the southeast and southwest have sandstone parapet walls with red-brick piers. A tarmacadamed driveway to the southeast leads to a detached red-brick garage with an original up-and-over door and timber-panelled bowed ceiling with lattice panels. The entrance is formed by two tall red-brick square gate piers with sandstone caps, supporting replacement timber gates.