216 Ballylesson Road, Ballycarn, Lisburn, County Down, BT27 5TS

A detached gabled two-storey Arts and Crafts style house with attic, built around 1896 to designs by the accomplished Belfast architect Vincent Craig. The building stands on an elevated landscaped site to the south of Ballylesson Road, facing north, with a rectangular plan. It was originally constructed as the manse for Ballycairn Presbyterian Church, which originated in 1830. The house represents fine domestic work by Craig, who was the younger brother of Sir James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and established his practice in Belfast between 1891 and 1901.

The exterior features steeply pitched terracotta tiled roofs with terracotta ridgecomb tiles and finials. Chimneystacks have been rebuilt in redbrick with moulded cast-iron guttering to exposed rafter feet and plain timber bargeboards. The walling is wet dash rendered over a redbrick plinth course. Windows are set in segmental-headed openings with timber sash windows having geometric glazing to the upper sashes.

The front elevation is abutted by a single-bay two-storey gable with a jettied first floor displaying applied timber framework and paired timber casement windows. The jetty is supported on paired timber brackets. Below this is a round-headed front entrance with hood moulding, stop-chamfered reveals, and an original arched timber door featuring an oval leaded light, flat panels and brass furniture. To the left of the entrance is a segmental-headed window opening with tripartite timber casement windows containing leaded coloured glazing. At the re-entrant angle sits a single-storey two-side canted bay with paired sash windows. The entrance opens onto a replacement stone platform and swept steps.

The three-storey east gable has timber bargeboard and timber eaves brackets, abutted by a flat-roofed wing with tripartite window opening and a replacement glazed timber door. This side door opens into a side yard enclosed to the north by a screen wall topped with a diminutive terracotta tiled roof. The rear elevation features an off-centre gable with flat-roofed wing, abutted by a single-storey gabled sunroom added around 2000. The three-storey west gable contains single, paired and tripartite windows matching those described throughout.

The interior retains most original and external features, with sensitive additions made in recent years. At the 1901 Census, the building was recorded as a second-class dwelling with a slated roof and 11 rooms. It originally contained only a fowl house, turf house and shed as outbuildings, though by 1911 the east range had been constructed to house the stable, cow house and coach house.

The setting comprises extensive lawns to the south and west, with a small enclosed yard to the east elevation. An L-plan range of lofted redbrick outbuildings lines the east and south of the yard, featuring pitched natural slate roofs, cast metal rainwater goods, sheeted timber doors, sliding sash windows and a concertina sheeted and glazed garage door. Access is via a steeply inclined bitumac drive.

The house was occupied by Reverend George Duncan from the time of the 1901 Census until his death in July 1908. He was succeeded by Reverend Samuel James Clarke, who took possession in October 1908 as recorded in the 1911 Census. The building continued to serve as a manse until at least 1926, when the current Ballycairn Presbyterian Church was constructed on Ballylesson Road, though the exact date of its sale is unknown. By 1971 it had been converted to private use and renamed Glenvale House.