Ardfoyle, 4 Forthill, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 3BB

Ardfoyle, a three-bay two-storey detached red-brick house built circa 1920, stands on a large elevated and mature site in Fort Hill, north of Lisburn town centre. Originally known as Lisnabreena, the house was designed by architects Hobart and Heron for William Lindsay Woods, a linen manufacturer, and represents a fine example of the homes built by the professional classes during Lisburn's early 20th-century expansion.

The house is L-shaped in plan with two two-storey returns to the rear, the western return being longer with a hipped roof. A modern conservatory extends to the west and a garage to the north. The principal elevation faces south and is two openings wide to the right, with a gablet over the first floor window and a single-storey slated open porch abutting a projecting gabled bay to the left. This 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 via three terrazzo steps. The entrance door comprises two raised-and-fielded panels with a decorative carved panel below a corbelled sill, flanked by side lights and a segmental-headed transom light, and fitted with brass door furniture.

Two-storey canted bay windows extend to the south and east elevations, with paired windows to the central section. The west elevation features a projecting stairwell window. The walling is English garden wall bonded red-brick on a chamfered plinth with a decorative brick course above the ground floor windows and a sandstone string course between floors. Windows are predominantly bipartite or tripartite 1/1 timber-framed sliding sash with horns and projecting sills, set in segmental-headed reveals surmounted by decorative sandstone keyblocks. The pitched and hipped natural slate roof carries decorative terracotta ridge tiles and finials, with decorative bargeboards and finials to the gables. Red-brick chimneystacks have sandstone plinths. Dentilled eaves are a feature of the canted bays.

The north (rear) elevation is abutted by a hipped return at the right and a gabled return at the left with a timber-sheeted door to the centre. The hipped return has a ground floor window at the gable end and a first floor window on the east elevation. The gabled return has a first floor window and is abutted to the ground floor by the garage. The west elevation accommodates a modern timber conservatory.

The house retains its original garage and summer house, both constructed in red-brick with slated roofs. The summer house features a half-panelled timber door and transom light with original timber-casement windows. The entrance comprises two tall red-brick square gate piers with sandstone caps supporting replacement timber gates. The rear garden is bounded to the north by redbrick walling with glazed terracotta copings contemporary with the house.

The site is set in mature grounds with lawned and shrubbed gardens to all sides, enclosed by mature hedgerow and trees. A tarmacadamed driveway to the south and east provides access.

The house is first recorded on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1921 and does not appear in the 1911 census, indicating construction between these dates. William Lindsay Woods, the original owner, was a linen manufacturer, possibly associated with Fiddes, Woods and Co., linen and handkerchief manufacturers and bleachers with premises in Belfast. The house has group value with Knockrath, a similar house also built by Woods on an adjacent site. It is well-preserved with much of its architectural detailing intact and makes a significant contribution to the heritage of the Fort Hill district, an area largely Edwardian in character and unspoiled by development.

The listing extends to the house, summer house, garage and garden walling.