Willowtree Cottage, River Road, Kilmakee, Dunmurry, Co Antrim

Willowtree Cottage is a one-and-a-half-storey stuccoed Arts and Crafts gate lodge built around 1900 to designs by architect Henry Hobart. It stands at the junction of Conway Lane and River Road in Lambeg, formerly serving as an entrance to Conway House, now demolished.

The original building is rectangular in plan, aligned north to south, with a single-storey return at the east and a decorative timber entrance porch set within the internal angle. A single-storey extension was added to the south by a former owner and subsequently converted to two storeys by the current owner around 1990.

The roof comprises pitched red terracotta scalloped tiles with crested terracotta ridge tiles and finials. A catslide roof spans the entrance porch, and a roof light pierces the east slope. Deep overhanging timber eaves feature painted ogee cast-iron rainwater goods above exposed moulded rafter-ends. Moulded timber bargeboards are supported on paired timber brackets. A single tall brick corbelled chimneystack carries clay pots.

The walls are constructed in double Flemish bond over a stepped chamfered plinth. At first floor, a jetty bressumer features decorative nogging, herringbone bracing and quatrefoil timbers below the windows. Window openings are square-headed, containing timber-framed lattice leaded casements within moulded timber frames, with chamfered painted masonry sills and heads.

The principal north elevation features a projecting gabled bay at right containing a central canted bay window at ground floor, flanked by original wall-mounted lanterns and surmounted by a jettied first floor supported on a moulded cornice and timber brackets. The first floor comprises a single window within decorative half-timbering. At left, a single-storey bay contains a single window, with a decorative timber lean-to entrance porch abutting the re-entrant angle. The entrance porch itself features chamfered timber framing with herringboard timber to the lower panels and glazing to sidelights and transom lights. The timber-panelled door faces north with 3/3/3 glazed panels, most original, and original brass ironmongery, accessed by a single stone step.

The east elevation contains a projecting gabled bay at left with a central canted bay window. A re-entrant angle at right is abutted by a decorative timber entrance porch.

The south (rear) elevation displays a gable at left. At ground floor, a single-storey brick extension with flat roof built around 1965 abuts the original structure, comprising from left a timber glazed door with sidelight beneath a rosemary tile canopy supported on painted timber brackets, modern double sliding doors, and a single-storey projecting bay at right. The left side extends further to first-floor level in line with the one-and-a-half-storey gable, comprising a timber-framed glazed conservatory with red terracotta scalloped roof tiles and four roof lights.

The west elevation contains a single off-centre window at left, with a gabled dormer at centre at first-floor level.

The building is located to the west side of River Road, Lambeg, with an enclosed yard to the west and garden to the south. Conway Lane to the north is accessed via decorative cast-iron gates supported on decorative cast-iron piers. The east boundary is enclosed by a plinth wall surmounted by decorative cast-iron railings and hedging, with a brick pillar at the south surmounted by a pyramidal pier.