Chrome Hill, 8 Ballyskeagh Road, Lambeg, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, BT27 5SY

Chrome Hill is a detached multi-bay two-storey rendered house built around 1640, located on an elevated landscaped site on the south side of Ballyskeagh Road overlooking the River Lagan. The building has been extended over time with a two-storey wing with attic added around 1760, and a bow added around 1830. It forms a T-shape on plan facing south, with a 1½-storey wing to the east.

The roofs are pitched natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles and rough-cast rendered chimneystacks capped with octagonal clay pots. Cast-iron guttering sits on ogee-moulded masonry eaves, with cast-iron downpipes. The external walls are painted rough-cast render with a projecting rendered plinth course. Window openings are square-headed with bull-nosed reveals, painted masonry sills, and original 6/6 timber sash windows with part-exposed sash boxes and some cylinder glass.

The principal south elevation is five windows wide. The west wing's south gable projects at the left and features a semi-circular attic window with two windows to its east cheek. An off-centre square-headed door opening has a lugged and kneed sandstone architrave surround with pulvinated frieze and full pediment, topped with a red sandstone crest inserted by the Niven family around 1840. The timber door is flush panelled with brass furniture and opens onto a stone flagged footpath leading to the front gravel area.

The symmetrical three-bay two-storey west elevation with attic has a central full-height elliptical bow and large central dormer with timber door, sidelights and lead-lined segmental pediment. The bow has painted stone coping to its parapet wall and multi-pane timber casement windows with multi-pane French doors at ground level. The north gable of the west wing projects beyond the north rear elevation with two window openings to the ground floor and one to the first floor and attic.

The two-storey north rear elevation features a flat-roofed half-landing block in the re-entrant angle. A Venetian window to the east bay breaks through the eaves course, continuing the moulded eaves as a lead-lined arch. The half-landing block has a fixed-pane Art Nouveau leaded window and a further leaded single-pane timber sash window to the east, with another fixed-pane Art Nouveau leaded window to the ground level at the centre bay. A square-headed door opening has a replacement timber glazed door with cornice supported on console brackets.

The east gable is abutted by the 1½-storey east wing, which has two lucarne window openings to the front south elevation, two window openings over a single door opening to the east gable, and various single-pane timber sash windows to the rear. A single-storey car port abuts the rear elevation of the east wing.

The elevated site is landscaped with many mature trees and garden features including a circular-plan stone and brick dovecote, cobbled footpaths and two winding gravel avenues—one to the north and one to the northeast. These avenues open onto the road via two pairs of entrance gates on rendered piers with quadrant walls.