Oakleigh, 4 Parkmount, Belsize Road, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT27 4AN

Oakleigh is a three-storey Victorian end-of-terrace townhouse built around 1900, located off Belsize Road on the perimeter of Wallace Park in Lisburn, County Antrim. It forms part of a small group of four matching townhouses of exceptionally high quality and proportion for Victorian terraces, and each building is integral to the group's architectural and historical value.

The building is constructed on a square plan with a large two-storey rectangular rear return. The roof is natural slate with a hipped form and clay finial, featuring leaded hips and crested clay ridge tiles. A large stucco cavetto cornice at eaves level, painted white, runs around the building, with cast-iron ogee-moulded gutters to the front and side elevations and semi-circular cast-iron gutters to the rear. Large section box cast-iron downpipes run down the front elevation. The brick chimney stack over the ridge line has been reduced in height with the removal of corbel courses and the installation of a concrete flaunch; it retains six large clay pots.

The walling is red brick laid in Flemish bond with a projecting brick plinth that changes to English Garden Wall bond on the rear return. Windows throughout are single-glazed timber 1/1 sliding sash with horns, painted white, with large rectangular sandstone cills. Window openings are topped with 1½ brick flat arches featuring brick keyblocks with moulded cornice detail.

The principal south-facing elevation is asymmetrically arranged. The timber front door, off-centre to the left, has four bolection-moulded, raised-and-pointed panels with a rectangular fixed light above, flanked by plain pilasters and decorated at cornice level with egg-and-dart moulding rising to large foliated console brackets supporting the cornice. Access is via two stone steps. The door is flanked by two windows: on the left a half-circle arched timber-framed 1/1 sash, and on the right a rectangular sash window. The upper two floors each have two equally spaced windows. First-floor windows feature projected brick detailing under the cill; second-floor window heads are embedded into the large cornice at eaves level. On the far right is a distinctive two-storey shallow-pitched lead-covered box bay projecting at a 45-degree angle from the corner, with a single window to either side and paired windows to the front, topped with a decorated terracotta string course and corbel brick course at eaves level. The left elevation abuts the adjoining building at 3 Parkmount.

The rear elevation is asymmetrically arranged, with a large hipped two-storey return projecting northwards from the right-hand bay overlooking the rear garden. Uniformly arranged windows with reduced detailing serve all levels on the left side. The return itself is asymmetrically arranged with modern alterations to existing openings. A double-width sliding door with a single brick soldier course above occupies the centre position. To the right is a new tripartite timber casement window with painted concrete lintel and concrete cill; evidence of an existing ground-floor opening has been infilled. The rear chimney, which also serves the adjoining property, is positioned over the ridge line on the left with altered upper brick courses. Some original cast-iron rainwater goods remain, though much has been replaced with uPVC. A metal-framed roof light to the left of the chimney stack serves a light-well over the first-floor hallway. A modern single-storey flat-roof extension projects northwards from the rear, extending partially across the garden and abutting a masonry perimeter wall.

The right elevation is asymmetrically arranged, matching the detailing of the principal elevation. A large projecting bay occupies the left-hand side with a single window above, while uniformly arranged windows serving all levels are positioned to the right.

The building directly overlooks the large mature trees and open green space of Wallace Park and the Lisburn cricket ground. To the west stands the matching terrace block of the same style and quality. The front of the house is set beyond a vehicular access serving the other buildings in the group. The land to the side has been surfaced with tarmac to create off-street parking. The rear is enclosed by timber fencing and masonry walls with no direct access; modern dwellings have been erected beyond.

Parkmount Terrace first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1901–02, illustrated as a simple oblong row with no apparent returns, suggesting the terrace may have been incomplete or still under construction at the time of mapping. In the Annual Revisions of 1901–11, all buildings are recorded as vacant in 1902, indicating they were either just completed or nearly so. The landlord was Hugh G Larmor, who also occupied Montreagh, a larger earlier house on the same plot, suggesting the terrace was developed as a rear addition to his own residence. Number 4 was first occupied by Robert Alex Endrican and was valued at £34, reflecting its slightly larger size compared to the two centre dwellings, though it lacked the separate stable block that added value to others. The valuation was subsequently reduced to £30 in 1911 when Edward Riddall took the tenancy. The Riddall family remained as occupiers, with the tenancy passing to Henrietta Riddall in 1924 when the value was increased to £35.