Masonic Hall and Walling, 2 Toberwine Street, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AP

Masonic Hall, 2 Toberwine Street, Glenarm — built around 1935 (confirmed by a plaque in the entrance hallway), replacing an earlier mid-19th century end-of-terrace dwelling on the same site. The building is not statutorily listed, having been assessed and found not to meet the criteria; it was delisted on 20 March 2006. It sits within a conservation area.

The hall is a relatively plain two-storey rendered building in a terrace at the north end of Toberwine Street, forming the northernmost property on the north-east side of the street. Despite its plainness, the front elevation has a certain Egyptian or Imperial character — stark, angular, and symmetrical, with a gabled roofline facing roughly west.

The west front elevation is the principal facade. At its centre is a panelled timber double door set within a heavy projecting surround or porch, which has a shallow gable and slight projections to each side. To the left and right of the porch are tall, narrow window openings, each fitted with a four-pane timber frame and a blank panel above. A projecting string course runs from the top of the porch surround across the full width of the elevation. At first-floor level, a single large multi-pane window occupies the centre, above which is a further moulded string course. Plain clasping pilasters mark each corner of the facade. The simple gable above carries a moulded Masonic symbol — a pair of dividers over a square — at its centre, with a plain copestone at the apex.

The south elevation is largely hidden by a large outbuilding belonging to the neighbouring No. 4 Toberwine Street. The north elevation has three almost evenly spaced modern windows at ground-floor level and three at first-floor level, each resting on a projecting sill course. The east elevation is also gabled. At ground-floor level there is a lean-to projection: its north face is blank, while its east face has a timber-sheeted and glazed door to the right and two four-pane windows to the left. A further small lean-to projection sits to the far left. At first-floor level, a plain projecting chimney breast sits centrally on the gable, which is otherwise blank.

The front and north side of the property are enclosed by a low rendered rubble wall with simple square gate pillars fitted with panes and pyramidal caps. Decorative iron pedestrian and vehicle gates provide access. To the rear there remain the partial remains of a small two-storey outbuilding, probably of mid-19th century date.

Toberwine Street — whose name translates from Irish as the Street of the Sweet Well — is thought to represent the earliest area of settlement within Glenarm village. Its narrowness is taken as an indication of its antiquity. The original 13th century castle of Glenarm, around which the village developed, is believed to have stood at the south-west corner of the street, on the site now occupied by the former courthouse. The castle was deliberately destroyed by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1597 and appears not to have been repaired; his descendant Sir Randal McDonnell built a new residence on the opposite bank of the river. Some historians suggest the old castle was later occupied by tenants in the later 17th century, implying some form of repair, but Richard Dobbs makes no reference to it in his 1683 description of the village. The name Toberwine appears in the Antrim Papers as early as a lease of November 1672, which refers to a house in the area; the street itself is named in a lease of August 1709. By the time of John O'Hara's 1779 map of Glenarm — the earliest surviving plan of the village — the street was shown as fully developed on both sides, with a market and courthouse at its south-west end. No verifiable trace of the old castle appears on the map, though the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoirs note "the foundations of a very extensive old castle which stood at the centre of the town until a few years ago," suggesting some ruins survived into the early 19th century. The 1833 valuation evidence indicates that most buildings on the west side of the street were present in some form at that date, and many were probably 18th century in origin. The east side of the street saw considerably more development after 1833: Nos. 4–12 date from around 1840, and Nos. 20–34 and 62 are post-1860, some replacing modest single-storey dwellings. The large three-storey former Antrim Arms Hotel, and possibly its neighbour No. 56, may have been standing in the early 1830s, though this is not certain. No. 2 itself stands on the site of a mid-1840s end-of-terrace dwelling.