6 Beach Road, Whitehead, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9QS

An attached mid-terrace two-storey house forming part of the former Coastguard station, built in 1870, situated on the west side of Beach Road at Whitehead. Despite substantial replacement of windows and doors, the building retains significant original features including gunports, evidence of its defensible past and maritime security function.

The house is rectangular on plan with a single-storey kitchen extension to the west. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with a brick corbelled chimney topped with concrete coping and replacement pots. The walls are constructed in English garden wall bonded red brick over a painted rendered plinth, with a corbelled sill course at first-floor level. Windows are replacement segmental-headed uPVC casements set in stepped vermiculated sandstone surrounds with painted masonry sills. The principal elevation faces east and comprises a square-headed replacement uPVC glazed entrance door in a stepped rendered surround with segmental head, positioned to the left and accessed via eight concrete steps with a rendered parapet. A window occupies the right side at each floor level. The south elevation is abutted by the adjoining cottage. The west elevation is partly abutted by the extension at ground floor, which contains a single door and window; the exposed wall above contains a single square-headed window. The north elevation is abutted by the adjacent cottage. The guttering comprises cast-iron ogee-profiled units with round downpipes. The building is set within its own grounds with access to the south-east through vermiculated square sandstone gate pillars. A car park and modern garages lie to the north-west with an enclosed yard to the west.

The Coastguard service at Whitehead was established in 1820–21, initially recorded as Black Head. An earlier group of Coastguard cottages formerly stood at Marine Parade, shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The present terrace was constructed in 1870 to replace these earlier cottages, at a cost of £1,732 18 shillings and 2 pence. It was built to accommodate a chief boatman and five coastguards. The current Coastguard Station first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902.

The Coastguard was administered at this period by the Admiralty as a naval force maintained in Great Britain and Ireland to suppress smuggling, aid shipwrecked vessels, and serve as a reserve to the navy. The terrace occupies a prominent elevated position above Beach Road with attractive views across Belfast Lough, ideally suited to its original maritime function. Early photographs indicate that the cottages originally had no entrances on the east (shore) side, with these doorways added in the latter half of the twentieth century. The same photographs show that the Captain's house, at number 10, was originally built in brickwork like the other cottages. According to a former resident whose father served as a coastguard at Whitehead, a passage formerly ran the length of the terrace from the Captain's house to a fortified watchtower, facilitating movement between the cottages in the event of attack. This defensive arrangement is reinforced by the presence of gunports and musket loops throughout the terrace.

Valuation records from 1864–1879 list a Coast Guard Station, house and garden valued at £20. An entry from the 1880s revisions notes that there was no chief officer's house on the site. A 1914 entry records that one house had been vacant since January 1911, valued at £3.

Substantial renovation of the terrace was undertaken between 1986 and 1989, including replacement windows, doors, and the addition of kitchen extensions. The building lies within a conservation area.