Ballynascreen House, 39 Shore Road, Greenisland, Carrickfergus, BT38 8UA

Ballynascreen House is a substantial attached two-storey five-bay house built around 1870, located on the east side of Shore Road in Greenisland. It faces south towards Belfast Lough and sits within mature gardens, bounded by the shoreline to the east and random rubble walling to the west.

The main block is rectangular in plan with attic and basement, supplemented by two two-storey returns to the rear and a single-storey extension to the west gable. An additional building is attached to the north gable of the returns. The pitched natural slate roof features two wall-head dormers to the front pitch and one to the north, each with a rolled lead ridge. Rendered chimneystacks with bellcast coping and circular terracotta pots rise from the roof. Overhanging sheeted timber eaves with plain bargeboards and cast-iron rainwater goods of ogee profile complete the roofline.

The walls are roughcast with a moulded string course over a roughcast plinth. Windows throughout are square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sashes. Those on the principal elevation have moulded architraves and precast masonry cills, with ground floor windows featuring pediments. The principal south elevation displays five bays at each floor. The central entrance is recessed with chamfered reveals and surmounted by a round-headed lead-covered canopy supported on Ionic columns with a dentilled entablature. Double-leaf timber six-panelled entrance doors are carved with swag detail and topped by a radial stained glass fanlight, fitted with an original brass door knob and bell. The entrance is accessed by four masonry steps flanked by plinths, with windows to each side of the door. A two-storey porch with balustraded parapet fronts the canopy. The left gable is abutted by a ground-floor extension; the first floor shows two plainly detailed windows, with two diminished attic windows above. The extension to the left has paired and smaller windows, plainly detailed, with two small basement windows. An L-plan return with hipped roof abuts the extension and main block, featuring a stained glass window and door. The north elevation is abutted by returns on both sides, creating an internal courtyard. The right gable has three windows at ground and first floor, with two attic windows. An adjoining two-storey building attached to the north is similarly detailed but fitted throughout with uPVC windows; this attached house has its principal access to the west gable and modern extensions to the north.

The building first appears in its current form on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902, captioned as Ballynascreen House. The first edition map of 1832 shows an earlier building on the site, also bearing this name. The Townland Valuation of 1838 records two earlier houses and offices on the property, both occupied by M Gregg. Griffiths Valuation of 1859 documents a house, office, garden and pleasure grounds leased by Ellen Miller from Jane Wilson, described as being in a good situation for bathers on the shore of Belfast Lough, valued at £35, later revised to £44. The Valuation Revision map from 1880 to 1890 indicates a significant addition between 1859 and 1880, when the property, now occupied by M Anderson and leased from Elizabeth Miller, comprised a house, office, yard and land valued at £85.

Despite alterations to the adjoining building to the north, Ballynascreen House maintains its original plan form and ornamentation and contributes significantly to the architectural heritage of the local area, presenting an attractive feature of the shoreline setting.