Seapark House, 109 Shore Road, Greenisland, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 8TZ

Seapark House is an exceptionally attractive and well-proportioned detached house in the Italianate style, built around 1804, extended around 1855, and substantially remodelled in 1853 by the architect Thomas Jackson. It sits within a private estate to the east side of Shore Road, facing Belfast Lough to the east. The building is of considerable architectural interest for its style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form, the quality and survival of its interior, its setting, and its group value alongside three other estate structures: a gatelodge, a bathing house, and a boathouse. It also carries historical interest as a work of identifiable authorship and for its local significance.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The house is two storeys tall and, in its main block, four bays wide on plan, with two-storey projections on the principal elevations. The entrance elevation faces south; the garden elevation faces north. The plan is broken and asymmetrical, with bowed, canted, and straight bays giving the building considerable variety and movement. Walls are smooth rendered over a projecting stepped plinth. Roofs are hipped natural slate with a lead-sheeted ridge and five rendered corbelled chimneystacks retaining their original clay pots.

Windows throughout the main block are timber-framed 6-over-6 sliding sashes with moulded architraves and painted masonry sills, set beneath a flat dentilled entablature at ground-floor level, unless noted otherwise. Rainwater goods are mostly replacement cast-metal, with a few original cast-iron pieces surviving.

ENTRANCE (SOUTH) ELEVATION

The entrance elevation is arranged across five bays of varying character. The first (west) bay is bowed with a conical roof and contains three windows at each floor, set above a pair of double-leaf glazed entrance doors at ground-floor level. The third bay contains three windows at first-floor level and, at ground floor, a pair of double-leaf entrance doors to the left, two eighteen-pane fixed windows to the right, and is abutted by a single-storey loggia supported on Tuscan columns. The fourth bay is canted with a hipped roof and has an entrance door with a transom light on its south elevation, flanked by a single-storey porch supported on paired Ionic columns, with a window to each cheek and three windows at first-floor level. The fifth bay is bowed with a tripartite window at each floor: a 1-over-1 sliding sash at ground floor and a 2-over-1 at first floor, each divided by timber mullions with console brackets.

WEST ELEVATION AND TOWER

The west elevation is dominated by a square-on-plan four-stage tower positioned off-centre to the right. To the right of the tower, the exposed section of the main house is abutted by a single-storey lean-to slated extension forming a linking block between the main house and a single-storey garage return to the south. To the left of the tower, the exposed section is abutted by a single-storey extension with a hipped slated roof and a deep overhanging eaves canopy supported on Ionic columns. The south elevation of this extension contains a single 4-over-4 sliding sash to the left and a dipartite 4-over-4 sliding sash to the right, with proportions mirrored on the north elevation. The exposed section of the main house to the right of the tower is blank; the section to the left contains horizontally sheeted timber cladding at lower level and a single 6-over-6 sliding-sash window at first-floor level.

THE TOWER

The tower rises through four stages. The first, double-height stage is abutted to the north and south by single-storey extensions (as described above), and its west elevation contains two windows at ground and first-floor levels. The second stage has a single window on each of its east and west elevations, and two windows each on its north and south elevations. The third stage has three openings to each elevation: the central opening is a 1-over-1 sliding sash, and the outer openings are blind. This stage is surmounted by a stucco frieze and cornice. The fourth and uppermost stage has three segmental-arched windows with hood-mouldings on each elevation, surmounted by a cornice and balustrade.

The tower is connected to the main house by a two-storey linking block with a pitched slated roof and a timber casement to the north. The garage return, which has a hipped slated roof, is detailed to match the main block. Its east elevation has a central pair of double-leaf entrance doors flanked by three timber-framed segmental-headed 2-over-2 sliding-sash windows, each divided by Ionic columns supporting a plain dentilled entablature, with a further window at the right within the linking block. The south elevation of the return has four blind segmental-headed openings, each divided by Ionic columns supporting a plain dentilled entablature. The east elevation of the return has three replacement panelled garage doors to the right and one blind segmental-headed opening to the left, each divided by pilasters supporting a dentilled entablature. The east elevation of the linking block between the main house and the single-storey return has a central pair of double-leaf timber glazed doors flanked by tripartite 4-over-4 sliding sashes, each divided by Ionic columns supporting a moulded eaves course.

GARDEN (NORTH) ELEVATION

The garden elevation is also arranged across five bays. At the left, a bowed bay contains tripartite windows at each floor: 9-over-9 sliding sashes at ground floor and 6-over-3 at first floor, each divided by a timber mullion with a console bracket. The second bay is canted and has a pair of double-leaf entrance doors with a transom light (each leaf having six glazed panes over a single fixed panel), accessed by three masonry steps, and surmounted by a 6-over-3 window at first floor, with a window at each floor to the cheeks. The third bay contains two dipartite windows at ground floor (each divided by a timber mullion with a console bracket) and a window at first floor above each, together with a further small window at each floor to the centre. The fourth bay is bowed and contains two windows at each floor. The fifth bay is canted and has three windows at each floor.

EAST ELEVATION

The east elevation has three bays. The central bay is canted and contains three windows at each floor: 6-over-6 sliding sashes at ground floor and 9-over-9 at first floor. The two outer bays each contain two windows per floor.

INTERIOR

The interior also contributes to the building's significance, though the listing record does not elaborate on specific internal features beyond this general observation.

SETTING AND GROUNDS

Seapark House stands within mature private estate grounds. The boundary to Shore Road is formed by a roughly coursed masonry wall, with access through a pair of original cast-iron gates hung between a pair of square pillars with rubble crenellations. To the north, the estate boundary consists of a smooth rendered plinth wall surmounted by cast-iron railings, with a pair of more recent cast-iron gates supported on square pillars with banded rustication and concrete coping. The bathing house and boathouse lie to the south-east of the main house. The setting, together with the three associated estate structures, substantially enhances the overall interest of the property.

HISTORY

Seapark was built in 1804 and is recorded on James O'Kane's survey map of Carrickfergus dated 1821. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows it as two wings connected centrally to form an internal courtyard. The Townland Valuation of 1836 lists the occupier of the house, return, and offices, together with a lodge, as the Reverend John Cheyne (later revised to John Owden), with a building valuation of £50 17s 1d, with a slight increase noted for the property's "good situation" and the whole valued at £75, described as "considerably improved." The house was improved around 1835.

The Ordnance Survey memoirs of 1840 recorded: "Sea Park occupies a delightful situation on the shore of the Lough…the house is a very neat looking and comfortable residence. The garden and offices are suitable as to extent. Sea Park was originally erected in 1804."

The building was substantially enlarged and remodelled in 1853 by the architect Thomas Jackson, employed by Thomas Greer, who was also responsible for designing the current gatelodge. The second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1857 shows the house as a mainly rectangular block with extensions to the front and back. Griffith's Valuation of 1859 values the property at £110, subsequently revised to £130, and also records a gardener's house/lodge valued at £2 and a labourer's house valued at £1 10s. The fieldbook notes that "a considerable portion of the land [is] subject to a bad eastern sea breeze…quite exposed." The house was further remodelled between 1857 and 1902, being shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map as L-shaped.

Valuation revision records show the occupier as Thomas Green in 1872 and George Clarke in 1929, at which date the building valuation was increased to £180. According to Charles Brett, Seapark was used as a summer residence until 1930, then lay vacant until the period 1938–47, when it was the home of Sir George Clarke of the shipbuilders Workman Clarke. It was later used as an old people's home.