85 Garron Road, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0JU

85 Garron Road, Carnlough is a mid-19th century terrace house built in 1849–50 as a Coastguard Cottage. It was constructed by Lady Londonderry to the designs of Charles Campbell and forms one of a terrace of four identical cottages, now standing as an interesting group in this rural coastal location.

The building is a symmetrical three-bay single-storey house in Tudor Revival style, constructed of basalt rubble masonry with a clearly proportioned but plain character. The main entrance faces west toward the main coast road, from which the house is set back slightly with a small front garden enclosed by a basalt rubble boundary wall with rubble copings and a modern iron gate.

The entrance elevation is composed of three bays, with a rectangular timber window to each side of a central projecting porch. Windows are rectangular timber two-light units comprising side-hung casements, double glazed with plastic glazing bars creating the appearance of margin lights. They are set in roughly rendered reveals with flat arches to the head and projecting basalt cills. The roof is laid in Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark toned ridge tiles. Basalt rubble chimneys with plain block cornices stand at each extremity; the right-hand chimney carries one black pot, while the left-hand chimney (shared with the adjoining house) has one original octagonal stoneware pot and one modern pot. The walls feature a projecting eaves course with cast iron gutters and downpipes.

The porch is of similar rubble walling with an added projecting plinth and slated roof. Its gable contains shaped kneelers and a Gothic arched doorway. The door itself is rectangular and ledged timber, surmounted by a Gothic arched fanlight with intersecting glazing bars, all framed in a rectangular Tudor style drip moulding with a black-painted spandrel.

The south gable elevation is blank basalt rubble of double pile form with two chimneys, the right-hand example carrying one modern pot. The wall to the right-hand half projects slightly forward toward the base. A later rear extension extends to the right, comprising a basalt rubble plinth with a modern rectangular timber three-light window above, timber barge board, and lean-to roof.

The rear elevation shows significant later alteration. The rear roof of the main block has been entirely built up as a flat-roofed dormer with rendered walls and slate hanging to the south gable end; timber fascias and PVC rainwater goods are present. Two modern rectangular stained timber fixed lights and casements serve this space. The lean-to extension has rendered walls and large stained timber windows, with an open basement area below and concrete external steps leading to a ground floor rear entrance in a modern glazed timber door.

Despite some degradation of its wider setting, the building retains most of its original appearance to the entrance front. The property stands at one end of the terrace in a very rural area on the seaward side of the main coast road. The front plot is cemented over. The inner face of the left-hand side boundary wall is smooth cement rendered, while the inner face of the right-hand boundary wall remains basalt rubble. A driveway to the right-hand side leads along the gable to the rear, marked by a pair of concrete posts with a modern tubular steel gate. At the rear, a grassy plot extends to the shoreline. The listing extends to the house and boundary walls.