Lodge at Magheramorne House, 57 Shore Road, Magheramorne, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 3HW

Lodge at Magheramorne House

This is a 1½ storey gabled lodge in Gothic Revival style, designed by Samuel P. Close around 1878 and built circa 1880 as the gate lodge for Magheramorne House, the residence of Sir James McGarel Hogg, the first Lord Magheramorne. The building displays distinct style and proportion with a commensurate plan form. It stands in an attractive and picturesque setting and forms part of an attractive group along with the adjacent gatescreen to the main house and other estate structures with which it is associated. As part of an important local demesne, it is of considerable local interest.

The lodge is constructed of rubble blackstone in rough courses with red block sandstone dressings to windows and doors, plain string courses, and moulded gable copings. The main entrance faces south-east. The entrance elevation comprises a two-storey gable to the left of a lower wing of plain walling set back to the right, with a single storey gabled porch in the angle to the right of the main gable. Roofs are finished in Bangor Blue slates in regular courses with red terracotta ridge tiles; a cast iron gutter to the right hand wing discharges onto the porch roof, and a circular cast iron downpipe with moulded polygonal hopper is positioned between the porch and main gable.

The walling consists of black basalt rubble in rough courses with later reticulated pointing, rusticated red sandstone quoins to the extremities, plain ashlar string courses, and red sandstone weathering to the offset plinth. Moulded red sandstone copings finish the gables. The main gables are shouldered at mid-slope with ball finials to the apex; the porch gable lacks shoulders but features a carved foliated label stop to the left hand coping and a foliated ball finial to the apex.

The ground floor of the main gable contains a pair of windows below a single window in the first floor. Windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 2 over 2 with horns, to the first floor; the ground floor now displays 2 over 1 with horns, as the glazing bar of the lower sashes has been later removed. Red sandstone surrounds with chamfered head and cill and stop chamfered sides frame each window. A Gothic relieving arch in rough faced red sandstone spans over each window, with a plain red sandstone shield contained within the relieving arch panel to the first floor. A rectangular timber door of varnished hardwood with six panels, a modern brass handle and letterbox sits in a recessed red sandstone surround with stop chamfered sides and coved inside corners to the chamfered head. The doorstep is pink tinted concrete.

The wing to the right behind the porch has one chimney across the ridge. The wing is constructed of basalt rubble with dressings, and the front part of the base is in red sandstone ashlar; the stack above is rebuilt in rustic brick with string courses and carries two tall pots, one original and one modern.

The south-west elevation comprises the side of the main 1½ storey block, with roofing between gable upstands to each side. An original iron rooflight of two panes is present, with a cast iron gutter on a chamfered red sandstone eaves course. A circular cast iron downpipe is centrally placed between two windows. The windows are similar to those on the entrance front and retain all glazing bars, with sandstone relieving arches overhead.

The north-west elevation comprises the main two-storey rear gable of the main block, with the rear of the lower wing set back to the left, and a low hipped roofed block in the angle. The main gable is similar to that on the entrance front, with one window to the first floor; a doorway in the ground floor to the left of a short rear return contains a rectangular timber door with two translucent glazed panels and a modern brass handle, set in a brick surround with white painted brickwork. One window appears in the rear of the hipped block within the yard: a small rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 1 over 1 with horns, with a projecting stone cill painted black. A rear return projecting to the right is slated as previously described and carries a cast iron gutter and downpipe. A smooth cement rendered finish, painted white, covers the north wall of the return, and modern wooden doors and a window are present to the return. The enclosing wall of the rest of the yard, facing into the yard, is rubble stonework with brick dressings to the yard doorway, all painted white. A cast iron gutter serves the hipped block, with a large PVC downpipe within the yard, and the yard floor is concrete. The exterior face of the yard wall is basalt rubble with later reticulated pointing and red sandstone copings. Projecting to the south and west from the yard wall are later lean-to sheds of corrugated iron, one with a corrugated asbestos roof and one with an asphalt roof.

The north-east elevation comprises the gable of the wing projecting forward with the side of the porch stepped back to the left and the side of the low hipped block stepped back to the right, with the yard wall and entrance extending to the right hand extremity. The main gable has one window in the ground floor, a sashed window as previously described, 2 over 2 with a plain sandstone shield in the apex above surmounted by a small relieving arch. The porch to the left has one small window, a rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 1 over 1 with horns, with chamfered sandstone surrounds as previously noted; a cast iron gutter on a chamfered sandstone eaves course and a cast iron downpipe in the corner to the right are present. The low hipped block has a similar window and a similar gutter on a timber fascia to oversailing eaves with a later flat cement rendered soffit. The yard wall matches the north-west elevation in construction, with a central doorway rising above the level of the coping; a rectangular flush timber yard-door with the upper panel now unglazed is set in a chamfered sandstone surround with coved inner corners to the head.

The building stands near the main road, just inside the original main gateway to Magheramorne House, screened from the road by trees and shrubs. The gate piers and front boundary walls are the property of Magheramorne House. A tarmac area directly in front of the gate lodge leads off the tarmac driveway to the hotel, bordered by a rockery to one side and a grassy bank to the other. To the side and rear is a garden containing flower beds laid out with concrete paths. The setting is secluded and leafy.