Whitehead Railway Station, Chester Avenue, Whitehead, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9QG

Whitehead Railway Station is a detached, multi-bay, single-storey Victorian station built around 1860 to designs by John Lanyon, situated to the south of Chester Avenue with the main station building on the east side of the railway line. It stands as one of the more impressive buildings within the Whitehead Conservation Area and is a well-preserved example of railway architecture in Northern Ireland. The various components of the station come together as a well-conceived architectural grouping.

The station consists of a series of adjoining buildings which, reading from left to right, comprise: a former station master's house, a former waiting room, an entrance vestibule, a porter's office, a waiting room, and a signal tower. To the north there is an enclosed yard containing a single-cell gabled former toilet block.

All roofs are pitched and covered in natural slate, with deep overhanging eaves supported on timber brackets. Decorative fretted timber bargeboards, clay ridge tiles, and ornate iron finials adorn the gables. The chimneys are particularly notable, built in ornate red and yellow brick with corbelled detailing. The walls are stretcher-bonded red brick over a projecting plinth, with blue brick string courses and diaper patterning. Rainwater goods are cast-iron ogee gutters with square downpipes.

Windows at ground-floor level are segmental-headed, timber-framed one-over-one sliding sashes with flush sandstone chamfered sills. At first-floor level the windows are round-arched, timber-framed three-over-two sliding sashes with projecting cavetto-moulded brick sills.

The former station master's house, on its east elevation, presents a two-bay single-storey section to the left, containing a vertically sheeted timber entrance door with brick voussoirs — the left-hand voussoir arrangement surmounted by a wall-head dormer — and a single window to the centre. To the right is a two-bay two-storey section in which each bay is gabled, containing a pair of windows at ground floor and a single window at first floor. Abutting the left-hand side is a wall containing a segmental-headed, vertically sheeted timber entrance door leading to the enclosed yard. The south elevation connects to the former waiting room. The west elevation is two-bay two-storey to the left, roughcast at ground-floor level, with two square-headed windows at ground floor and a single window at first floor to the south. A two-bay single-storey section to the right contains a round-arched-headed window at the centre and a square-headed, vertically sheeted timber entrance door with a semi-circular fanlight to the left. The north elevation is roughcast at ground floor with brickwork above; there is a blind window with plain brick voussoirs at ground-floor left, two windows at first floor, and a blank single-storey section abuts to the right.

The former waiting room is a single-bay, single-storey structure. Its west elevation features timber-framed walling over a rendered plinth, with diagonal timber aproning to sill height, plain glazing up to door height, and stained glass above. A canted gabled porch abuts at the centre, with timber-panelled entrance doors to north and south and glazed top panels. The south elevation connects to the entrance vestibule. The east elevation contains a square-headed timber door with a transom light at the centre, four square-headed replacement timber casement windows to the left, and two to the right. The north elevation abuts the former station master's house.

The entrance vestibule and porter's office form a one-and-a-half-storey gabled entrance bay. The west elevation contains segmental-headed double-leaf, vertically sheeted timber entrance doors with brick voussoirs, and a window to the right. The south elevation abuts the waiting room. The east elevation is roughcast over brick to sill height and contains two square-headed windows to the left; to the right are two projecting bays, the left containing a single round-arched-headed window, flanked on the right by a one-and-a-half-storey gabled bay also with a round-arched-headed window. The north elevation abuts the former waiting room.

The waiting room is a three-bay, single-storey structure in which the bays are separated by brick piers. Timber-framed glazing sits over diagonal timber aproning to sill height, and the central bay has timber-panelled double-leaf entrance doors with glazed top panels. The room is abutted to the platform by a timber-framed pitched canopy supported on square timber columns. The east elevation has five bays, with horizontal timber walling above brick to sill height; each bay contains a group of nine glazed lights surmounted by a central light. The north elevation abuts the entrance vestibule, and the south elevation abuts the signal tower.

The signal tower is a single-bay, three-storey structure. Its west elevation has brick walling to first-floor level with timber framing above, though the openings are now blocked, and two windows at ground floor. The south elevation shows the signal tower to the left, with segmental-headed windows at ground and first floor; the remains of a timber platform-access stairway to the tower survive at second-floor level, supported on decorative cast-iron brackets. The exposed wall of the waiting room to the right contains a window detailed to match the east elevation. The east elevation has rendered walling between brick piers to first-floor level, with timber framing above and openings now blocked. The north elevation abuts the waiting room.

On the west side of the railway line there is a secondary single-cell waiting room, rendered to sill height with timber framing above. Its roof is pitched and detailed to match the main station. The principal elevation faces east and consists of two square-headed entrance openings separated by timber-framed plain glazing to door height, with timber boarding above up to the eaves. All other elevations are blank.

The station is set within the town centre. Access is through modern square brick pillars from the north-east and north-west. There is a level crossing to the north and an ironwork footbridge to the south. The platforms are modern with tarmac and paved surfaces, but the original brick boundary walling with recessed panels survives to east and west. The enclosed yard to the north contains a single-cell red brick shed, the former toilet block, entered through a square-headed, timber-sheeted door to the south.

Internally, the station has been subdivided, though public areas remain intact with original ornate Victorian detailing and timberwork.

The station lies on the Belfast to Larne line. The Carrickfergus to Larne section was opened in 1862 by the Carrickfergus and Larne Railway. At that time Whitehead was a small settlement with little need for a station; a platform was added on the Whitehead side of the tunnel in 1864, and this halt was replaced in 1877 by a station closer to the village. The station was designed by John Lanyon, the Carrickfergus and Larne Railway's consultant architect. Characteristic features of his work — red brick, decorative string courses, terracotta chimney pots, pointed ridge tiles, and platform-facing gables — are all evident here. The station master's house was erected in the 1870s to Lanyon's design.

The Belfast and Northern Counties Railway subsequently bought out the Carrickfergus and Larne Railway, and in the mid-1890s substantial additions were made to the station by architect John Hanna, who also redesigned Carrickfergus Station in 1895. The waiting room dates from this period. This expansion formed part of a deliberate effort by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway to develop Whitehead as a seaside resort; the company took the unusual step of offering ten years of free first-class rail travel to anyone who built a residence within a mile radius of the station. The entry in the Valuation Revisions book changes from "station house" to "Whitehead Station" in 1896, which has been interpreted as marking the addition of the platform canopy. A refreshment room is first recorded in the valuation records in 1893. The station first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902.