9B Beach Road, Whitehead, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9QS

9B Beach Road, Whitehead, is an attached mid-terrace two-storey house, part of the former Coastguard station built in 1870, located on the west side of Beach Road on an elevated site with views across Belfast Lough. It is Grade B2 listed.

The building is a two-bay structure on a rectangular plan, with a single-storey kitchen extension to the west. The pitched roof is covered in natural slate with a brick corbelled chimney topped with concrete coping and replacement pots. The walls are constructed in English garden wall bonded red brick over a painted rendered plinth, with a corbelled sill course at first floor level.

The principal elevation faces east and comprises a square-headed replacement uPVC glazed entrance door in a stepped rendered surround with a segmental head to the right, accessed via eight concrete steps with a rendered parapet shared with the adjacent building. A window occupies each floor to the left. The ground floor window is a painted timber sliding sash in a stepped vermiculated sandstone surround with a painted masonry sill. The first floor window is a top-hung uPVC casement in matching surround and sill. The south elevation is abutted by the adjacent property. The west elevation is abutted by the kitchen extension at ground floor level, containing a single door and window, with an exposed wall above containing a single square-headed window. The north elevation is abutted by the neighbouring building. Cast-iron ogee-profiled gutters run the length of the building.

The building sits within its own grounds, accessed to the south-east through vermiculated square sandstone gate pillars. A car-park and modern garages lie to the north-west, with an enclosed yard to the west.

The terrace was built in 1870 to replace an earlier group of Coastguard cottages at Marine Parade, recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The current station first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902. The 1870 construction provided accommodation for a chief boatman and five coastguards at a cost of £1,732 18 shillings and 2 pence. The building retains gunports and musket loops visible in the exterior brickwork, evidence of its defensible character. Early photographs show that the original cottages had no entrances on the east (shore) side, and these were added in the latter half of the twentieth century. According to current residents, a passage formerly ran the length of the terrace from the Captain's house to a fortified watchtower, aiding movement between cottages in the event of attack.

The Coastguard service at Whitehead was established in 1820-1, originally listed as being at Black Head. The service was administered by the Admiralty as a naval force maintained to suppress smuggling, aid shipwrecked vessels, and serve as a reserve to the navy. Valuation records from 1864-1879 list a Coast Guard Station, house and garden valued at £20. An 1880s revision notes there was no chief officer's house at this location. An entry from 1914 records one house vacant since January 1911, valued at £3.

The building underwent substantial renovation in 1986-9, including replacement of windows, doors, and addition of kitchen extensions. Despite these later replacements, the group retains many original features, including the gunports and the characteristic architectural detailing of the 1870 construction.