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

5 Beach Road, Whitehead, is an attached single-bay three-storey watch-tower that formed part of the former Coastguard station, built in 1870. Located on the west side of Beach Road on an elevated site with views towards Belfast Lough, the tower has been extended and restored in recent years to provide additional circulation and living accommodation, though it retains many original external features including gunports that testify to its defensive past.

The building is square-on-plan with a chalet-style two-storey extension to the west. The roof is pitched with natural slate and features a brick corbelled chimney 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 string course at second-floor level. Windows are generally square-headed timber-framed sliding sash in stepped vermiculated sandstone surrounds.

The principal elevation faces east and contains an 8/8 sliding sash window in a segmental-headed surround at ground floor. The first floor has a pair of 4/6 windows with rendered surround, shared with a pointed oriel window at second floor that has rendered corbelled support, diagonal timber apron, and leaded roof. The south elevation, abutted by an adjacent building, has an exposed wall with a projecting flue above the ridge line and gunports in sandstone surrounds at ground and second-floor level. The west elevation, abutted by the extension, has a single timber casement window at ground floor. The north elevation contains a group of three pointed-arched-headed windows at ground floor surmounted by an oriel at second floor, with an entrance door at centre beneath an oculus and windows at ground and first-floor level to the right.

Guttering is profiled uPVC with replacement uPVC downpipes. The building is set within its own grounds with access to the south-east through vermiculated square sandstone gate pillars, a car park and modern garages to the north-west, and an enclosed yard to the west.

The Coastguard service in Whitehead was established in 1820–1 and was originally sited at Marine Parade, recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1832. The current terrace was built in 1870 to replace these earlier cottages, at a cost of £1,732 18s 2d, accommodating a chief boatman and five coastguards. The building first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1902. Early photographs show that the east (shore-facing) elevation had no entrances originally; these were added in the latter half of the twentieth century. The photographs also demonstrate that the Captain's house was originally constructed in brick like the other cottages. According to a former resident whose father was a coastguard at Whitehead, a passage formerly ran the length of the terrace from the Captain's house to the fortified watchtower, facilitating movement between cottages in the event of attack—a detail reinforced by the presence of gunports and musket loops throughout the building. The Coastguard was administered by the Admiralty as a naval force maintained in Great Britain and Ireland to suppress smuggling, aid shipwrecked vessels, and serve as a reserve to the navy.

Valuation records from 1864–1879 list a Coast Guard Station with house and garden valued at £20. An 1880s note states there was no chief officer's house on site, and an 1914 entry notes one house vacant since January 1911 with a value of £3. A letter from December 1871 by D. Hornby, Secretary of the Office of Public Works, confirms that the Admiralty had authorized the proper officer of the Coastguard to take possession of the new buildings at Whitehead once the contractor had completed outstanding works.

Renovation of the terrace, including replacement windows, doors, and kitchen extensions, was carried out between 1986 and 1989. The building is situated within a conservation area.