Crannie, 33 Lower Cairncastle Road, Larne, Co Antrim, BT40 1PG

Crannie is a two-storey vernacular Georgian house, constructed between 1820 and 1839, and the only surviving Georgian house within the built-up area of Larne that retains an essentially intact appearance. It sits in its own garden on an elevated site set slightly back from the main road, oriented at right angles to it, with views over the town of Larne and distant prospects across the Lough to the Islandmagee peninsula. The building appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832, though it is not named until the OS map of 1857.

The house is gabled, with smooth cement rendered walls, straight rusticated quoins to the corners, and a roof of Bangor Blue slates laid in regular courses between skews of smooth cement render, finished with clay ridge tiles. Cast iron guttering, painted black, returns at each end to the side elevations.

The south-facing principal elevation is asymmetrical and five windows wide at first floor level. At ground floor, two windows sit to each side of a later centrally projecting single-storey porch. The porch has a hipped slated roof with metal hip rolls, a timber fascia and soffit, cast iron guttering painted black, and a cast iron downpipe to the eastern return wall. Its walls are smooth cement rendered, lined and blocked, with a moulded string course to the frieze and a plain plinth. The south face of the porch contains a central rectangular doorway flanked by a rectangular window to each side, and similar windows are repeated on each side wall. The door is a four-panel type with bolection mouldings and is set in a moulded timber architrave, all painted black. It retains its original octagonal handle and original cast iron door knocker, though it now also has a modern brass letterbox. The flanking porch windows are timber fixed lights of eight panes, with smooth cement rendered cills. Two broad rendered steps lead up to the front door.

The main elevation windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, vertically hung, four panes over four, with narrow glazing bars and no horns — these are original and have glass secured by putty. The exception is the fifth window from the left on the first floor and the first window from the left on the ground floor, which are later replacements dating from around 1994; these have horns and glass secured by timber slips. All windows have sandstone cills with tooled front edges.

There are four chimneys: one at each gable apex, one at an intermediate position on the ridge between the second and third windows from the left, and one placed behind the ridge laterally between the first and second windows from the left. All chimneys are smooth cement rendered with a projecting string course; three carry modern red terracotta pots, while the extreme left-hand chimney has an earthenware pot set between angle-cut slate pots.

Extending from the left-hand end of the south elevation is a smooth cement rendered screen wall enclosing a yard. This wall contains a segmental arched gateway, new, hung with modern scrolling wrought iron gates, and the yard is floored with modern red tiles.

The west gable has smooth cement render to first floor level, new and unpainted, with rusticated quoins painted black, and a textured cement render to the ground floor, painted white, which is considered inappropriate to the character of the building. Cast iron guttering returns from the front elevation over the top of the quoins, with a cast iron downpipe and a moulded polygonal hopper. The gable coping projects in smooth cement render and is dressed with lead at the base of the chimney. There is one small vent opening near the top of the gable on the left-hand side. At ground floor level there is a new large rectangular opening fitted with aluminium sliding doors, which is also considered inappropriate; to the left of this is a rectangular timber fixed light of six panes with moulded glazing bars and a recessed cill. A yard across the west gable is partly roofed with clear corrugated perspex panels on white painted timber supports running from the west gable wall to the outbuildings. The yard is enclosed on the north side by a rendered screen wall containing a new rectangular hardwood six-panel door set in a rectangular opening reached by three concrete steps.

The rear or north elevation is two storeys, asymmetrical, with a textured cement rendered finish painted white, a plain plinth painted black that steps down the slope from west to east, and cast iron guttering and downpipes, though the first downpipe from the left has been replaced in PVC. The roof carries four small original iron skylights. The first-floor windows from left to right are: two rectangular timber sliding sash windows, six over six, without horns, with slate cills; a tall segmental-headed timber sliding sash window, four over four, with margin lights and segmental-headed panes to the top sash, without horns, with a sandstone cill lighting the stairway; one small rectangular timber fixed light of four panes with a slate cill; and one rectangular timber sliding sash window, six over six, with horns and a sandstone cill. The ground floor windows from left to right are: a large rectangular timber sliding sash window, six over six, with horns, fitted with wrought iron bars and a recessed cill; a rectangular timber top-hung casement of six panes, the lower three in translucent glass, with a concrete cill; a small square timber fixed light of four panes with a recessed cill; a large rectangular timber sliding sash fitted with an iron grille; and a rectangular timber sliding sash, four over four, with horns, an iron grille, and a concrete cill. All windows with horns are replacements, with timber slips to the glazing bars.

The east gable has a chimney to the apex with a projecting gable coping in smooth cement render painted black, running continuously across the base of the chimney. The wall has a textured rendered finish painted white with a smooth cement rendered plinth painted black. Cast iron guttering returns from the entrance elevation at the left-hand extremity, with a cast iron downpipe. At first-floor level there is a rectangular timber sliding sash window, six over six, with horns — a replacement — with a sandstone cill. In the attic there is a vertically hung timber sliding sash window, three over three, with radial glazing bars to the semicircular head of the top sash.

The boundary to the main road is formed from left to right by a short run of rendered walling with a dry dash chipping finish, a wide timber slatted doorway painted black, and the smooth cement rendered rear wall of the outbuildings, which is unpainted and extends to the right as a lower boundary wall with concrete coping slabs, raking down to a curving screen wall at the main gateway. The main gateway has square piers of smooth cement render with shallow weathered sandstone caps, and a pair of black painted timber gates with ledged lower panels and diagonal bracing; originally all four braced panels were chamfered, but three have now been replaced without chamfering. A mature hedge to the right of the gateway is terminated at its southern end by a run of smooth rendered wall. The southern boundary is a smooth rendered wall with a concrete coping; the eastern boundary is formed by a rendered rubble wall to the north end and a hedge to the south end; the northern boundary by a textured rendered wall to the east end and a whitewashed rubble retaining wall to the west end.

The outbuilding in the yard to the west has a corrugated asbestos sheet roof, PVC guttering and downpipe, textured rendered walls painted white, two small timber fixed-light windows of small panes facing the west gable of the house, and a rectangular doorway with a modern glazed and panelled door. The area to the rear of the house and to the east, as well as the driveway to the front, are covered in stone chippings. Flower beds run across the front of the house, contained by concrete kerbing to the right of the porch and fronted by a lawn to the left. A mature garden with shrubs and hedges lies to the south of the house, and a modern single-storey double garage stands to the east.