38-40 Harbour Road, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0EU

A two-storey three-bay house with rendered walls and slated roof, forming part of a terrace of six houses on Harbour Road in Carnlough. The building dates from between 1872 and 1903, appearing on the Ordnance Survey map of 1903 but not visible in photographs taken by 1872.

The front elevation faces east onto the main road, directly overlooking the pavement with an unobstructed view to the harbour. The roof is laid with Bangor blue slates in regular courses, with a chimney at each extremity topped with modern pots on the left-hand side. The walls are rendered in a smooth finish with dry dash of white limestone chippings. Raised smooth rendered quoins mark the left-hand extremity, while a smooth rendered plinth and projecting eaves course run across the width. Cast iron gutters and downpipes are fitted throughout.

The first-floor windows are rectangular timber sliding sash windows with 1 over 1 lights and horns, set in smooth rendered reveals with projecting cills. At ground floor, there is one matching sash window plus two larger modern rectangular timber shop windows with fixed lights. One shop window is combined with a door to the shop, which is a rectangular glazed and panelled door with a plain rectangular fanlight. The original house door is a rectangular timber panelled door with plain fanlight. A post box is incorporated into the left-hand shop window.

The south elevation presents a blank rendered gable with a chimney at the apex. The rear elevation shows a two-storey façade with an asbestos slated roof in regular courses and rendered chimneys at each extremity. Three modern flush rooflights are set into the rear slope. The back wall is finished in roughcast using crushed stones, with cement render borders at the extremities and below the eaves. A cast iron downpipe with PVC gutter drains the roof.

Two-storey and single-storey extensions project from the rear. A central two-storey lean-to extension with asbestos slated roof contains timber fixed lights with top-hung vents to the first floor and timber fixed lights with casements to ground floor, all with concrete cills. A side return to the left of this extension has a perspex roof and modern varnished teak door with panelling and patterned translucent glass. A single-storey return to the right at ground floor level is constructed in painted brick with a corrugated asbestos roof and ledged stained doors.

The northern boundary wall is dry-dashed with limestone chippings. The southern boundary is a painted rendered wall with modern double doors of pine slats on a rectangular steel frame. The rear boundary of the yard is marked by a separate gabled building numbered 55 and 57 High Street, with Bangor blue slate roof and dry-dash rendered walls using limestone chippings. This building contains inappropriate teak doors with glazed panels and brass handles set in lugged cement render surrounds, accessed by concrete ramps.

The building currently functions as a post office and stands within the built-up area of the village conservation area.