McAuley’s Hotel, 2 Bridge Street, Carnlough, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0ET

McAuley's Hotel is an early 20th-century public house and hotel standing on Bridge Street in Carnlough, overlooking the junction with Harbour Road. It was rebuilt in 1912 following a fire that destroyed an earlier inn on the same site. The building is primarily of architectural interest for its unusual Art Nouveau inscriptions, which provide a decorative element uncommon to the otherwise plain and traditionally detailed architecture of the locality.

The structure is a two-storey rendered building with attics, presenting a prominent three-storey entrance gable to the main road. The main entrance to the public house faces east into this gable, while the hotel accommodation entrance faces north.

The east gable displays the building's most distinctive features. The upper floors are finished in smooth cement render with rusticated quoins to the extremities, while the ground floor has channelled rustication. A slightly raised smooth rendered frieze with shaped ends and a projecting moulded cornice runs across the ground floor, inscribed 'Charles McAuley' in raised white letters in Art Nouveau style against a black background. Above on the first floor is a large central inscription panel comprising a frieze with a semi-circular band and pedimental feature, all in slightly raised smooth render. This panel is inscribed 'McAuley's Hotel' in raised Art Nouveau letters, with 'McAuley's' in white but 'Hotel' later painted out in black. A platband curves over the top of this panel. In the apex of the attic storey sits a circular date-panel inscribed '1912' in raised letters, with a projecting string course curving up over it. The upper storey windows are rectangular timber sliding sash, 3 over 2 with horns, set in plain reveals with raised arched, lugged and heeled surrounds. Ground floor windows are large rectangular timber fixed three-light with plain mullions and transom, set in moulded reveals with deep projecting stone cills; below each window is a decorative rectangular panel with moulded surrounds. The main entrance between the ground floor windows, slightly off-centre, contains a pair of rectangular timber panelled doors surmounted by a timber louvred fanlight in moulded reveals. The gable has overhanging eaves and is surmounted by a chimney with smooth rendered finish, moulded cornice, and modern pots.

The south elevation comprises the side of the main gabled two-storey block to the right, with a lower flat-roofed return block extending to the left, both of plain character. The main block is roofed in Bangor blue slates in regular courses with dark toned ridge tiles, and features a central flat-roofed dormer with slate-hung front and cheeks. Two modern rectangular timber fixed light casement and vent windows serve the dormer. The wall is smooth cement rendered with projecting eaves course and raised smooth rendered strips to extremities and along the bottom at floor level; the deep plinth and first bay of the lower return have rougher finish. Windows are mainly rectangular timber sashes, 3 over 2 with horns, in plain reveals, with some variation in size; there is also a small rectangular timber fixed light and a timber two-light window. A modern shop-sign panel is fixed to the wall at the extreme right. The rear return is of very plain character with flat roofs and low pitch corrugated sheet roofing, rendered walling in parts rough and parts smooth, and windows of rectangular timber sliding sash in 1 over 1 and 2 over 2 configurations.

The rear elevation shows the rear gable of the main block, rendered in wet dash with overhanging eaves and timber barge boards surmounted by a shaped timber finial at the apex. One rectangular timber fixed light window with top vent is set in plain reveals to the right; to the left is a doorway with a modern rectangular glazed door leading to the flat roof of the return. The rear elevation of the rear return is a dry dash rendered segmental gable with a doorway to ground floor, a modern rectangular window to the left, and a blocked rectangular opening to the upper floor; this section is of poor quality as are the blocks adjoining the gable.

The north elevation comprises the side of the main gabled two-storey block to the left with the lower flat-roofed return block extending to the right. The main block's ground floor is finished in rusticated smooth cement render with a low projecting plinth and slightly raised string course curving up over the central entrance. The first floor is rendered with pebble dash and smooth rendered strips to extremities. A flat-roofed dormer similar to that on the east elevation is set in the main roof. Ground floor windows are rectangular timber sashes, 4 over 2 with horns, set in slightly recessed smooth surrounds with projecting stone cills. First floor windows are sashed 3 over 2 with horns in flush smooth rendered arched and lugged surrounds. The entrance contains a rectangular timber four-panel door set in a glazed timber framed screen with rectangular sidelights and fanlight of translucent glass, recessed in a segmental arched opening with smooth rendered surround; the front doorstep is modern tiled and damaged. The rear return extending to the right is a flat-roofed two-storey block set back slightly; its first floor is rendered as the main block's first floor with decorative smooth rendered borders continuing as decorative surrounds to windows. The ground floor is partly smooth rendered, lined and blocked, and partly roughcast. Windows are sashed to the first floor in 2 over 2 and 1 over 1 configurations; ground floor windows are later fixed lights, casements, and vents irregularly arranged. At the west end of the rear return is another block returning north to close the rear yard end, with similar rendered walling and sashed windows but a gabled slated roof; a modern steel fire escape stair is built across it, leading to the flat roof with steel railings returning to the main front block's gable. The rear yard is approached by a corrugated iron gate.

The building stands adjacent to the river, abutted on its south side by a 19th-century bridge carrying the main street over the river. The setting to the rear is degraded by poor quality buildings. Originally, the ground floor rustication and quoins were painted with a tromp l'oeil pattern depicting faceted shading of individual stones. The McAuley family ceased to own the building around 1972. The listing extends to the main front block only.