27-29 Altmore Street, Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim, BT44 0AR

This terrace block on Altmore Street consists of two formerly separate houses and offices, built at various dates between 1737-39 and about 1780, with minor 19th-century alterations. The composition comprises three distinct sections of varying heights and dates, sitting at the south end of the west side of Altmore Street, next to the Town Gate entrance to the Antrim estate.

The Northern Dwelling House (Number 27, circa 1780s)

The northern section is a substantial symmetrical two-storey house, probably dating from the 1780s. The front east elevation features a central full-height gabled bay with a recessed elliptical arched entrance, possibly added around 1810. This doorway has a moulded dripstone with label stops and contains a four-panelled timber door with glazed side panels having margin panes and an elliptical fanlight with spiderweb pattern tracery. At first floor level, the bay has a centrally placed 2/2 sash window resting on a projecting cill course. At second floor level, within the gable, is a small plain casement window. The gable has copestones that return slightly at eaves level to suggest a broken pediment, surmounted by a small moulded Greek urn. In-out moulded quoins rise to the underside of the pediment. The north and south faces of the bay's first floor each have a very narrow plain sash window.

To each side of the bay, at ground and first floors, is a 2/2 sash window. In-out quoins at the corners rise to the projecting eaves course. The south gable is mainly obscured by the rest of the block. The north gable has two Georgian-paned sash windows (6/6) to the right side of the ground floor, a 2/2 sash window at first floor right, and another Georgian-paned sash window (8/8) to the right of the second floor attic.

To the rear is a long two-storey hipped roof return sitting on ground that slopes westward. The return appears to have been extended further westward at some point, creating odd floor levels. The west façade shows three small boarded-up openings at semi-basement level to the left. To the far right, where ground level is considerably lower, is a timber-sheeted ground floor doorway with four-pane fanlight and a Georgian-paned sash window (6/6) to its right. At ground floor level to the left are three more 6/6 sash windows, all set at slightly differing heights. The first floor has a squat six-pane window very close to the eaves at the left, and to the far right, where the first floor is significantly taller, a 6/6 sash window.

The south face of the return has a 6/6 Georgian-paned sash window to the left, a timber-sheeted door to its right, and another 6/6 window to the far right where ground floor level is higher. The first floor left has two identical 6/6 windows. The west face of the return is partly obscured by a single-storey rubble-built gabled outbuilding; the exposed upper portion is blank.

Abutting the right edge of the return's south face and the rear of the main house is a small gabled two-storey return. Its west face has a squat six-pane window with upper opener at ground floor and a six-pane fixed light window at first floor. The south face has a nine-pane fixed light window. To the right of the returns, the exposed rear elevation of the main house shows a six-pane fixed light window (undoubtedly lighting the stairwell) to the left of the smaller return's ridge, a tripartite sash window (1/1, 2/2, 1/1) at first floor level to the right, and a French window at ground floor.

The dwelling house section is finished in painted render. The entire roof is covered in natural slate with two rendered chimneystacks to the gables of the main section and two to the return. There is a small skylight to each side of the return roof. Cast iron rainwater goods.

The Lower Central Section (Part of Number 29)

Attached to the south of the dwelling house is a much lower one-and-a-half-storey portion. The front east façade has a double sash window to the left (6/6 Georgian panes in both lights) with two further single sash windows to the right—the left one 6/6 and the right one 2/2. To either side of the first floor are small gabled dormers, each with a fixed six-pane window and asphalt cheeks and roofs. To the right of centre is a cast iron skylight. The front façade is painted render.

The rear façade has a recently inserted French window to the left and a timber-sheeted door with four-pane fanlight to its right. A wall projects to the right again. The right-hand side of the rear roof has a large gabled dormer with double sash windows (both 6/6, but mid-19th-century rather than Georgian panes). Much of the render has fallen away to reveal rubble construction. Roughly at the centre of the façade is an outline in brick of a large segmental arch, indicating this section once had a large carriage entrance. The gabled roof is covered with natural slate, and the owner reports some ridge tiles are carved from solid stone. The ridge line has a marked dip to the south side, which may indicate sagging or an original design feature. There is a rendered chimneystack to the south.

The Southern Section (Former Estate Office, Part of Number 29)

The south section is a long, slightly taller but low-proportioned two-storey block containing what used to be the Antrim estate office and a large outbuilding. In part at least, this section is probably the oldest part of the whole block. A date stone and internal evidence indicate it was built as a dwelling house in 1737-39, though it may have originally faced in the opposite direction, and its two large carriage arches are possibly later insertions. The decorative door surround to the former estate office portion is undoubtedly early to mid-19th century.

The front elevation has a timber-sheeted door to the left of centre at ground floor with rectangular fanlight painted with "Antrim estate office" in mid-19th-century-looking lettering, possibly from the 1850s. The door case has thick pilasters, each with a colonette cluster, supporting a moulded cornice and blocking stone. To the right of the doorway are two relatively small Georgian-paned sash windows (6/6), with a similar window at first floor. To the left of the doorway is a very large segmental-arched carriage arch with timber-sheeted double doors. Until relatively recently (around the 1980s), this arch was much lower in height and had a flat arch head, with a small window above it. To the left of this is a high-level loft opening with sheeted door. The whole front façade is painted render, except for a short portion at the very south (left) where the block meets the Town Gate, which is basalt rubble (matching the gate itself). This short left portion has a Tudor-arched carriage entrance somewhat smaller than that to the right. The south gable has one high-level roundel window and is largely rendered. Before about 1840, this end of the building linked to a further terrace block, which was demolished with the erection of the Town Gate.

The rear elevation has two small ground floor windows to the left—the left one with external security bars and the right one with late Victorian tracery/panes including a semicircular arch motif with margins. The first floor has two plain sash windows. To the right is a recently added large projecting gabled bay covering the larger of the carriage arches. The bay's centre has one large square-headed carriage opening without a door. Within the projection, on the rear wall of the main building, is a date stone reading: "This Howes Was Builded by Abraham Powes 1739". The north and south faces of the bay are blank. To the right again are two ground floor window openings with modern frames and one boarded-over loft opening at first floor. To the far right is the second Tudor-arched carriage opening. The rear elevation is unpainted render. The gabled roof is slated and has two rendered chimneystacks to the north, the far northern one shared with the lower central section.

Setting

To the northwest side of the rear garden are the remains of a greenhouse—only portions of the brick base and rear wall remain. To the south end of the garden are remains of former outbuildings. There have been several recent changes to the rear, mainly minor apart from the addition of the large gabled open porch surround to the back end of the larger carriage arch.