17 Drumnadonaghy Road, Larne, Co Antrim

17 Drumnadonaghy Road, Larne

A two-storey gable-ended vernacular house with a single-storey extension, dating to the late 18th century and representing a restored example of a lobby-entry house type. The building is well-preserved and sits in its original rural setting.

The main house is a four-bay structure with a three-bay single-storey extension abutting its south-west gable end. The walls are built of rubble stone, whitewashed, with no surviving render. The roof of the main block is slated in Bangor Blues with three cement-rendered chimney stacks. The single-storey extension and an adjacent shed have corrugated iron roofing, currently painted light green.

The front elevation faces south-east and contains three doors: an original centrally placed panelled entrance, a batten-sheeted door on the north side (halved), and a further batten-sheeted door. All ground-floor windows are sliding-sash (two over two) with brick lintels, while first-floor windows are also sliding-sash but have wooden lintels lying just below the wall plate. All windows feature brick lining. The rear elevation similarly has sliding-sash windows of the same pattern, with two doors: a modern glass-panelled door and a batten-sheeted halved door serving the old kitchen. The north-east gable wall has no openings.

At the south-west end of the extension stands a low gabled-ended shed, also rubble-stone and whitewashed, with a corrugated iron roof supported on new timbers. This structure, probably a former pig house, is entered through a centrally placed batten-sheeted door.

The building is bounded by hedgerows, with the house sited on level ground. A tall corrugated iron hay barn with semi-circular roof stands to the south-west at the top of the site. The access lane runs past the front of the dwelling towards other fields.

Historical development: The house is depicted on the 1835 Ordnance Survey map occupying roughly the same footprint as today, indicating the single-storey extension was already present by that date. The building was originally single-storey, raised to two storeys by the late 19th century, after which it was extended by an additional bay to the north. By the late 1990s, the house had fallen into semi-ruinous condition and had a demolition order placed upon it. It was acquired by the current owners and comprehensively restored in 2000 with Hearth acting as architects, and Robert Elliot & Sons of Ballymena as contractors.