Ardtrea House, 26 Ardtrea Road, Stewartstown, Dungannon, BT71 5LY

Ardtrea House is a two-storey three-bay rendered house built in the early 19th century, dating to 1810. It was constructed by Reverend Dr Elrington, rector of Ardtrea parish from 1806 to 1812, with financial support from the Board of First Fruits, which provided a gift of £100 and a loan of £1050. The house retains distinctive character and is of local interest as the original rectory for the adjacent church, forming part of an important architectural group with that church and its associated school on the opposite side of the road.

The main entrance elevation faces east, accessed through a projecting porch with a flat roof. This front elevation is symmetrical, with one window on each side of the central entrance porch. The walls are smooth rendered on the front and sides with a slightly projecting plinth, though the rear and returns have been finished in modern dry dash. The porch walls are of rendered brick. The hipped roof is covered in Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses with a flat soffit to the eaves.

The most prominent architectural feature is the pair of centrally grouped chimney stacks, each carrying three tall octagonal brick chimneys with rendered bases. These are distinctive and unusual in form, rising prominently above the roofline.

Windows on the main front are original rectangular timber vertically hung sashes with six panes over six on the ground floor and three panes over six on the first floor. All feature horns and are surmounted by rectangular drip mouldings. The main entrance comprises a rectangular timber panelled door with a plain segmental fanlight set in a segmental headed surround. The north face of the porch contains a blind window opening.

The south elevation of the main front block mirrors the north elevation in materials and fenestration. The west or rear elevation features a long lower two-storey rear return with slated pitched roofs and a shorter, lower flat-topped outshot constructed in red brick and rendered. A single-storey lean-to spans across the rear. Windows in these projections are modern timber replacements of fixed light and top-hung types. The rear return has a gabled west end with a rectangular brick chimney and is finished in dry dash.

The north elevation of the rear return comprises two stages: a set-back western portion one window wide in dry dash, and a longer forward-projecting portion three windows wide in smooth render with rectangular drip mouldings, maintaining character similar to the main front block. A chimney of octagonal brick form (with exposed brickwork base, unlike those on the main front) sits at the junction between the two stages. Windows here are modern replacement small-paned fixed lights with top-hung vents, except for one remaining original sashed window (one pane over one with margins and horns) on the first floor. At ground floor level at the left extremity is a slightly projecting single-storey entrance bay containing a pair of modern small-paned doors approached by a broad timber decking platform.

Despite later alterations evident on the rear and side elevations, notably the replacement of traditional sashes with modern window types, the building stands as a good example of its type and period, retaining original exterior features on the main entrance front including sashes with drip mouldings and the distinctive octagonal chimneys.

The house stands in rural grounds accessed by a tarmac driveway from a gateway comprising a pair of simple ironwork gates set between chamfered square sandstone piers with gabled caps, flanked by concave curved screen walls. The driveway is bordered by modern concrete kerbing with lawns to each side, and the front garden contains mature trees. The front boundary is formed by hedges backed by new timber palisading.

To the rear lies an extensive open yard surfaced in cement screed, leading to a larger yard to the south used for a commercial motor business. Immediately south of the house is a small enclosed domestic yard accessed by a cut stone gateway adjoining the rear return, with a plain lean-to outbuilding and a rubble stone boundary wall in poor condition.