The Wood House, 89 Shore Road, Killowen, Rostrevor, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3AB

The Wood House

This picturesque two-storey dwelling with Tudor Gothic detailing stands on a commanding site on Shore Road, Killowen, facing west over Carlingford Lough. The building has a complex history: originally a vernacular dwelling, it was considerably modified through time and suffered significant damage in a fire during the 1970s. The most westerly bay of the front pile was not reconstructed after the fire, reducing the main building from five bays on both piles to four bays on the front.

The building is double-pile with parallel pitched roofs. Most of the roof is natural slate, though artificial slate has been used on the areas damaged by fire. Three chimneystacks with plain rectangular bases stand along the roofline; the two towards the western end feature five diagonally-set shafts above the base, with the most westerly stack decorated with Gothic panelling in plaster. Roof eaves and verges overhang and are boxed in. The original gables retain decorative fretted bargeboards with flowing designs incorporating quatrefoils and finials, whilst those reconstructed after the fire are plain. The walls are wet dashed cement, painted, with stepped smooth plaster dressings to all openings.

The main entrance was originally on the west gable of the rear pile but now opens from a terrace formed in what was originally the front left bay, with a Gothic-styled door set in a Gothic arch opening.

The west (principal) elevation is symmetrical with three bays, each topped by a gable. The central gable is smaller than the flanking gables; both the central and right gables feature decorative fretted bargeboards, whilst the left gables are plain. The ground floor centre contains a pair of eight-paned French casements with a two-paned overlight. At first floor is a pair of 4/4 sliding sashes with an apron panel decorated with three quatrefoil panels. The left and right bays each project as a single-storey canted bay window with embattled parapet and frieze decorated with quatrefoils. These bays contain French casements at ground floor, accessed by two granite steps and flanked by 2/8 sliding sashes. At first floor, the right bay has a pair of 4/4 sliding sashes and the left bay a pair of eight-paned casements; both have labelled drip moulds. Blind lancets with finials appear in the apex of the left and right gables.

The east elevation comprises a pair of gables detailed similarly to the front left and middle gables, though with a different bargeboard fretting pattern and lacking the pendant boss to the left finial. The end wall of an outbuilding returns to form a screen to the yard and is decorated with an embattled parapet. Behind stands a parallel range of single-storey outbuildings, forming a narrow yard. The left gable of the rear pile has a modern three-light fixed window in a Tudor Gothic arched opening at ground floor with a moulded stringcourse above and a blind lancet in the apex. At first floor is a pair of casement windows with label mould and an apron panel decorated with quatrefoil panels, with a blind lancet in the apex. A garage with crennelated parapet stands behind this gable.

The rear elevation is not readily accessible, but shows irregular window configuration and is finished with artificial slate roofing, plain roof trim, and half-round gutters.

The setting is landscaped with a series of terraces leading to a steep drop to the shore. A pair of octagonal granite gate piers flanks the entrance, their caps oversailing and pitched up from the face in stages to a point; below the cap is a cornice moulding on a frieze decorated with quatrefoils. The shafts are undecorated and in one piece, with canted bases. Wrought-iron carriage gates with spearheads hang between them. The lower side of the drive is bounded by a rendered rubble wall with dressed domed coping, changing nearer the house to masonry standards with decorative wrought-iron panels between. At the house, this feature extends as a balustrade to a terrace, formed as a masonry Gothic arcade with decorative moulded coping. Attached to this is part of a wrought-iron screen that appears to have once entirely closed off the garden from the drive, though rearrangement took place during restoration. A series of granite steps negotiate the landscaped terraces, and a small round plunge pool with a central decorative fountain supported by three female figures (all damaged) is also present.