Mount Caper, 76-78 Grove Road, The Spa, Ballmaglave south, Ballynahinch, Co Down, BT24 8PW

Mount Caper is an unusual two-storey gabled block containing two houses of differing dates, located on a rise to the north of Grove Road on the fringe of The Spa hamlet, roughly two miles south of Ballynahinch in County Down. One house (No. 76) probably dates to before 1834, while the other (No. 78) possibly dates to circa 1840. The block is thought to have been built largely to serve as accommodation for visitors to the nearby spa.

No. 76 occupies the western end of the block and has a relatively regular appearance, though it sports two unusual metal oriel windows that were inserted circa 1940. Its south-facing front façade is asymmetrical. To the right of centre on the ground floor is a small projecting flat-roofed porch, possibly added circa 1940, with a door recessed within a segmental arch-headed opening finished in smooth cement dressing. Directly above the door is a plain fanlight. To the right of the porch is a 6/6 sash window with decorative early 20th-century cement dressing. To the left of the porch are two narrow window openings, each containing an oriel window arrangement created by the insertion of two multi-pane steel-framed windows set at an angle to each other. The first floor has three evenly spaced 2/2 sash windows. A lean-to garage with a modern up and over door is attached to the west gable; the gable itself has an uneven pitch with its lower portion obscured by the garage. Above the garage roof, projecting to the left of centre, is the upper portion of a 6/6 sash window.

The rear elevation features a two-storey gabled return to the left of centre. To its right is a modern stable door at ground floor and a small modern window set in a vertical recess on the left. To the left of the return are a modern ground floor window and a squat 3/3 first-floor window. The north face of the return has three modern windows of varying size. The west face has a modern window to the left and a modern stable door to the right. The east face is largely blank except for a small 1/1 window at first floor and a large modern window at ground level, both at the far left. The façade is finished in rough cast and painted to the rear. The roof is slated with a small Velux window to the return and two cream brick chimney stacks to the main roof. Cast iron and PVC rainwater goods are present.

No. 78 is more irregular than No. 76, containing both two and three-storey portions, all under the same roofline, suggesting it may once have been two separate properties. Its front façade is also asymmetrical. To the left of centre is a small, awkward-looking projecting lean-to porch with splayed sides and a modern half-glazed door. To the left of the porch the façade displays two levels of windows, while to the right there are three levels, a difference made possible partly by the ground sloping towards this side. To the immediate right of the porch is a modern top-hung window with simple cement dressing; directly above are two further windows at first and second floors, all of similar style but decreasing in size upwards. To the left of the porch are two ground floor windows set at a higher level than those to the right, with two more windows directly above at first floor. All window frames are modern. The east gable has modern windows to the right side of the first and second floors. The rear elevation features a shallow, almost central two-storey gabled return with a panelled door at ground floor and a modern window at first floor on its north-facing gabled face. The east and west faces of the return are blank. To the left is a single-storey flat-roofed extension with a combined modern window and door. The first floor to the left of the return is blank, while to the right are a large modern first-floor window and two narrow ground floor windows. The façade is finished in rough cast and painted to the rear. The roof is slated with a cream brick chimney stack to the east gable and another shared with No. 76 to the west. Cast iron rainwater goods are present.

The irregular façade indicates the block was built in sections. This is supported by the 1836 valuation records, which state that while a two-storey house was present at that date, the remainder was single-storey. From the valuers' dimensions, the two-storey house, perhaps 30 years old or more by then, likely equates to No. 76. No. 78 was probably built shortly after the valuation, possibly circa 1840. The discrepancies in floor levels and the former presence of an additional central chimney stack (removed circa 1980s) suggest it was originally two separate properties. Until the early 1900s, the various properties served as guest houses accommodating visitors to the nearby spa.

To the east of this block stands a further block containing two low two-storey houses of probable 19th-century origin, though much modernised in recent years. No. 76 now has modern window frames throughout.