Lisnacree House, Newry Road/Lisnacree Lane Junction, Kilkeel, Newry, Co Down, BT34 4SE

Lisnacree House is a two-storey late Victorian villa now in ruins, situated on the north side of Newry Road at its junction with Lisnacree Lane near Kilkeel. Although derelict, the building retains an interesting L-shaped plan form, sound walls, and a surprising amount of original internal joinery, along with its associated stable yard and outhouses.

The main house is constructed of granite rubble with brick dressings, featuring raised and chamfered ashlar granite basecourse and flush stepped ashlar quoins. The L-plan has its base facing west with a rear return extending to the east end of the north elevation. A quarter-circular entrance porch occupies the inner angle of the L, with a quadrant cone roof (marks in render indicate its shape). A single moulded granite step follows the curve of the porch. The porch contains a central doorway flanked by two sliding sash windows. The inner walls are rendered as the external walls. To the left of the porch is an inner entrance door consisting of two three-panelled timber leaves with a fixed glazed transom light above. To the right is a semicircular-headed blind arch containing a fixed timber window with canted cill and moulded timber architrave, which originally served as a service door. To the left of the porch is a blind window with a similar opening above; to the right of the porch is another blind window with a window opening above at first floor level.

The L-shaped main roof was originally hipped and natural slated with blue clay ridges, now nearly entirely gone. Four brick chimneys with rendered plain ashlar granite copings (no pots) are present. Semicircular metal rainwater goods, nearly all gone, rest on a projecting ashlar granite eaves course supported on paired granite corbel brackets.

The south elevation is two bays wide, with the left bay slightly advanced, each bay containing two window openings to each floor. All external windows to the façade are a similar size, with remains suggesting all were 2/2 sliding sashes. The western elevation of the main house has two windows to each floor. The north elevation is three bays wide, with the left bay abutted by a two-storey return. The central bay has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with two-pane overlight and a narrow 1/1 sliding sash window to its left side. Between ground and first floor on the left is a large 6/6 spoke-headed sliding sash window. The right bay has a window opening to ground floor. The east elevation has two 2/2 sliding sashes to ground floor with a single window centred above.

The rear return is in two stages. The stage abutting the main block is two-storey; the second stage is single-storey. It has a pitched natural slate roof with a single red brick chimney. Walls match the main block but lack ashlar dressings. The rear gable, north-facing and single-storey, fronts the yard and has a tongue-and-groove sheeted door with three-paned mouth-organ transom above and a timber louvred vent in the apex. The left cheek is flush with the east wall of the main house and has no openings to its two-storey section but two 2/2 sliding sashes to its single-storey section. The right cheek has a large tripartite window flanked by 2/2 windows to ground floor of its two-storey section and three small 2/2 windows to its single-storey section. The exposed gable of the two-storey section has a pair of 2/2 sliding sash windows.

The rear yard is enclosed to the north and east by outbuildings, to the west by a high wall with gates and a lane to Lisnacree Lane, and to the southeast by a gateway to the front gardens. The yard is paved in granite sets, and the walls are rubble granite with brick dressings.

The northern range of buildings is five bays wide. The two leftmost bays are single-storey with a common pitched natural slate roof and appear to have been coach houses, each with a large pair of tongue-and-groove sheeted doors. The remaining northern bays are contained within a two-storey block with pitched natural slate roof. The first bay from the left has a timber sheeted door and fixed window. The second has a central door flanked by windows. The third bay is accessed through a single door mirrored by a rear door and is abutted to the right by the east block. The upper floor has a single window in line with each ground floor opening. The east block is single-storey and four bays wide, with a pitched natural slate roof hipped to the south end and partially flattened to accommodate an external water tank. The left bay is double the width of the others and is accessed by two segmental-headed arched doorways. Each remaining bay is narrow with a single opening; that to the right has a wrought iron gate fronted by a narrow raised pavement with pump mountings.

The west gates (now gone) were hung from a pair of rubble granite piers with pyramidal caps. The access lane at Lisnacree Lane is marked by a pair of ashlar piers with large wrought iron gates. The southeast gate has large ashlar piers with raised chamfered basecourse and pyramidal caps (the eastern one toppled), supporting a pair of large tongue-and-groove sheeted gates.

The informally planted front garden is wild with very overgrown shrubs and ornamental trees. To the west of the house are the remains of a herb garden and ruins of what appear to be a conservatory and pergola walk. The original drive entrance has been infilled by a modern granite wall, but part of the drive remains, sweeping in an S-curve from the main road.

Documentary evidence indicates the property was marked on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map as Mount Loftus with an L-plan. The 1838 Valuation notes the owner as George Houston, with house measurements of 48 feet by 26.5 feet by 23.5 feet. The present house plan appears on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map and is cited as Lisnacree House, suggesting a mid-19th century rebuild. The 1861 Valuation gives dimensions of 19 feet by 43 feet for the main block. The property is known locally as the D.G. Waring house; Waring was apparently a Grand Juror for County Down who also held property at Waringstown. The house was destroyed by fire in the early 1970s and subsequently abandoned, falling into further disrepair.