The Lodge, 21 Main Street, Seaforde (Seaforde Demesne), Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 8PA

The Lodge is a single-storey over basement Regency-style villa situated within its own spacious grounds on the southern border of Seaforde Demesne, approached via a drive opening off the north end of Main Street, to the northwest of Seaforde village. It was built as an agent's residence, believed to have been constructed around 1837 originally as a two-storey structure over basement, then reduced to its present single-storey height — and probably extended — around 1840, with a possible further extension around 1860. Although the interior has undergone significant alterations over the years, the external appearance has been largely maintained, and the building retains important local significance as part of the wider Seaforde estate.

The front elevation faces roughly south and is asymmetrical. At its heart is a small, stylised classical projecting porch positioned slightly to the right of centre, reached via a flight of three stone steps. The porch has a six-panel timber door with a simple rectangular fanlight and a moulded surround. Its corners are framed with simple stylised moulded pilasters. The porch gable carries an overhanging roof, and the gable tympanum has a base supported on paired brackets. Each of the east and west faces of the porch contains a centred semicircular arch-headed window with a timber sash frame glazed in Georgian panes in a 9-over-6 configuration. To either side of the porch is a 6-over-6 Georgian-paned timber sash window; each window has a moulded surround whose side panels drop slightly to rest on a broad string course. The porch and these flanking windows sit within a projecting bay with a shallow hipped roof, framed by raised plain pilaster-like panels. To the left of this bay are two further windows of the same type, and to the right a single matching window. The entire front elevation sits above a basement "ravine", with the porch effectively acting as a bridge into the house. Below each upper window at basement level is a 6-over-3 timber sash window. The ends of the elevation are finished with raised plain pilaster-like panels, consistent with the framing of the central bay.

The west elevation is blank at upper level. At ground level to the right are two plain doors, while to the left the ground level is abutted by a single-storey outbuilding. The east elevation has a centrally positioned canted bay with windows matching those on the front elevation to each face.

The north elevation is two storeys in height and has a wide bay slightly to the left of centre that projects forward slightly. To the left of this bay is a small two-storey canted bay. The front face of the ground floor of this canted bay has a glazed and panelled door, and each side face has a six-pane fixed-light timber frame. At first floor, each face of the canted bay has a 6-over-6 timber sash window, though those to the outer sides are notably narrower. To the right of this bay at ground floor is a timber casement window, and to its right is a further window with a replacement frame dating from around 1980, consisting of a top opener above a fixed light. This window was originally deeper; the lower section has since been blocked and the original sill left in place. Directly above is a 6-over-6 timber sash window. To the left of the main bay is another sash window of the same pattern. To the right of the bay is a tall 6-over-12 sash window that lights the stairwell; this was deepened in the 1960s and now cuts through a string course. To the right of these are two ground-floor windows with 6-over-3 timber sash frames and two further windows above with 6-over-6 sash frames. The façade is finished in lined render and painted throughout.

The roof is hipped and slated with an overhang supported on paired brackets. There are four irregularly positioned rendered chimney stacks, three of which have matching octagonal pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

To the west of the house, and partly attached to it, is a collection of single-storey outbuildings. Together with a screen wall they form a small courtyard. Further to the west is a two-storey stable block, rendered and with in-and-out stone dressings to some of the door openings; the interior still retains all the original stalls.

The history of the building is complex and only partially verifiable. A house is shown close to this general site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834, though its size, orientation and position differ markedly from the present structure. The building does not appear in the first valuation of around 1835, suggesting it may at that time have been a modest structure. According to the current occupant, the present house was built in the later 1830s as a two-storey plus basement agent's residence, and was reduced by a storey around 1840. The reported reason for this reduction is a striking piece of local history: the Great Wind of January 1839 blew down trees that had screened the building from Seaforde House to the north, and the then-owner of Seaforde House, displeased at having his vista spoilt by the newly exposed dwelling, had the upper storey removed. This account has not been independently verified by the listing assessor, though the building's odd asymmetrical appearance is consistent with major remodelling. It has been suggested that the original structure may have comprised only the three-opening symmetrical central block, with the extensions to the east and west added as compensation for the loss of the upper storey.

The house and the outbuildings to the west are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1859, where the building is labelled "The Lodge." The plan on that map appears slightly shorter than the present building, as if the recessed eastern section had not yet been added. However, the valuation of 1862 records measurements — 22 yards by 11 yards by 1 storey, and 6 by 9 by 1 storey — that correspond to the building as it appears today, confirming the eastern section was present by that date. The 1862 valuation does not mention the porch, and it is not shown on the 1859 map. No significant external changes are recorded in the annual valuation revisions between around 1863 and around 1929. Alterations were carried out around 1930, including the lowering of the ground level to the north and the addition of the canted bay to the rear elevation; the porch may also have been added at this time. Further changes took place in the 1940s and 1960s, with the stairwell window to the rear elevation deepened in the 1960s to designs by Robin McKinstry. In the late 1970s the building was divided into two properties, though it had been returned to use as a single dwelling by June 2004.

The occupancy record confirms the building's original function as an agent's residence, with an overwhelmingly male and occasionally military succession of tenants. William Parsons is recorded as occupier in the 1862 valuation, followed by Henry Alexander from 1869 and Walter L. Stronge from 1888. Various members of the Forde family are recorded as residents for periods from 1914 onwards, and thereafter the house appears to have alternated between estate agents and members of the family.