Myrtle Cottage, 20 Church Road, Ballynahinch, Co. Down, BT24 8LP

Myrtle Cottage

Myrtle Cottage is a picturesque one and a half storey gabled house dating to around 1880, located to the northeast of Church Road on the southern outskirts of Ballynahinch. The building is set with its front façade facing southwest and presents a symmetrical composition.

The front elevation is dominated by a projecting gabled bay at its centre. The ground floor of the bay contains a timber panelled front door with a plain elliptical fanlight, set within a scalloped elliptical arch-headed recess with moulded archivolt. Above this, the first floor bay features a semicircular arch-headed sash window. The bay is finished with overhanging eaves and decorative pierced bargeboards with a timber finial. On either side of the central bay are paired elliptical-headed window arrangements, each with moulded dressings and sash frames set on a shared cill. A continuous moulded string course runs across the façade above the window heads. Above this string course the render is plain, while below it displays rusticated coursing. Both the bay and the main elevation are finished with quoins.

The southeast gable mirrors the bay arrangement with projecting eaves, a simple sash semicircular-headed window at first floor, and a blank ground floor. The render treatment follows the same pattern as the front, with plain finish above the string course and rusticated coursing below. The northeast gable is similarly arranged but includes a doorway at ground floor level with modern metal multi-pane French doors. At first floor is a central paired semicircular arch-headed window arrangement matching the front façade.

The rear elevation is complex, comprising gabled returns to both left and right sides. The left return is single storey with a central modern six-pane window and a glazed modern rear door to its northwest face. The right side comprises three sections: a recent two-storey gabled store to the northeast with an off-centre sash window at first floor and a timber sheeted door at ground floor; an older two-storey return which is squatter and narrower than the main building, with two large modern windows to its southeast face; and a further flat-roofed return between the projecting elements. The flat-roofed return has a small window with modern top-hung frame at ground floor left, with a margined sash window (3 over 6) to its right. At first floor are similar windows, with the margined window slightly larger at 6 panes over 6.

The façade is finished in plain painted render. The original front portion sits on a low chamfered plinth. The main gabled roof features an overhang with decorative bargeboards and is covered in Bangor Blue Slate. The return roofs are finished with a mixture of asbestos and non-asbestos slates. Two rendered chimney stacks rise at the centre of the main roof ridge. The building is fitted with cast iron rainwater goods. Original square gate pillars with cast iron fencing stand to the front.