Rademan House, Ballynahinch Road, Rademon, Crossgar, BT30 9HS

Rademon House is a large, two-storey country house with a hipped roof, standing on the south side of Ballynahinch Road, 2½ kilometres west of Crossgar. It has been recorded but not listed.

The house originated as a substantial three-storey residence with basement and tall single-storey wings, probably built in the early 18th century. It is mentioned in Walter Harris's account of County Down dated 1744. The land itself had been granted to the Johnston family by King Charles II in 1667. The house passed from the Johnston family to the Crawfords (who later took the surname Sharman Crawford after marrying the Johnston heiress) in the late 18th century, following Arthur Johnston's death in 1814. From the 1836 valuation returns, the original three-storey, basement and single-storey wing form is documented. During the mid-19th century, the Sharman Crawfords extensively extended and embellished the building by raising the single-storey wings to two storeys with tall gabled end bays, and by adding two-storey canted bays to both front and rear of the central block. The Sharman Crawford family remained at Rademon until 1931, when the house was sold to David Reid. The property was acquired by the current owner's father in 1951.

Severe fire damage in the early 1950s necessitated radical remodelling. Architect Claude Phillimore undertook a comprehensive reconstruction of the fire-damaged remains between the 1950s and 1951. The entire uppermost storey, which was destroyed in the fire, was not rebuilt, and the canted bays and parts of the wings were removed. The building was transformed into the neo-Queen Anne and early Georgian composition visible today.

The current structure consists of a two-storey central bay with recessed side wings of similar height and flanking single-storey, pavilion-like front projections, one of which serves as a garage. The façade is lined rendered with a slated roof.

The north front elevation is symmetrical. The central doorway is panelled and half-glazed, set in a semi-circular arch-headed opening with a plain fanlight. Above the arch is a split pediment supported on decorative console brackets. The moulded stone door surround rises from a plain blocking stone. A flat-roofed canopy supported on plain Tuscan order columns protects the doorway and a short bridge spanning the basement ravine. To either side of the door are two sash windows with Georgian panes (6/6). The first floor has five evenly spaced 6/6 sash windows. The basement contains two 6/6 sash windows on either side of the door, with an additional 3/3 sash window on the west face of the left projection's basement. The left projecting bay has two sash windows; the right projection contains a large up-and-over garage door. The recessed wings, visible at first floor on this elevation, each have three small four-pane octagonal windows.

The east elevation displays a two-storey flat-roofed semi-circular bay with three evenly spaced 6/6 sash windows on each floor. Below these windows runs a narrow cantilevered concrete balcony with a modern steel guardrail. To the right of the bay is a small flat-roofed extension with a shallow three-pane window above and a blank east wall. The north wall of this extension has a modern window, with a door and four-pane fanlight on the extreme left of the main north façade. The west elevation mirrors the east, with a two-storey semi-circular bay having slightly lower window cills on the ground floor. A short flight of steps with curving handrails descends from the balcony to the left. A PVC top-hung window stands to the left of the bay, and the far left shows two sash windows on the west side of the single-storey extension.

The south façade is symmetrical, with a tall central door set in a moulded surround matching the window openings. To the left are two tall 9/12 sash windows with low cills, followed by two much smaller 6/6 sash windows. The right side mirrors the left. In front of these windows is a balcony or terrace with a short flight of steps featuring curving handrails. The first floor contains nine 6/6 sash windows: five evenly spaced through the centre and four more widely spaced to either side.

The main roofs are covered in natural slate with hipped ends. Two tall chimney stacks, symmetrically placed, rise to the ridge line of the highest roof.

The property has lost too much of its original fabric, including interiors, and the 1950s additions detract significantly from the original design. As a predominantly 1950s rebuild, the structure is considered not worthy of listing.