Allan Lodge, 188 Newcastle Road, Seaforde, Naghan, Downpatrick, BT30 8NZ

Allan Lodge is a compact two-storey late Georgian style hipped roof house of mid-nineteenth century date, situated at 188 Newcastle Road in Seaforde, County Down. The building presents a tidy 'doll's house' appearance set within an idyllic leafy setting.

The property stands back from the roadside to the east of Newcastle Road, with a relatively large front garden enclosed by high rubble-built walls extending from the north and south sides, which enclose the rear yard and garden. The south wall features a gateway with rounded rubble gate piers topped with cone caps, though this gateway appears to have been widened in recent times with the northern pier rebuilt.

The front façade is asymmetrical and rendered, though now largely obscured by thick ivy growth. It comprises a central four-panel door with a semicircular 'spoke' fanlight, flanked by sash windows with Georgian panes (6/6). To the left of the doorway is one sash window; to the right is another identical window, with three further windows to the first floor. Both the north and south façades are rendered and partly covered in ivy growth, but contain no openings.

The rear elevation is dominated by a two-storey projecting section with a gabled roof, which is of recent construction and replaced a smaller original projection. The south face of this projection contains a modern ground floor window and a first floor window made to resemble the sash windows of the front. The north face has a partly glazed door to the ground floor and a small four-pane window to the first floor. The east face of the projection contains a small four-pane window to the first floor. To the rear façade of the main house, left of the projection, there are two windows to the ground floor and one to the first floor, all with modern frames resembling those to the front. To the right of the projection is a ground floor window and a sash window to the first floor as on the front. The rear façade and projection are finished in lined render.

The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate, the present roof being a replacement from around 1990. Two central rendered chimney stacks with modern pots are present, along with metal rainwater goods.

Documentary evidence suggests the site was occupied by an earlier dwelling shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 and the valuation map of circa 1836-38, though its plan differs from the present building. The 1836 valuation returns describe a low two-storey dwelling of probable eighteenth-century construction, only 12½ feet to the eaves, depicted with a gabled roof and irregular window and door arrangement in a naïve village drawing dating from circa 1833. Deeds in possession of the current owners date from 1836, suggesting the present house may have been built at this time or shortly after. This date is supported by the building's style and internal detailing including the staircase and dining room fireplace. A structure with a plan more akin to the present building appears on the revised Ordnance Survey map of 1858. However, the valuation map of circa 1860 shows what appears to be a slightly longer house, with a later annotation indicating a building of the present shape, suggesting a date post-1860. As Georgian style hipped roof houses of this type were constructed throughout Ireland well into the Victorian era, the available evidence remains inconclusive, and the property can be safely dated as mid-nineteenth century.

The house served as the residence of the bailiff for the Forde estate in the late nineteenth century and takes its name from a former bailiff, Mr Allan. The property was purchased from the estate in 1989 by the present owner, who has replaced the roof and constructed the rear extension.