Rosetta, Rostrevor Road, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3RT

Rosetta is an early 19th-century house located on Rostrevor Road in Warrenpoint, set in a mature coastal garden overlooking the sea. Originally erected around 1810, it is a single-storey double-pile structure that has been substantially extended over recent years.

The original house comprised two parallel ranges of five bays each, aligned north-south. The front range faces west towards the road, while the rear range faces east towards the sea. Both ranges have been extended: the front pile by two bays at its left end, and the rear pile by two bays at the left end and one bay at the right end, making the rear elevation now eight bays wide overall. The extensions, while generally sympathetic in character, have diminished the simple architectural presence of the original building.

The roofing throughout is natural slate with a hipped form aligned north-south. The valley between the two piles has been raised and is now flat. All chimneystacks are rendered, corbelled and painted, with decorative octagonal pots. The front pile contains two chimneystacks (between bays 3 and 4, and between bays 6 and 7), with an additional stack in the valley. The rear pile has three chimneystacks positioned between bays 3 and 4, 4 and 5, and 5 and 6 (viewed from the east). Modern ogee aluminium rainwater goods and two large modern skylights on the rear eastern pitch indicate 20th-century updates. The walls throughout are cement dashed and painted with smooth indented basecourse and smooth rendered architraves to all openings.

The front western façade features a prominent porch abutting the fifth original bay, with a steeply pitched natural slate roof, plain eaves board and sheeted rafter tails. The porch gable contains a fixed timber 2x2 margin paned window with a painted cill, and above it a narrow Gothic-headed niche with smooth rendered and painted architrave, a plain flush cill, and a modern light-fitting. The north cheek of the porch displays banded rustication and contains the front door, a six-panelled timber door (with the top two panels smaller) featuring brass furniture and a smooth architrave with a stucco key-block. The south cheek is blank.

The remaining original bays of the front pile each contain reproduction 8/8 exposed box sliding sash windows with painted cills, except for the second bay, which has been replaced by a modern canted extension with a hipped natural slate roof. Each of the five cheeks of this canted bay contains a 6/6 window with heavy glazing bars. The left-end bay of the extended front range has a single modern 6/6 sliding sash window to its exposed left side.

The two bays at the left end of the front pile are a modern extension constructed in the former domestic yard. Adjacent to their left end stands a two-storey block aligned west-east, which links with the rear pile extension and is a converted former stable block. This block features a pitched natural slate roof with plain modern bargeboards, modern ogee gutters, and dashed walls matching the main house. Its front western gable has an open porch with a half-hipped natural slate roof and open timber framing. Inside the porch is a reproduction six-panelled timber door flanked by 2x3 paned sidelights. A chimney rises from the wall head where this block meets the main house. The left elevation of the two-storey block has a tripartite window containing three 4/4 reproduction sashes at ground floor level and a 6/6 window in a wall-head dormer at first floor. A lean-to chimneyed boiler house abuts the left end, fitted with a louvred door to its right cheek and a 6/3 sash window to its left cheek. The rear eastern gable of the two-storey block has a reproduction door at its left end, a 6/3 sliding sash to its right, and a 6/6 sash window at first floor.

The rear eastern elevation is now eight bays wide. The two leftmost bays are a modern extension matching only the depth of the original rear pile. The rightmost bay, linking to the two-storey section, is also modern. Each bay of the two left bays has a 6/6 reproduction sash window, as do all other windows on this elevation. The third bay from the left was the original end bay and contains a single window. The fourth bay has a canted bay with a 6/6 sliding sash to the front and 2/2 sashes to each cheek, with the cill at ground level. The fifth bay, roughly central on this elevation, features a full-height bow window with a conical natural slate roof tied into the main roof and moulded gutters cut into small segments to accommodate the curve. This bow contains two 9/6 sliding sash windows at its sides and a reproduction pair of 2x5 paned French windows to the centre. The sixth and seventh bays each have a 6/6 sash window. The extreme right bay has a large tripartite window containing three 9/6 sliding sashes with a common concrete cill.

The right gable of the house has a small 6/3 sash window to the front pile. The single-storey two-bay extension to the rear pile at this gable end has a hipped natural slate roof detailed to match the main house. Its western cheek contains a modern door and two 6/6 sliding sash windows (one to each bay), while its southern gable end has two similar windows.

The house is set in mature grounds with a planted area to the west, bounded to the main road by a low random rubble wall. The entrance at the right southern end comprises a pair of wrought-iron gates with pointed heads and dogbars, hung from strap-pointed ashlar granite posts with pyramidal copings. A small single-storey two-bay lodge stands on the west side of the entrance but is now a separate dwelling.

Historical records show the house on the 1834 Ordnance Survey 6-inch map under the name 'Rosetta'. The First Valuation of 1835 records it as occupied by Mrs Head and measuring 76 feet by 35 feet by 8 feet with two returns. It was probably erected around the same time as nearby Moygannon and Clooneavin, approximately 1810. The 1859 Ordnance Survey map shows an extension to the right of the rear bow bay. The Second Valuation book of 1863 notes the house as "rebuilt", likely referring to this extension, and describes it as "a very nice little mansion villa prettily situated on shore but a little exposed – has been greatly improved by present occupant".