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

Rosetta is a much altered and extended early 19th-century double-pile single-storey house set in mature gardens in a coastal setting on Rostrevor Road, Warrenpoint.

The original front pile (facing the road to the west) was five bays wide but has been extended by two bays at the left end. The rear pile (facing the sea to the east) was also originally five bays wide and has been extended by two bays at the left end and one bay at the right end. The hipped natural slate roof runs north to south. The valley between the two piles has been raised and made flat. All chimneystacks are rendered, corbelled, and painted. The front pile has two chimneystacks—one between bays 3 and 4, and one between bays 6 and 7—both with decorative octagonal pots. An additional chimneystack sits in the valley between bays 3 and 4. The rear pile has three chimneystacks positioned between bays 3 and 4, between bays 4 and 5, and between bays 5 and 6 (as viewed from the east). The walls are cement dashed and painted with a smooth indented basecourse and smooth rendered architraves to all openings. Modern ogee aluminium rainwater goods are fitted throughout. The rear east pitch has two large modern skylights at the north end.

The main west façade is entered through a porch projecting from the fifth bay, which has a steeply pitched natural slate roof and plain eaves board with sheeted rafter tails. The front gable of the porch contains a fixed timber 2x2 margin paned window with a painted cill. Above this is a narrow Gothic-headed niche with smooth rendered and painted architrave and plain flush cill, fitted with a modern light. The right cheek of the porch is blank; the left cheek contains the front door, which is six-panelled (with the top two panels smaller) fitted with brass furniture. This cheek has banded rustication and a smooth architrave around the door with a stucco key-block. The remaining original bays each have a reproduction 8/8 exposed box sliding sash window with painted cill, except the second bay, which contains a modern canted extension with a hipped natural slate roof. Each of the five cheeks of this canted bay has a 6/6 window with heavy glazing bars. The left bay has a single modern 6/6 sliding sash window to its exposed left side.

The two bays at the left end are a modern extension built in the former domestic yard. Adjoining their left end is a two-storey block aligned west to east, originally a stable block but now converted to domestic accommodation. It has a pitched natural slate roof with plain modern bargeboards and modern ogee gutters, with dashed walls matching the main block. An open porch on its front west gable has a half-hipped natural slate roof and open timber framing on its cheeks, containing a reproduction six-panelled timber door with flanking 2x3 paned sidelights. A chimney rises from the wall head where it meets the main block. The left elevation of the two-storey block has a tripartite window containing three 4/4 reproduction sashes to the ground floor and a 6/6 window in a wall-head dormer at first floor. At the left end is a lean-to boiler house with a louvred door to the right cheek and a 6/3 sash window to its left cheek. The rear east gable of the two-storey block has a reproduction door at the left end, a 6/3 sliding sash to its right, and a 6/6 sash window to the first floor.

The rear east-facing pile is now eight bays wide. The leftmost two bays are a modern extension limited to the depth of this pile, each with a 6/6 reproduction sash window. The right-hand bay, linking to the two-storey section, is also modern. The third bay from the left was the end bay of the original house and has a single window. The fourth bay from the left has a canted bay with a 6/6 sliding sash to the front and a 2/2 sash to each cheek, with the cill at ground level. The fifth bay, roughly central on this elevation, has a full-height bow window with a conical natural slate roof tied into the main roof and moulded gutters (cut into small segments to follow the curve). It contains two 9/6 sliding sash windows at the 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. To the rear pile is a single-storey two-bay extension with a hipped natural slate roof, detailed to match the main house. Its left west cheek has a modern door and two 6/6 sliding sash windows (one to each bay). Its south gable has two similar windows.

The property is set in mature grounds with planted areas to the west. The main road boundary is marked by a low random rubble wall. The entrance at the right south 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 separate.