Glenavon House

Glenavon House is a large villa dated 1886 and attributed to James Graham Fairley. It is a two-storey and attic, L-plan building displaying exuberant detailing in a Jacobean Renaissance style, featuring multiple gables, an ogee-roofed round tower, and prominent bargeboarding. The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base and string courses define the facade, and stone-mullioned windows are present, some with hood moulds. Chamfered corners are corbelled out at the upper level.

The northwest elevation features a single-storey, timber-panelled entrance porch with a door flanked by leaded sidelights and decorated bargeboards. A staircase window is positioned to the right of the porch. A single-storey block with a flat roof and balustraded parapet sits at the re-entrant angle. An advanced wing with a blind gable-end is located to the right. The southeast (garden) elevation has a two-leaf French door in the centre of a three-bay arrangement, with a moulded stone surround. Above this door is a projecting, ball-finialed balcony, topped by a heavily segmented-arch gable with a baroque finial. A wallhead barley-twist stack is visible to the right, alongside a two-storey gabled canted window. The ogee-roofed drum tower, situated to the far right, has tripartite windows and a ribbed, leaded roof with a ball-finial and weathervane. A more modern upvc conservatory is recessed to the outer right, with an ashlar stone plinth and polished brick basement. The southwest elevation showcases an advanced central gable that breaks the eaves, alongside a square, machicolated bartizan topped with a pyramid cap.

The windows are predominantly timber sash and case, with some leaded casements. The eaves are bargeboarded and covered with rosemary tiles. The stacks are shouldered and feature various designs, including short red clay cans. Cast iron rainwater goods are a notable feature.

The interior retains many original fixtures and fittings, although some ground floor room layouts have been altered. The entrance vestibule has an engraved ceramic tile floor. A fine dark-wood staircase with panelling and wainscoting runs through the main hall. Principal ground floor rooms boast beaded parquet flooring and elaborate cornicing. The dining room features a heavily carved Renaissance fireplace and moulded plasterwork ceiling. Principal doorways have heavy timber moulded surrounds, and leaded and frosted internal windows with a floral design are found at the stair window, alongside fitted hardwood cupboards. The attic level walls are tongue and groove panelled. Original porcelain fixtures are present on the upper levels.

The property is accessed via double-leaf, solid oak Gothic gates supported by chamfered gate piers with fluted banding and moulded octagonal bell caps. Flanking pedestrian gates lead down to a second set of smaller piers. A tall stone-capped rubble boundary wall runs along the road frontage, with lower boundary walls extending down to the river on the north and south sides. A terraced lawn with a tennis court and a partially walled garden are located to the south of the house, while the sloping ground to the north is laid to lawn and planted with mature trees.