Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB05/04/038

Address :
Carey House 142 Cushendall Road Ballyvoy Ballycastle Co Antrim BT54 6RN

Townland:
Ballypatrick

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Survey 2:
B2

Date of Listing:
05/09/2024 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House

Former Use
House

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
9/10 SE

IG Ref:
D1699 3984

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

A detached Edwardian-style two-storey house, asymmetrically composed, with a two-storey rear return to the north and a single-storey access porch to the side (W), built in 1908 and designed by Assistant County Surveyor Thomas J.O. Neill. The house is approached via a compacted hardcore drive with outbuildings to the north and west. It has an open aspect. It is set back from the Cushendall Road on flat ground, with the land to the rear falling steeply northwards into the Carey River valley and open countryside beyond. The primary and side-entrance porch roofs are slated with loophole terracotta ridge tiles and end finials. A small freestanding porch over the front entrance and the roofs of the two canted bays have terracotta tiles. The portion of the main roof to the east has a stepped and corbelled brick chimney stack with four circular clay pots, while the portion to the west has a smaller straight chimney stack with two pots. Bargeboards are painted timber, and rainwater goods are cast iron with half-round gutters and round-profile downpipes. Exterior walls are roughcast render above an ogee-topped base plinth with smooth render plasterwork, detailed window surrounds and rusticated quoins. Some timber sash windows have finely detailed margin-pane windows while others are plain - some windows have been replaced with timber windows that replicate the appearance of originals. Principal Elevation - S The principal elevation is asymmetrically composed, around a central square-headed doorway and freestanding porch. This entrance is set within a fluted architrave on square concrete base stones and contains a painted eight-panel timber door with a multi-pane transom window above. The freestanding timber porch above has terracotta tiles, ridge, and ornate finial. To the right of the entrance the composition is dominated by a raised gable roof, a tripartite window arrangement at first-floor level and a canted bay window on the ground floor. The canted bay has one-over-one timber sash windows to either side. These have margin pane windows in the upper half of the top sash – a detail which is replicated and expanded upon in the upper section of the central fixed light window. At first floor level, above the terracotta tile roof of the canted bay window, a tripartite arrangement of windows contains a two-over-two timber sash window flanked on either side by a one-over-one timber sash window, raised plasterwork panel-detailing ornaments the upper portion of the gable. To the left of the entrance at ground floor level there is a pair of one-over-one timber sash windows with margin-pane windows in the upper sash. At the first-floor level, a pair of windows without the margin windows are set within a raised parapet dormer with ornate plaster detailing - both pairs have been replaced at the time of the survey. Walls are roughcast with heavily rusticated corbelling at the corners, a flat render stringcourse at first-floor window-cill level, and a second moulded band at the eaves-level of the bay window. Side Elevation - W The west elevation has an irregular gable roof (shallower pitched and longer to the north) that continues as a flush rear-return. The walls are roughcast with heavily rusticated corbelling at the corners, a base plinth, and a smooth render string course at the first-floor window cill level. Sitting slightly off-centre, a single-storey porch with slate gable roof, terracotta loophole ridge tiles and ornate end-finial has a single pane window to the south and a square-headed doorway with a six-panel timber door to the north. At ground level, to the north of the porch, is a single one-over-one timber sash window with margin-pane windows on top and bottom. A second one-over-one timber plain sash window is to the immediate south of the porch. Above the first-floor cill band are two differently sized one-over-one timber sash windows, both without margin windows. A large six-panel stained-glass window illuminates the staircase; each panel has a rectilinear sub-division pattern that mirrors the margin-pane window detailing elsewhere. Rear Elevation - N The rear elevation (N) has two gables. The gable to the west steps out in plan as a two-storey rear-return and has a shallower roof pitch than the other gable. The gable return has two one-over-one timber sliding sash windows at ground level and a further two at first-floor level; all are differently sized and asymmetrically placed. The east gable has two one-over-one timber sliding sash windows at the first floor and is blank at ground floor level, though bears evidence of the slate-hipped-roof single-storey structure– now demolished – that occupied the re-entrant corner. All three external corners have heavily rusticated corbelling. Side Elevation - E The main features of the east elevation are a single-storey canted bay entrance porch placed on the northern end and a centrally positioned, broad, stepping-in brick chimney stack that dominates the slate roof. The walls are roughcast, set within rusticated corner corbelling, a moulded base plinth, and split by a moulded band at the level of the bay window eaves and a second flat render string course at the first-floor window-cill level. On the first floor, there are two one-over-one timber sliding sash windows. On the ground floor's southern end is a single one-over-one timber sliding sash window and, to the northern end, a canted-bay entrance porch with a hipped terracotta tile roof. The bay has on either side a single one-over-one timber sash window complete with margin-pane windows in the upper portion of the top sashes and, centrally, a two-leaf glazed timber door set above which a transom window is sub-divided in a manner matching the margin-pane windows. The east-facing elevation of the rear return has a two-pane timber casement window on the first floor and, placed slightly lower, a one-over-one timber sash window. On the ground floor is a set of replacement timber double doors—each leaf has a solid lower panel and glazed upper panel, subdivided to mirror the margin-pane window detailing. Materials Main Roofs Natural slate with looped terracotta ridge Minor roofs Terracotta tiles with looped terracotta ridge RWG Cast-iron Walling Roughcast with smooth render and rusticated detailing Windows Timber sliding sash

Architects

Historical Information

Carey House was built in 1908 by Thomas J. O’Neill (c.1867-1936), and presumably takes its name from the Barony of Carey (or Cary) within which it is situated. It stands on farmland that Thomas had inherited from his father, John O’Neill (c.1836-c.1907), which the former had leased from the Antrim estate since at least the later 1850s. The house replaced a single-storey thatched dwelling which map evidence suggests was of pre-1832 construction, and which in a much-altered form may now form part of the long northern range of outbuildings. John O’Neill had been assistant surveyor for County Antrim, and Thomas studied under him, eventually going on to work with various engineers and architects, most notably Luke Livingston Macassey, whom he assisted on the Silent Valley water supply scheme. Like his father, Thomas became an assistant county surveyor, also working as engineer to Ballyclare and Ballycastle UDCs was well as the Ballycastle Board of Guardians. In terms of private practice, he supplied designs for the chapel at the Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Rd, Belfast (1909), the RC church at Hannahstown near Belfast (1911), and in Ballycastle, the Ulster Bank (1918) and the Convent of the Cross & Passion (1923). Given this professional background, it is likely that he was also responsible for the design of Carey House itself. In the 1911 census Thomas J. O’Neill (43, ‘civil engineer’) is recorded as living here with his wife, ‘J.E.’ O’Neill, (whom he had married just several months prior) and two domestic servants, Mary Black and John Humphreys, with the house itself noted as a ‘1st class’ dwelling, slated or tiled, with nine windows ‘in front’ and containing eleven rooms. Mr. O’Neill died in October 1936 and Carey House remains with his descendant. The older house referenced above was the birthplace of Canon James Kearney O’Neill (1857-1922), who in 1915 founded the Catholic fraternal organization, The Order of the Knights of Columbanus. References – Primary sources 1 OS map County Series, Antrim sheet 9 – 1832, 1857, 1904, 1922; IG sheet 9-10 – 1971 2 PRONI VAL2B/1/27A Second valuation, Culfeightrin parish - 1859 3 PRONI VAL12B/2/15A-C Annual valuation revision books, Glenmackeeran ED – 1864-1930 4 Census of Ireland – 1901, 1911 (online https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/) [Accessed 7 February 2024] 5 ‘Northern Whig’ – 27 October 1936, p.6; 10 November 1936, p.1 6 PRONI VAL3C/1/5 First general revaluation of Northern Ireland, The Fair Head ED – 1936-57 7 PRONI VAL4B/1/11 Second general revaluation of Northern Ireland – The Fair Head ED – 1956-72 Secondary sources 8 https://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4182/O%27NEILL-THOMASJ. - tab_biography (accessed 5 February 2024)

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form H+. Alterations enhancing the building I. Quality and survival of Interior J. Setting

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A good example of a finely detailed Edwardian-style house, sitting prominently in its rural landscape alongside a range of outbuildings to the north and west. The house was built in 1908 by Thomas J O Neill (c 1867-1936), who, given his professional background as the assistant county surveyor, was likely responsible for the design. Much of the original fabric and detailing remains – roofs, finials, chimney stacks, plasterwork detailing, margin pane windows externally and doors, stairs, plaster, and timber moulding details internally.

General Comments

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Date of Survey

27 March 2024