9 Dhu Varren Park, Portrush, Co. Antrim, BT56 8EN

9 Dhu Varren Park is a two-bay, two-storey rendered townhouse with attic dormer, built around 1908 and located on the south side of Dhu Varren Park in Portrush. It forms the end terrace of a coherent group of six Edwardian townhouses built during the early twentieth-century suburban expansion of the resort.

The building is square on plan with a projecting ground floor to the front and a full-height L-shaped gabled return to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features terracotta angled ridge tiles and a yellow-brick chimney stack to the west gable, with timber bargeboards and terracotta finials. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on projecting eaves, though these have been replaced with uPVC to the rear. The walling is painted smooth render with a scotia-moulded string-course supporting the rainwater goods between the first floor and attic; the west gable and rear return are finished in roughcast render.

The principal north-facing elevation displays two wall-head dormer windows at attic level above three first-floor windows, with two paired windows at the right. The ground floor has a monopitched red tiled roof and a group of three windows at the right, where the outer windows are narrower. A bolection-moulded four-panel timber door with modern cast-iron furniture stands at the left in a stop-end chamfered reveal, accessed via a single concrete step, with an original timber transom light above featuring margin panes and multi-paned top-lights. Windows are original 1/1 timber sash with margin panes, multi-paned top-lights and horns, set in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills; grouped windows have bullnose continuous sills.

The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The south (rear) elevation is abutted at the right by the large L-shaped gabled return. To the left of this return is a modern wall-head dormer containing a large uPVC window, with additional uPVC windows to the first and ground floors. The west gable has a uPVC window insertion at attic level and another to the ground floor centre. Later alterations have introduced uPVC windows and doors to the rear and west elevations.

The building occupies a rectangular plot in a residential area directly opposite the Coleraine-Portrush railway line and Dhu Varren halt. The front garden is lawned with a concrete pathway leading to the entrance door, enclosed by painted rendered walls with a modern timber latchgate. The rear yard is enclosed by a painted smooth rendered wall with concrete coping.

The terrace, originally named Grangemount, was built around 1908 and first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1922–31. The end terrace building at number four is of different design but was constructed at the same time as the remainder of the row. The development entered valuation records in 1908 as a newly-built vacant row, with number 3 valued at £31 and the remainder at £27. Number 3 was built by James Lyon, manager of Ballyrashane Creamery, while the remainder of the terrace was constructed by James Kennedy, who was resident at number 5 by 1910 and let the other houses to tenants. After the First World War all houses were sold off individually and separately owned and let, sometimes being used as boarding houses serving the nearby resort.

The first recorded occupier of number 9 was Godfrey Wefers in 1910, but by 1912 the house had passed to Carrie K McMurray, followed in 1915 by Frederick J Powell, who remained resident for several years. Valuer's notes from the 1930s record that the house was purchased for £800 in 1927 and was noted to have somewhat old-fashioned sanitary fittings and kitchen range. The building continues in use as a domestic house.