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

A two-bay, two-storey mid-terrace rendered townhouse with dormer attic, built around 1908 and located on the south side of Dhu Varren Park in Portrush. The building forms part of a coherent group of Edwardian townhouses typical of suburban expansion in the early twentieth century, though this terrace was constructed relatively late and lacks special architectural or historic interest.

The house is square on plan with a projecting ground floor to the front and a full-height gabled return to the rear. It has a pitched natural slate roof with terracotta angled ridge tiles and a yellow-brick chimneystack. Timber bargeboards and terracotta finials decorate the gables, though the right finial is missing. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods run along projecting eaves. The walling is painted smooth render with a scotia moulded string-course supporting rainwater goods between the first floor and attic; the rear return has roughcast render.

Windows are replacement uPVC sash with margin panes and multi-paned top-lights, set in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills. Grouped windows have bullnose continuous sills. The principal elevation faces north, with two wall head dormer windows to the attic over three windows at first floor, the pair positioned to the right. A monopitched red tiled roof covers the ground floor. A group of three windows to the right has narrower outer windows. The left side has a replacement six-panelled timber door in a stop-end chamfered reveal, accessed by three modern brick pavior steps and fitted with an original timber transom light over, complete with margin panes and multi-paned top-lights. The second floor contains a mid-twentieth-century timber window. The east and west elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings.

The property sits on a rectangular plot in a residential area of Portrush, directly opposite the Coleraine-Portrush train line and Dhu Varren halt. A tall roughcast rendered wall encloses the yard to the rear. The front features a lawned garden with a brick pavior pathway to the entrance door, enclosed by a modern rendered wall topped with metal railings and a replacement metal gate.

The terrace of six dwellings was built around 1908 and first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1922-31. The end terrace at number four has a different design but was constructed contemporaneously with the others. Originally named 'Grangemount', the terrace entered valuation records in 1908 as newly-built and vacant, with number 3 valued at £31 and the remainder at £27. Number 3 was built by James Lyon, manager of Ballyrashane Creamery. The remainder of the terrace was built by James Kennedy, who was in residence at number 5 by 1910 and let the remaining houses to tenants. After the First World War, all houses were sold off and separately owned and let, occasionally as boarding houses serving Portrush's flourishing resort trade. By 1911, James Kennedy was no longer present at the house. In 1914, he let it to William de Pauley, followed by Flora D Stewart in 1919, Charles Dunn, and William McNeill in 1927. Valuer's notes from the 1930s record the accommodation as three receptions on the ground floor, seven bedrooms, a kitchen, scullery, pantry, bathroom and WC. The house was lit by electric light, while some others in the row were still gas lit. The building continues in use as a domestic house.