The Lodge, 2 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEY

The Lodge is a two-storey Georgian house of mid-18th century date, rebuilt largely in recent times but retaining significant architectural and historical importance to Limavady. The structure comprises three structural bays and presents five windows across its principal elevation.

The house is harled and rendered with a simple pediment to the central bay, which contains a circular window filled with coloured glass separated by curving mullions. The sashed windows throughout are Georgian in character: those to the ground and first floors are twelve-pane sashes that align vertically, with those on the upper floor standing two-thirds the height of the ground floor windows. The central entrance is marked by a double door with rectangular fanlight, flanked by painted pilasters supporting an entablature broken by a central keystone. The door hardware includes a brass lion head knocker and heavy fluted knob. The roof is slated with rendered chimneys to each gable, each carrying four small pots. Modern barge boards are fitted. Decorative kneeler stones in sand cement, painted, sit at the eaves of each gable.

The building sits within its own grounds at the south-western end of Main Street, set back approximately 60 metres from the street line and oriented at an angle facing almost due south. Mature trees occupy the end of the garden, aligning with those on Main Street. To the west side is a single-storey sun lounge of modern construction, detailed in the Georgian manner. The sun lounge has harled walls angled 45 degrees at the corners, supporting a steeply sloping slate roof. Large double-glazed windows are subdivided by timber mullions forming a Georgian pattern. The roof above these windows is flat where it abuts the main house gable. Two four-pane sashes light the attic storey above. The sun lounge returns as a glazed corridor with French windows to meet a single-storey kitchen return, which has a pitched slate roof, harled walls, and modern casement windows. The rear elevation features a glazed porch with flat roof across part of the facade, with a tall Georgian window serving a major reception room within. Other windows on this elevation are Georgian sashes. A central bay window is set lower to light the staircase. Three triple sashed dormers are equally spaced at eaves level. The eastern gable contains two high-level four-pane Georgian sash windows.

A map from 1699 records a building called New Hall on this site. It was then owned by George Philips, who was selling the house and estate to William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The building was likely erected as part of the reconstruction of Limavady following destruction during the 1641 rebellion. In 1742, New Hall was leased to Thomas Smith of Limavady, who had recently spent £300 on building the house and improving the office houses. This substantial renovation or reconstruction probably accounts for the form of the present house. By 1802, the property was known as the Lodge and was occupied by Mr Ross, father of Miss Jane Ross who transcribed The Londonderry Air in 1851. The Conolly Estate in Limavady was sold in 1806 to Robert Ogilby. In 1823 the Lodge was sold to Robert Conn, a linen merchant of Limavady. Two officers of the first Ordnance Survey married his daughters: Mr R Fenwick and William Lancey married Isabella and Mary Conn respectively. A Conn/Lancey grave stone is recorded in Christchurch. In 1881, S M McGrory purchased the house. During his ownership, part of the garden was sold off to provide a plot for the Masonic Hall, commenced in 1900, which destroyed the formal relationship of the entrance gates to the demesne that had terminated the axis of Main Street. In the 20th century the house was briefly used as a rectory before being purchased by the Hunter family, who occupied it until the late 1980s. It was offered for sale in the early 1990s, with proposals for flats submitted in 1995. The present owner renovated it as a family home in 1993.

To the rear, the remains of stables and other outbuildings survive, either converted into houses or used for storage. Ground adjacent to the eastern rear elevation is currently excavated to provide foundations for a new building.