29 The Diamond, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1DP

29 The Diamond, Coleraine

A symmetrical terraced three-storey commercial building built around 1911 to designs by Samuel J. McFadden. The building is stucco-rendered with a pedimented central breakfront and modern shopfront at ground level. It stands prominently on the north side of The Diamond, Coleraine's central square, as part of a varied terrace of commercial and formerly domestic buildings overlooking the Town Hall.

The building is rectangular on plan facing south and abutted to the rear by a large single-storey retail building opening through a carriage arch onto The Diamond. The pitched natural slate roof has rendered chimneystacks at either end, set behind a rendered parapet wall with modillioned cornice, cast-iron box hopper and square-profile cast-iron downpipes. The front elevation is five windows wide with square-headed window openings featuring architrave surrounds, entablature, moulded sills and single-pane timber sash windows. The central bay forms a shallow breakfront, with the parapet cornice punctuated by an elongated modillioned broken-based pediment embellished with rusticated quoins, a lead-lined interior and a cartouche with foliate swags. A replacement shopfront and fascia occupy most of the ground floor, with a round-headed arch to the east bay having a cement-rendered surround opening into a tiled shopping arcade. The west side elevation is abutted by an adjoining commercial building. The three-storey rendered rear elevation has a full-height projection on the right with square-headed window openings and single-pane timber sash windows. The ground floor is abutted by a large single-storey flat-roofed retail extension built around 1990, extending to the rear of the terrace and car park. The east side elevation is abutted by an adjoining commercial building.

Built in 1911–12 by the Hill Brothers, drapers formerly of Church Street, the building replaced an earlier structure on the site and was first shown on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1923. The valuation increased from £29 to £80. Samuel John McFadden, Assistant County Surveyor for Coleraine and Ballymena Rural District Councils, is known to have designed a new house and shop in The Diamond in 1911 and likely designed this building. In the 1930s, the Hill Brothers operated their drapers shop on the ground floor with fitting room, office, cloakroom and workrooms to the rear. Offices on the upper floors were let to various tenants including the Theosophical Society and the Royal Liver Friendly Society, with domestic accommodation occupied by William Keely. Hill Brothers took over the upper floors in 1955 and converted the first floor into a modern showroom with the second floor partly used as stock rooms. The building continues in use as commercial premises. The development of the modern arcade has resulted in loss of most of the original walls at ground and first-floor levels, and modern shopfronts both front and back detract from the integrity of the decorative façade and historic setting.