97 Main Street, Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, BT51 5AB

A two-bay two-storey mid-terrace townhouse with integral segmental-headed carriage-arch, predating 1830 and situated on the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre.

The building dates to the early nineteenth century, with evidence suggesting it may have earlier fabric at its core. It first appears on the 1832 First Edition Ordnance Survey map. The rectangular plan includes a modern two-storey flat-roof extension and single-storey flat-roof porch to the rear.

The principal west-facing elevation is rendered in smooth painted finish on a chamfered plinth with raised quoins. The roof is artificial slate with blue and black angled ridge tiles and a rendered chimneystack to the gable. Two modern skylights pierce the rear pitch. Plastic rainwater goods run along a moulded eaves course.

Windows are modern uPVC in moulded architraves with painted sills. The ground floor features a segmental-headed carriage arch to the left, with an irregular arrangement of openings across both storeys. The first floor has a large rectangular window at left and a regular window at right. A round-headed entrance to the ground floor, left of centre, comprises a replacement bolection-moulded four-panel timber door with an original ornate timber fanlight in a panelled reveal, flanked by fluted panelled pilasters and surmounted by an archivolt. To the right is an enlarged window insertion fronted by a modern metal roller shutter. The north gable contains a large rectangular window at ground floor. The east (rear) elevation shows a window over the carriage arch entry, with the two-storey extension abutting the left bay and a single-storey porch at right.

Historically, the property is documented in the Townland Valuation of 1828–40 as the residence of John Cochrane, valued at £5 16 shillings. By Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64, it remained in Cochrane family occupation under Margaret Cochrane and was described as a slated house with a single-storey thatched return and thatched outbuilding, with a well-enclosed yard and garden. Margaret Cochrane died unmarried in 1866. The house subsequently passed to Isabella Clinton by 1875, then to Philip Kerlin in 1896 (a magistrate and former national school teacher, recorded as a widower with three daughters in the 1911 census). Charles O'Connell took ownership in 1922, followed by Ernest Hill and Sergeant Kirk from 1942. By the 1930s, the accommodation comprised one reception room, four bedrooms, a kitchen and scullery, with an unfinished attic and an earth closet to the rear. The house had electric light but water came from a hand pump in the yard.

Late twentieth-century changes have included removal of the original sash windows and alterations to the ground floor window opening. The building was listed in 1977 and delisted on 26 March 2014.

The setting comprises a street-fronted position with access to a large rear yard via the carriage arch. The gravelled yard is enclosed by a modern timber fence and contains a workshop and modern concrete block garage. The rendered rear elevation is in painted roughcast.

Inappropriate alterations and refurbishments have substantially degraded much of the building's original character and its setting.