Millburn Terrace, 39 Millburn Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1QT

A two-bay three-storey mid-terrace Victorian townhouse built circa 1866 on the east side of Millburn Road in Coleraine town centre. The house is square on plan with a single-storey canted bay to the front and a three-storey return to the rear.

The pitched natural slate roof features blue and black angled ridge tiles. Rendered and red-brick chimneysstacks with replacement tall clay pots sit above dentilled eaves carrying cast-iron ogee rainwater goods. The walling is dry dash over a smooth rendered plinth. The principal northwest-facing elevation is two windows wide at upper floors with a canted bay window to the ground floor at left. Windows are replacement uPVC in simple smooth render surrounds with projecting painted sills; a continuous sill course runs across the canted bay. Mid-twentieth century timber casements remain to the rear return. The classical-style doorcase at right comprises panelled pilasters, a frieze carved with a Greek-key motif, and scrolled acanthus-leaf console brackets supporting a corniced canopy. The doorcase contains a replacement multi-paned timber entrance door with a transom light inscribed "39" and is accessed by two concrete steps. The northeast elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The southeast rear elevation has a window to each floor at right and is abutted at left by the three-storey gabled return with windows to the upper floors at its northeast elevation. The southwest elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

The house is positioned on a slightly elevated lawned and shrubbed site with a concrete pathway leading to steps at the paved patio front. Bounded to the road is a mature hedge and rubblestone wall topped by sandstone coping, with square rendered piers having pointed caps supporting a replacement timber gate and two stone steps. An enclosed rear yard contains a modified two-storey outbuilding forming part of a terrace.

Originally named Clifton Terrace, the building was constructed circa 1866 on land owned by Richard Olphert of Millburn House. The terrace was built by contractor Joseph Esdale following the establishment of the Coleraine Building Society in 1864, which sought sites for workmen's cottages. The Olphert estate's advertised sites on Millburn Road attracted the Society's attention, and the terrace became their first major development. Comprising originally eight dwellings with a ninth added circa 1875, the terrace was named 'Clifton' after the family name of Lady Bruce, whose husband Sir Henry Hervey Bruce was the building society's president. Each house was built with canted bays, railings to the front, and a row of outbuildings to the rear.

Well-known Coleraine merchants such as Hugh Cheyne and James Brookes were among the first occupiers. By the early twentieth century, residents included retired farmers, professional people, and merchants, some of whom employed servants. Number 39 was initially a house, office and garden occupied by H H Birch and leased from John Gribbon, valued at £16 and 15 shillings for the garden. Subsequent occupiers included John Thomson (1872), whose twelve-year-old son Hugh Thomson later became an illustrator of national significance, producing illustrations for over seventy books. The 1901 census records widow Anne Eccles living at the house with her son William Eccles, the town clerk of Coleraine, employing a live-in domestic. The nine-room house was designated first class. The 1911 census records six rooms occupied by widow Sarah Kennedy and three further rooms occupied by her grandmother Elizabeth Innes and two grandchildren born in Spain.

The terrace forms part of an important group of mid-nineteenth century terraced architecture on the east side of the River Bann in Coleraine town centre, overlooking The Rose Gardens and Anderson Park. It is one of the best preserved examples of mid-nineteenth century terraced architecture in the town and makes a considerable contribution to the architectural quality and character of Coleraine. The terrace was listed in 1997 and extended to the rear in 2002 to form four flats.