81 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEP

A high Victorian terraced town house, built between 1880 and 1899, which stood at the north eastern end of Main Street in Limavady facing north west. The building has since been demolished (late 1999).

The house was the larger of two heavily modelled painted plaster late Victorian town houses, forming an interesting group with its neighbour at number 83. It was two storeys tall with a steeply sloping slate roof and large modelled brick chimneys with seven pots on each end of the ridge.

The facade was three structural bays wide. The ground floor contained one two-pane sash window over the central entrance door and two two-pane sashes grouped to each side. These sashes had filleted top corners and architraves contained within a coursed plaster background. Their cills formed part of a string course aligning with the plinth of pilasters on the facade. Two Doric pilasters flanked the panelled entrance door, which had a plain semi-circular fanlight and a keystone jutting into the architrave of the entablature above, executed in the Doric fashion. Triglyphs occurred only over the door and pilasters. At each end of the building stood a wider Doric pilaster which broke up into the entablature; that to the north east formed part of the composition of number 83 as one of a pair flanking its entrance door. The first floor windows had rectangular heads, architraves and keystones, with cills forming a string course. The eaves were supported by a cornice, and the south west end had an applied pilaster.

The exterior plasterwork was in need of maintenance at the time of recording in 1997.

The house was designed by architect W J Given and built by contractor J S Brolly in 1883, following the demolition of six thatched houses on the south side of Main Street. The property was erected adjoining the business premises of Henry Connell and his brother John, who had purchased the site from Sarah Jackson along with four acres of ground in the rear along Methodist Lane.

The interior contained remarkably well preserved and interesting fittings including tessellated tiles, an entrance screen, shutters to windows, a rear conservatory, staircase, bathroom fittings, fireplaces and cornice plasterwork.

Historically, Dr R A Reid lived in the house until 1981 and operated his surgery from the ground floor. It was subsequently used as a Ladies Fashion Shop until 1997 by Tweedy Acheson. The building was demolished in late 1999 to make way for a new supermarket.