12 Waterside, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 3DP

No. 12 Waterside is a three-storey-with-basement Georgian-style terraced building, constructed around 1850 as part of a phased redevelopment of the Waterside area of Coleraine carried out between approximately 1846 and 1854. It forms one of a coherent run of similar properties and currently operates as a public house at ground floor level with accommodation above. The building is two openings wide and rectangular on plan, and sits on the western side of Coleraine on the banks of the River Bann, directly fronting one of the main approaches into the town centre via the nearby Old Bridge.

The design of the terrace as a whole was overseen by Samuel Angell, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers' surveyor in Ulster, and by surveyor Stewart Gordon. The terrace replaced an earlier street of similar layout, as recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830, but the new buildings were held to a strict architectural discipline in terms of design, scale and style. The plain, balanced and unembellished character of the terrace reflects a conscious decision by the Clothworkers' Company to avoid the excessive ornamentation adopted by other London Companies during this same period of widespread architectural improvement.

The roof is pitched slate with blue/grey angled ridge-tiles. A rendered chimney abuts that of the neighbouring terrace and carries multiple terracotta pots. There is a stone coping to the east gable, and eaves are boxed with a plain timber fascia carrying half-round cast-iron and uPVC rainwater goods. The walls are painted brick, with smooth render to the rear. Window openings are flat-arched with plain reveals and painted projecting sills, and are glazed with one-over-one timber sash windows unless otherwise noted.

The principal elevation faces north and has two windows to each of the upper floors. The ground floor is smooth rendered and painted, and has a 20th-century pub front comprising a modern four-panelled timber door to the centre, flanked by two fifteen-pane windows on each side.

The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace. The south (rear) elevation contains two infilled windows to the upper floor, a window with metal bars and a small casement to the first floor right, and is abutted on the left by a gabled and slated return with a first-floor window. A small mono-pitched corrugated return occupies the ground floor of this elevation. The remaining section of the south elevation is abutted by a substantial two-storey gabled return, which is roughcast and roofed with corrugated material to the east, and slate-roofed with smooth render to the west; its windows are timber casements. The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace.

The south gable is connected to an original brick and rubblestone three-storey outbuilding by a two-storey, flat-roofed late 19th-century link with a corrugated roof. A mono-pitched roof of corrugated asbestos spans between the west elevation and a rubblestone boundary wall. A metal fire-escape stair extends from the south extensions down to a shared yard, which is served by a common alley to the far south.

The three-storey gabled outbuilding at the far south is of random rubble construction with areas of roughcast render. It has a slate roof, a projecting brick eaves course, a timber casement window to the right with a brick sill, and a timber-framed blocked opening above with a stone sill. Its remaining elevations are blank and abutted by neighbouring structures, with the exception of the north elevation, which is more formalised: it is built of blackstone rubble roughly laid to courses, with stepped red brick window reveals, strip quoins, and two window openings retaining their timber frames. This elevation is partly abutted by a number of small extensions. The outbuilding is shown on the Town Plan map of 1882 and, although renovated or replaced at some point during the mid-20th century, field evidence confirms it remains in place.

The structural footprint of No. 12 corresponds with its original layout. Although the building has been extensively remodelled and partially rebuilt, some vestiges of the original fabric may remain.

Historical background

The Waterside area of Coleraine, historically part of Killowen Parish, was originally a suburb of the town and lay within the estate of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, one of the London Merchant Companies tasked with developing and settling County Londonderry during the early 17th century. Over subsequent centuries the Company leased out these lands, often to absentee landlords, which led to general decline and a lack of new building due to uncertainty of tenure. When the lease expired in 1840, the Company regained direct control and embarked on a substantial programme of improvement covering buildings, infrastructure and education.

As part of this programme, a new bridge of increased height was built around 1844 to replace a previous timber structure dating from around 1735, and stabilising works were carried out to the western embankment of the River Bann. The raised bridge height required the street level on the Killowen side to be lifted to match, which affected the existing buildings. It was decided that it was more appropriate to demolish and rebuild the entire Waterside area rather than adapt the existing stock, in order to create a suitably dignified entry into the Clothworkers' estate from the main part of Coleraine to the east.

The redevelopment was anchored by the erection of the neighbouring Clothworkers' Arms Hotel around 1846, which established the architectural character for the rest of the scheme. Demolition of the neighbouring houses began in 1847. According to James Curl writing in 1986, the houses on the southern terrace — of which No. 12 forms part — were erected first in order to provide visual balance to the then-isolated hotel on the opposite side of the street. Samuel Angell designed a suitable corner terrace to complement his hotel design and to line what amounted to a processional approach into the estate via the new bridge. Although the remaining buildings along the terrace were largely designed by other architects, each was strictly regulated by Angell and Stewart Gordon to conform to the overall scheme. The terrace was completed around 1854, by which time the Clothworkers' Company claimed to have spent approximately £4,000 on the erection of houses in the Waterside area.

No. 12 was first occupied by Daniel Kennedy, followed by James and Nicholas Hughes. It was valued at £26 in Griffith's Valuation of 1856. Ownership transferred to Sir Hervey Bruce around 1872 without significant change in valuation, but by 1902 the valuation had decreased to £24. The 1901 Census records Nicholas Hughes as a spirit merchant who lived in the upper part of the house and operated a spirit shop on the ground floor; this became a Licensed House in 1902, and the building continues to operate as a public house today.

The building has group value with the other listed buildings in the terrace, and the terrace as a whole remains important to the visual character of Waterside, helping to define the approach into Coleraine and forming one of the few coherent historic street facades surviving within the town.