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

5 Waterside is a three-storey terraced building with basement, constructed around 1847 to 1854 as part of a planned Georgian-style terrace on the western side of Coleraine. The design was overseen by Samuel Angell, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers' surveyor in Ulster, with individual buildings regulated by Angell and surveyor Stewart Gordon to conform to an overall unified scheme. The building currently functions as a ground-floor shop with a dental surgery above.

Historical Background

The area known as Waterside, formerly part of Killowen Parish, was originally a suburb of Coleraine under the ownership of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, one of the London Merchant Companies charged with developing and settling County Londonderry during the early 17th century. The Company had long 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.

A new bridge of increased height was built around 1844 to replace a previous timber construction of around 1735, and stabilising works were carried out to the western embankment of the River Bann. The raising of the street level on the Killowen side to correspond with the new bridge adversely affected the existing buildings. It was decided that it was more appropriate to demolish and entirely rebuild the Waterside area in order to create a more dignified approach into the Company's estate from Coleraine to the east. The general layout of the street had already been established, so the terrace did not alter significantly on plan; however, the design, scale and style of the new buildings adhered to a strict architectural discipline, itself established by the erection of the neighbouring Clothworkers' Arms Hotel around 1846. The hotel marked the first stage of development, and demolition of the neighbouring houses began in 1847. Angell designed the new terrace to complement the hotel and to line what amounted to a near-processional approach into the Clothworkers' estate via the new bridge. Although designs for individual buildings were largely generated by other architects, each was strictly regulated by Angell and Stewart Gordon. The terrace was completed around 1854, by which time the Clothworkers' Company claimed to have spent approximately £4,000 on erecting houses in the Waterside area. As architectural historian James Curl (1986) notes, the plain, balanced and unembellished style of this terrace reflects a conscious decision by the Clothworkers' Company to avoid the excessive ornamentation embraced by other London Companies during this period of widespread architectural improvement.

The buildings are first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849 to 1850, replacing an earlier street visible on the first edition map of 1830, which showed buildings laid out to a similar pattern with extensive outbuildings to the rear. No. 5 was first occupied by Peter Martin and valued at £22 in Griffith's Valuation of 1856, a value that did not significantly change thereafter. Ownership transferred to Sir Hervey Bruce in 1868, and by 1875 William and George Gilmore were operating a grocer's shop from the ground floor. Census records for 1901 and 1911 record George Gilmore and eight family members living in the house above, with outbuildings to the rear including a stable, shed and store. The ground floor continued in use as a shop, occupied by a Miss Hughes in 1916 and a James White in 1927. Ordnance Survey maps from 1882 to 1968 show the building's footprint remained essentially unchanged since construction, apart from the removal of the rear outbuildings and the addition of a rear extension prior to 1904, which has since been remodelled and further extended.

Exterior

The principal elevation faces south and is two bays wide across the upper floors. The walling is ruled-and-lined rendered and painted throughout. The roof is pitched slate with blue-grey angled ridge tiles. There is a brick chimney to the right side carrying six clay pots. Rainwater goods are ogee-profile uPVC, with square downpipes mounted on a plain timber fascia to boxed eaves.

The upper floors of the south elevation have square-headed uPVC windows with projecting moulded architraves and projecting painted sills, the sills being continuous at first-floor level. The ground floor has been modernised and features polished stone cladding to the shop front, with an expansive plain glass three-paned window. There is a recessed modern timber and glazed door to the right side with a plain glass transom over, plain glass projecting sidelights, and a narrow glazing strip to the right of the shop front. Modern vinyl and uPVC signage runs across the full length of the elevation.

The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace. The rear north elevation has a single enlarged rectangular window to the left side of the upper floor, an enlarged opening to the window below into which a timber fire-escape door has been inserted, and windows to the right side that have been blocked and rendered over. A substantial two-stage flat-roofed extension, dating from the mid-20th century and around 2005, abuts the building at ground floor and basement levels, extending northward and abutting the neighbouring building. The left cheek of this extension is blank and represents a remodelling of an earlier extension, with former window openings blocked on the left cheek. The north elevation of the extension has recent concrete stairs to the right, a timber-sheeted access door to the basement on the left, a modern glazed entrance to the shop at ground-floor level from steps, and a modern metal spiral stair to the left providing a fire-escape route from a timber walkway on the split-level roof of the extension. The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace.

Significance and Setting

No. 5 forms an important element within the overall redevelopment of Waterside and has group value with the other listed buildings in the terrace. The terrace as a whole is characterised by restrained detailing, ruled-and-lined rendered walling, tall narrow frontages, and large regular fenestration patterns over shop fronts. The integrity of this character has been largely retained across the upper floors, though incremental changes to the ground-floor shop fronts over the decades have resulted in the erosion of some historic fabric.

The building is situated in an urban setting with its main elevation directly fronting one of the principal thoroughfares into Coleraine town centre via the nearby Old Bridge, on the western banks of the River Bann to the west of Coleraine's central Diamond. The terrace extends westward and eastward from this building, with a matching terrace on the opposite side of the street to the south. This northern terrace remains important to the visual balance of Waterside as a whole, helping to define the character of one of the main approaches into Coleraine and presenting one of the only coherent street facades within the town. Directly to the rear is a shared yard with modern entrance gates, enclosed on all sides by the substantial returns and extensions of neighbouring buildings. The rear of the building is abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed extension, which also serves as a secondary entrance into the ground-floor shop from the car park to the north.