Streeve House, 25 Dowland Road, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 0HP

Streeve House is a brick-built Georgian residence of considerable historical and architectural interest, located at an elevated position approached by a winding avenue from Dowland Road near Limavady.

The house dates to approximately 1720-1739 and exhibits late Georgian characteristics overlaid with earlier Georgian detailing. It is constructed as a two-storey gabled structure three bays wide on its entrance front, which faces north. The most prominent feature is the central doorway, crowned with a semi-circular fanlight of moulded sandstone. The fanlight is divided into three panes of pointed shapes. The door case itself displays earlier Georgian detail, with plain pilasters on each side, blocking pieces, and a moulded cornice at the head. The doors (white-painted double three-panelled units) appear to be later insertions within a double timber frame, though the original sandstone casing remains intact, evidenced by the double brick course rising slightly over the fanlight.

The entrance facade is characterised by solid walling predominating over void. The windows are wide sashes with 20 panes each, set on sandstone cills. First-floor windows are slightly narrower than those below, while the window directly over the door is much narrower with only 12 panes. A distinctive double row of slightly projecting bricks runs along the long walls and those of the return, suggesting the house was originally single storey and this represents an eaves course from an earlier phase.

A long two-storey back return extends in line with the east gable, five bays in length. This section is rendered and painted white, as is the adjoining gable. All openings on the return have a raised smooth plaster surround. New windows with Georgian panes have been inserted, along with half-round iron guttering and downpipes with trunkheads. All roofs are of natural slate with five brick chimneys.

Historical evidence indicates the building was originally constructed as a double residence. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1835, when the house was occupied by Marcus Gage, it had "been altered and improved by the present proprietor." The memoir notes that "in 1833 he built an entrance lodge and made a new avenue which winds around the base of a hill." The back return likely served as the second residence. Before 1835, the structure was probably single storey throughout; the first floor is said to have been removed at a later date and reconstructed around 1960 using bricks salvaged from the demolished walled garden.

Surrounding the house is a range of outhouses in brick enclosing a square farmyard, with a substantial barn constructed of basalt and brick at its centre, roofed with segmented corrugated iron. To the east was a walled garden, now largely removed except for the west wall retained as a screen. The house is set within mature landscaping, approached by the winding avenue from Dowland Road. The original gatepiers and gates have been removed and recently rebuilt. Across the road stands a small derelict single-storey gate lodge of brick, built as part of the Streeve House estate.

The house remains in private residential use and demonstrates considerable architectural quality and historical significance through its proportions, ornamentation, plan form, and landscape setting.