10 Lodge Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1NB

10 Lodge Road, Coleraine

A two-bay, three-storey-with-attic mid-terrace building, now converted to commercial use, built in 1880 and situated on the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine. The building forms part of an important and prominent terrace of sixteen houses built between circa 1859 and 1888 for Coleraine's rising middle classes. This terrace represents one of the best preserved examples of mid-to-late-nineteenth-century terraced architecture in the town and makes a significant contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre.

The building is square on plan with a two-and-a-half-storey return and single-storey lean-to extension to the rear. The roof is pitched with natural slate and blue-black angled ridge tiles, with a rendered chimneystack to the gable finished with a moulded cap. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are mounted on bracketed eaves. The walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth, with a moulded string course between ground and first floor, a continuous sill course at first floor, and a moulded platband under the eaves. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sash with horns in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills. A timber-sheeted dormer window to the attic features plain bargeboards, a finial and a tripartite timber window.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is three openings wide at each floor. The ground floor entrance on the left is accessed via a sandstone step and comprises a bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with a plain transom light in a stop-end chamfered reveal. The entrance is flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a plain entablature with an ovolo-moulded cornice; stepped piers rise over the entrance. A moulded plaque between the upper floors bears painted lettering reading "NIRVANA". The northwest elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The southeast elevation is likewise abutted by the adjoining building.

The setting occupies the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre. The building is set back from the street with a small yard to the front, laid with square cement paving and enclosed by a rendered wall with a contrasting plinth and painted coping stones. A tarmacadamed alley to the northwest of the terrace leads to a car park at the east. To the rear is a yard enclosed by a terraced two-storey outbuilding, painted with smooth render and a slated roof with rendered chimneysstacks. The northeast elevation of this outbuilding features two modern windows at first floor above a modern shopfront with a metal roller shutter, a vented timber door to a boiler, and a timber-sheeted entrance door with a plain transom light.

The house was originally named 'Elisa Villa', as recorded on large-scale maps and in valuation records, though the name plaque currently reads 'Nirvana'. The terrace was considered to occupy the best and sunniest side of Lodge Road and was occupied largely by middle-class merchants and professionals who kept at least one servant. Lodge Road itself was laid out between 1833 and 1845, first appearing on O'Hagan's map of Coleraine dating from 1845, and is named after 'The Lodge', a dwelling at the southern end (now replaced by a hotel). The late nineteenth century saw a building boom in Coleraine of terraces and villas of which local people were extremely proud, said to have begun in the late 1850s.

The house, offices, yard and small garden were initially valued at £26 in 1880, occupied by John Stewart and leased from Robert Ferris, most likely the developer. At the time of the 1901 census, the occupier was James Hay, a clerk of petty sessions, living with his wife and two children and a general domestic servant. Subsequent occupiers included Charles C Johnston (1905) and Walter Weir, recorded in the 1911 census as a retired customs officer with his wife and a general domestic servant. Jane Moore occupied the house in 1915, followed by Samuel Stewart Fullerton (1921), James Quigley (1924), Henry Leadbetter (1929), Alex Duff (1939), and Margaret McKenna, who remained until at least the 1950s. Valuer's notes from the 1930s record ground-floor accommodation comprising a reception, kitchen, scullery and pantry; first floor with a reception and two bedrooms; second floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom; and third floor with two attic bedrooms. The house had water laid on and gas lighting at this time, with a plan showing the house, return, open shed and WC in the yard and an outbuilding at the bottom of the yard that remains present.

The house was listed in 1977, became a health and beauty studio in 1984, and was converted to offices in 1994. In recent years a chiropractor used the offices, but the building currently lies vacant.