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

32 Lodge Road, Coleraine

This is a terraced three-storey-over-basement former townhouse with an attic, now used as commercial office accommodation. It was built around 1860 and stands on the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre, forming part of a terrace known as Waterford Terrace (numbers 26–32), which was the first section of a larger development of sixteen houses built between around 1859 and 1888.

Origins and Historical Context

The terrace was built by Thomas Boyd, a builder and elder of New Row Presbyterian Church, and named after the Marquess of Waterford, who owned much land in the locality. All four houses in this first phase were let by December 1859, and they are distinguished from the later houses in the terrace by their basement storeys. The terrace is first shown on the large-scale map of Coleraine dating from 1882. Lodge Road itself was laid out between 1833 and 1845, first appearing on O'Hagan's map of Coleraine from 1845, and takes its name from The Lodge, a dwelling house at its southern end, since replaced by a hotel. The closing decades of the 19th century saw a building boom of terraces and villas in Coleraine of which local people were extremely proud, and this terrace represents one of the best-preserved examples of mid-to-late-19th-century terraced architecture in the town, displaying proportions and details typical of the period.

The house was initially valued at £30, with £1 for the garden, and was first occupied by a Mrs Stott, leasing from Thomas Boyd. At the time of the 1901 census, the occupier was Robert McClenahan, Presbyterian minister of First Coleraine from 1894 to 1905, who lived with his wife and employed a general domestic servant. By 1911, the house had been taken over by Robert Beatty Wylie, minister of Terrace Row Presbyterian Church, Coleraine from 1871 to 1913, who lived with his wife and two children and also employed a general domestic servant. The house subsequently passed to James Foulis in 1916, Robert Hunter in 1920, and Violet McFeeter in 1936.

Valuer's notes from the 1930s record the accommodation as follows: in the basement, a kitchen, scullery, and coal house; on the ground floor, two reception rooms, a kitchen, and a scullery; on the first floor, one reception room, three bedrooms, and a bathroom; on the second floor, three bedrooms; and on the third floor, two attic bedrooms. The house had water laid on and gas lighting at that time. A plan from the same period shows the main house, its return, a wash house, and an outbuilding at the bottom of the yard, which is still present. The house was listed in 1977, at which time it appears to have been occupied as a single unit together with its neighbour, number 30. Renovations and repairs took place in the 1980s and 1990s.

Exterior Description

The building has a rectangular plan with a two-storey return to the rear, a modern two-storey extension, and a linking block connecting the original two-storey outbuilding at the back of the plot. The roof is pitched natural slate with blue-black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods are carried on moulded eaves.

The external walling is painted smooth render with raised quoins, and roughcast painted render to the rear. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sash without horns, set in moulded architraves with projecting painted sills, except for 3/6 windows in plain reveals to the basement, and 6/6 timber sash windows to the rear.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is four openings wide, with the entrance positioned to the ground floor right. This entrance comprises a modern metal door with sidelights and a transom light, flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a pedimented entablature. It is accessed via a concrete step with a curved plinth wall to the left side. The northwest elevation abuts the adjoining building at number 30.

The northeast (rear) elevation has a window at second-floor level to the left, above the two-storey return, and a further window to the right at upper-floor level. At ground-floor level to the right is a flat-roof corridor extension connecting the return of the neighbouring building at number 32 to that terrace group. The return has, on its southeast elevation, a canted bay oriel window above a ground-floor window, and is abutted at the northeast by the modern two-storey extension with its linking block to the former outbuilding.

The southeast gable has two diminutive 2/1 windows to the attic, 2/2 windows with margin panes at second and first-floor level to the left, and a window at first-floor level to the right. At ground-floor level to the right are two windows and a two-panelled-and-glazed timber door with cast-iron door furniture, surmounted by a small concrete canopy and accessed via a concrete step.

Setting

The building is set back from the street on the east side of Lodge Road, with a paved concrete yard to the front shared with number 30. The yard is enclosed to the right by a hedge and to the street by a painted render wall on a contrasting plinth, with saddleback coping and square piers with pointed caps, and a cast-iron latch gate at the right-hand entrance. A tarmacadamed alley to the southeast gives access to a car park to the east. To the rear is a small yard enclosed by the two-storey outbuilding. This outbuilding forms part of a terrace and has painted roughcast rendered walls and a slate roof; it has been modified with modern window insertions.

Condition and Integrity

The building has suffered some loss of integrity through alterations and refurbishments, as well as through the addition of the modern rear extension. Despite this, it retains good examples of typical mid-Victorian detailing and makes an important contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre. It forms part of a prominent and architecturally significant group of buildings at the heart of a town whose character is largely defined by its Victorian development. The terrace as a whole was considered to occupy the best, and sunniest, side of Lodge Road, and was historically occupied by middle-class merchants and professionals, each household keeping at least one servant.