108 Strand Road, Portstewart, Co Londonderry, BT55 7PG

108 Strand Road is a mid-20th century private house in the International Modern style, designed by leading local architect Noel Campbell and built in 1959, with a rear extension added by the same architect in 1968. It stands in a prominent open position on the edge of Portstewart, overlooking the coast and Portstewart Strand. The house is of special interest as a period piece of progressive, contemporary modern styling in domestic architecture, and despite some alterations retains great strength and presence, reflective of the architectural discourse of its era.

FORM AND PLAN

The house is one and two storeys in height, arranged originally as a long L-shaped block and later extended to the rear to form a T-shape. The original 1959 building comprises a long block running from south-west to north-east, with a short front return facing south-east. The 1968 extension by Campbell added a two-storey rear return wing to the north-west. The main entrance faces south-east.

SOUTH-EAST (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION

The south-east elevation consists of a long original single-storey block to the left, containing the main entrance, rising to an original two-storey portion to the right, which includes a first-floor balcony projecting forward over the garage.

The single-storey block has a double-canted butterfly roof with asphalt covering turned down over a later fascia of ribbed PVC, which replaced the original timber fascia. The walls are smooth cement-rendered and painted, on a slightly recessed plinth of similar finish, and contain large plate-glass windows, double-glazed in metal frames. The slightly recessed main entrance doorway and its flanking side screen glazing are of the same type. There is a plain concrete doorstep, and timber-panelled soffits to the door head, surmounted by a modern replacement ribbed PVC fascia extending the full width of the block. The spandrel between the door head fascia and the eaves fascia is clad with tongued-and-grooved timber sheeting, varnished, which is a replacement for the original split-log cladding. To the left of the main entrance is a rectangular wall panel in mosaic, incorporating fragments of cut ceramic tiles and small stones arranged in an abstract pattern. This decorative mosaic mural was designed and executed by the artist Colin Middleton as part of the original 1959 building.

To the right of the entrance block is the original two-storey block projecting forward, comprising a ground-floor garage with a balcony above and first-floor accommodation set behind the balcony. The ground-floor walls are cement-rendered and painted with a smooth finish, except for incised joints in a random pattern simulating rusticated stonework. The slightly recessed garage door is of the up-and-over type, in panelled preformed metal set behind a timber frame, and is a later replacement for the original glazed timber door. The left-hand wall of the garage is rendered as the front. The front wall of the first-floor accommodation is smooth cement-rendered and painted, containing a rectangular doorway with a glazed aluminium door leading onto the balcony; there is a pitched roof with a raking timber fascia and asphalt roof covering turned down over it. The left-hand wall of the first-floor accommodation is comprised entirely of a large window in metal framing, with a ribbed PVC fascia above over the original timber fascia.

Projecting forward from the fascia of the first-floor accommodation, as extensions to the fascias, are timber boards carried on vertical timber board supports at the front of the garage. The left-hand support is carried directly off the projecting balcony slab; the right-hand support is continued past the balcony slab to ground level, returning across the front as a flying raking fascia. This flying fascia has an intermediate support in the form of a rolled steel joist and is connected to the main fascia of the building by angled rolled steel joist braces, all forming an openwork framework painted white. The projecting balcony slab is smooth-rendered and painted, and carries railings consisting of horizontal rails of timber and PVC attached to flange-shaped vertical timber supports. Extending to the right of the garage is a screen wall of similar construction to the garage, originally extending to the edge of the site and incorporating a pedestrian opening, but now truncated. The rear face of the screen wall is of smooth cement render, unpainted.

SOUTH-WEST ELEVATION

The south-west elevation is the end wall of the original long block. It comprises a large rectangular window set in a smooth-rendered surround with later ribbed PVC cladding over the original timber fascia, and a slightly recessed smooth-rendered plinth. The window is a replacement in metal framing that does not match the original pattern.

NORTH-WEST (REAR) ELEVATION

The rear or north-west elevation consists of the original long block with its butterfly roof, which is single storey at the right-hand end and rises to two storeys at the left-hand end, with the later two-storey rear return wing projecting forward at the left-hand end. The roofing, fascias, spandrel boarding, walling, and glazing of the original long block are of similar materials to the entrance front, with the addition of a PVC rainwater hopper and later PVC downpipes. A rectangular timber-glazed patio door with side-light leads onto two concrete steps, from which the original railings have been removed. To the left of the doorway is a projecting rectangular bay, flat-roofed and covered in asphalt, with walls of smooth cement render in the same random incised jointing pattern as the entrance front garage, with a battered front face, and a tall narrow slit window to each side.

The rear return wing is two storeys and consists of a first-floor block carried over an open ground floor on square piers, with a screen wall to the north-west side.

The north-west elevation of the rear return wing has a monopitch roof in the same plane as the roof of the original two-storey block, with asphalt covering over a later ribbed PVC cladding to the original timber fascia. One chimney, a later addition, is of rustic brickwork with a concrete coping and one black pot. The wall to the left is full-height smooth cement render, painted. To the right is an open ground floor with a corner pier at the right-hand extremity, carrying a storey-height fascia of later ribbed PVC. Above, at first-floor level, is a large window of modern double-glazing in a metal frame, surmounted by a small spandrel panel of tongued-and-grooved boarding.

The south-west elevation of the rear return wing has the first-floor storey carried over an open ground floor on three piers. The piers are surmounted by later ribbed PVC cladding over original timber fascia. The first-floor walling is later tongued-and-grooved sheeting with double-glazed windows.

The north-east elevation of the rear return wing has the first-floor storey carried over an open ground floor on two piers and a screen wall. The first-floor walling is smooth cement render, painted, flush with the piers, containing two double-glazed windows in metal framing within rectangular openings with projecting concrete cills. There is later replacement ribbed PVC cladding to the original timber fascia, which extends from the original two-storey block.

The open covered ground-floor area of the rear return wing is formed by smooth-rendered piers carrying smooth cement-rendered beams, now partly spalled to reveal rusting I-beams. The floor is surfaced with concrete paving slabs and the ceiling is timber-panelled. The inner face of the north-west screen wall is smooth cement-rendered, with two decorative panels of seashells embedded in it.

NORTH-EAST ELEVATION OF ORIGINAL TWO-STOREY BLOCK

The walling is smooth cement render, painted, with later replacement ribbed PVC cladding to the original timber fascia. At ground floor level there is a doorway containing an original rectangular timber-sheeted door, and two rectangular windows: the one to the left of the doorway comprises fixed lights with top-hung vents; the one to the right is a fixed light. At first-floor level there is a broad rectangular window with a projecting concrete cill, double-glazed. To the left is a doorway with a glazed aluminium door, approached by a flight of exterior concrete steps on a smooth cement-rendered framework, with tubular metal handrails on tubular metal posts and timber board intermediate rails.

ORIGINAL INTERNAL LAYOUT

The original 1959 layout was as follows. At ground floor level, running from south-west to north-east: lounge with TV room off it, cloaks, bedroom, bedroom with shower and store off it, and an open covered yard beneath the first-floor kitchen; garage with maid's bedroom off it. At first-floor level: porch, kitchen, dining room, bathroom (now an internal bathroom as a result of the 1968 extension), WC (now removed to allow a corridor leading to the 1968 extension), and nursery (now used as a bedroom) with a storage area off it under the roof.

SETTING

The house stands on an open grassy site on the edge of town, overlooking the coast. It is set back from the main road, with a lawn in front reached by a concrete driveway. The boundary is formed on most sides by a fence of timber posts in a trellis pattern, except to one side of the driveway at the front of the house, where there is a low rendered wall. In the angle between the garage and the main long block is an area of crazy paving, now partly overgrown. The south-west end of the long block is also bordered by crazy paving, with rectangular concrete paving to the rear. To the north-east of the original two-storey block is an area of concrete paving with a curving concrete path bordered by a small grassed area with shrubs, separated from the main rear lawn by a later rendered and perforated concrete block wall. Immediately to the north-west of the site is a modern stone-faced single-storey house recessed into the sloping ground, built after the initial listing of this house.

HISTORY AND SOURCES

The house was built in 1959 to the design of Noel Campbell and extended in 1968 by the same architect. The first owner was Ron Smyth, who still occupied the property at the time of listing in 1994. Primary sources include an Ordnance Survey map of 1966 showing the original block before the 1968 extension, and an illustration of the house published in the Irish Builder on 9 July 1960. Secondary sources include an article titled 'Homes with a view' in the Belfast Telegraph of 27 July 1961, and Paul Larmour's article 'Style Master (Noel Campbell)' in Perspective: The Journal of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, Vol. 5, No. 6, July/August 1997, pages 18–31, which also includes an illustration of the house before it was extended.