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

A mid-terrace three-storey-over-basement former townhouse with attic, now in use as office accommodation, built circa 1860 and located on the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine. The building is part of an important and prominent terrace of sixteen houses developed between circa 1860 and 1888 in the heart of Coleraine town centre. Despite alterations and refurbishments, the building retains good examples of typical mid-Victorian detailing and forms part of one of the best preserved examples of Victorian terraced housing in the town.

The building is square on plan with a two-storey gabled return to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof features blue and black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks with cast-iron half-round rainwater goods on moulded eaves. The walling is painted smooth render, with roughcast painted render to the rear.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is three openings wide at each floor. Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sash without horns 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 entrance to the ground floor is positioned to the right and comprises a bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with painted cast-iron door knob. The door is surmounted by a plain transom light and accessed by a single sandstone step. The door is flanked by panelled pilasters with scrolled console brackets supporting a corniced canopy. Curved plinth walls with coping sit over the basement. The northwest elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The northeast (rear) elevation has a two-storey gabled extension at the left with a 6/6 window at landing level above. A large multi-paned timber sash window sits at second floor right, with 6/6 windows at first and ground floor right and a 3/6 window to the basement. The northwest elevation of the return has two 6/6 windows at first floor above modern window and door insertions, and a large modern window opening to the ground floor at the gable. The southeast elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

The building is situated to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre, set back from the street with a paved concrete yard to the front, shared with number 32. 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 having pointed caps. A tarmacadamed alley to the southeast provides access to a car park. A small concrete yard to the rear is enclosed by a two-storey outbuilding forming part of a terrace, with painted roughcast rendered walls and a slate roof, modified with modern window insertions at first floor, square-headed timber-sheeted gates to the ground floor left, and a timber-sheeted door at the right.

Historical context and use

The house dates from circa 1860 and was part of the first phase of development, being inserted into valuation records at that date. The group of four houses, including the current dwelling, was named 'Waterford Terrace' on large-scale and valuation maps of the 1880s and all were built with basements, differing from later houses in the terrace. The present house, offices, yard and small garden was initially valued at £24, with £1 for the garden, and was occupied by Joseph Cuthbert on a lease from Thomas Boyd, the developer. The terrace is first shown on the large-scale map of Coleraine dating from 1882.

The development was largely occupied by middle-class professionals, many connected with customs and excise, who kept at least one servant. At the time of the 1901 census, the occupier was Robert A Wylie, a Presbyterian clergyman, who lived with his wife and two adult children and employed a general domestic servant. By 1911 the house had been taken over by Elizabeth Stewart, an unmarried woman of 40 who employed a nurse and a general domestic. The house passed to William Dalzell in 1918 and to John Hezlett in 1925, remaining in the Hezlett family until at least the 1950s.

Valuer's notes from the 1930s list the accommodation as comprising, in the basement, a kitchen, scullery and coal house; on the ground floor, two receptions, a kitchen and scullery; on the first floor, one reception, one bedroom, a bathroom and WC; on the second floor, two bedrooms; and on the third floor, two attic bedrooms. The house had water laid on and gas lighting at this time. The building was listed in 1977, at which time it appears to have been occupied as a single unit with its neighbour number 32. Renovations and repairs took place in the 1980s and 1990s, and the building is currently in use as office accommodation.