Millburn Terrace, 53 Millburn Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1QT

Millburn Terrace, 53 Millburn Road, is a two-bay three-storey end-terrace mid-Victorian townhouse built around 1866 and located on the east side of Millburn Road close to Coleraine town centre. Originally named Clifton Terrace, it was built on land owned by Richard Olphert of Millburn House and represents one of the town's finest examples of mid-nineteenth century terraced architecture.

The building is square on plan with a single-storey canted bay to the front and a full-height gabled return to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof has angled ridge tiles and a painted render chimneystack with moulded caps and six tall clay pots. Plastic rainwater goods sit on projecting dentilled eaves. The walling is painted roughcast render on a smooth rendered plinth.

Windows throughout are replacement 1/1 timber sash with horns set in simple painted render reveals with projecting painted sills. The northeast gable features an oriel window with moulded architraves framing each opening.

The principal elevation faces northwest and is two openings wide at upper floors, with the single-storey canted bay positioned at ground floor left. The centrepiece is a classical-style doorcase on the right, comprising panelled pilasters, a frieze with Greek key motif, and scrolled acanthus-leaf console brackets supporting a corniced canopy. The doorcase contains a bolection-moulded five-panel timber door with bronze knob, accessed by an original sandstone step.

The northeast gable incorporates an oriel window at first floor right with a window above at second floor. A modern fire-exit has been inserted at the left, accessed by replacement uPVC doors at upper floors and two small uPVC windows at ground floor left. The north corner is abutted by a polychrome brick pier. The southeast rear elevation is fully abutted by a full-height return lit by uPVC windows at each floor and is adjoined on the left by the neighbouring property.

The building forms part of a mid-nineteenth century terrace of nine dwellings (eight original plus one added around 1875) on the east side of the River Bann, overlooking The Rose Gardens and Anderson Park. The site is slightly elevated on a lawned and shrubbed plot with a concrete pathway leading to steps and a paved patio at the front. Properties are bounded by hedges to neighbouring buildings and a rubblestone wall with sandstone coping and mature shrubbery to the road. An enclosed rear yard contains a two-storey slated roughcast rendered outbuilding forming part of a terrace of outbuildings serving the entire row.

The terrace was developed by the Coleraine Building Society, established in 1864, on sites advertised by the Olphert estate. The contractor was Joseph Esdale. Number 53 was originally occupied by John Huey as a house, office and garden, leased from Richard Olphert, and was valued at £19 5 shillings with 15 shillings for the garden. Being somewhat larger than the other houses, it commanded higher value. Subsequent occupiers included Thomas Nevin (1874), James Duncan (1899), E L Bannon (1909), Henry Cummins (1912), and the Misses Cummins (1921). James Duncan was a supervisor of Inland Revenue from County Sligo; Henry Cummins was a merchant and contractor. The eleven-room house was designated first class in the 1901 census. The building retains considerable group value as part of the coherent terrace and makes a substantial contribution to the architectural quality and character of Coleraine town centre. The terrace was listed in 1997, and renovations were carried out to the house in 2001, which continues in domestic use.

The rear has been significantly altered by the insertion of a full-height return and an inappropriate modern fire-exit at the northeast gable. However, the principal facade retains replacement fenestration sympathetic to the original design.