15 Kingsgate St., Coleraine, Co.Londonderry

Number 15 Kingsgate Street is a two-bay three-storey mid-terrace commercial premises built around 1830, located on the south side of Kingsgate Street in Coleraine town centre. It forms one of a pair with the adjoining number 13 (now separate) and together with an earlier terrace to the west makes an important contribution to the historic character of the Coleraine streetscape.

The building is square on plan with a return and two-storey extension to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate with conjoined red-brick and rendered chimneystacks. Cast-iron half-round rainwater goods run along projecting eaves, with cast-iron hopper and downpipes. The walling is painted smooth render with a continuous sill course at first-floor level. The principal elevation faces north and is two windows wide at the upper floors. Windows on the upper storeys are 1/1 timber sash without horns, set in moulded architraves with keystone and projecting painted sills, typical of early 19th-century detailing. The ground floor has been substantially altered with a modern shopfront featuring glazed metal double-leaf doors to the right, surmounted by a modern fascia with awning and modern plate-glass windows. The east and west elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings, and an enclosed yard lies to the rear.

Originally constructed as a single building with number 13, this property was later divided into two shops. The building appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830. Kingsgate Street takes its name from the East Gate of the fortified town of Coleraine, which was established during the plantation of 1611 with earthen ramparts surrounded by a ditch. By 1622 the gate had been fitted with a small gate and drawbridge 12 feet wide with a small timber room above, slated. The town gates were dismantled by 1710, though the ramparts survived in the Kingsgate area for some years.

According to the Townland Valuation of 1828-40, numbers 13 and 15 were recorded as a single building occupied by Alexander Cuthbert, who operated a tannery and leather-cutting business on the premises. Cuthbert was a successful businessman who became a Town Commissioner in the 1840s and 50s. In addition to tanning, he conducted an international trade in iron, boots, linseed oil and paint, with customers in Canada and Melbourne. By 1852 he had moved to a house called Northbrook away from his tannery. The Townland Valuation valued the house and offices at £21, with numerous thatched and shingled stores and sheds recorded to the rear. By Griffith's Valuation of 1856-64 the building had been divided into two properties, valued at £23 and £20 respectively. Number 15 was then occupied by William Nevin, valued at £20, with a one-and-a-half-storey return and a two-storey detached outbuilding noted.

Subsequent occupiers included John McCormick, who ran a tobacco shop from 1887 to 1901 according to the census; Hugh McKeag, a mechanic; Matthew Ross; and H E Greaves. In 1920, significant alterations were undertaken: a new shop floor was added with a scullery extension to the rear, the hall was opened into the shop, new shop door and window were inserted, a new tiled floor and new fireplace and grate were fitted to the drawing room, making it "practically a new store". The valuation rose to £33 as a result. At that time the rear contained a furniture store, egg-packing store and flour and potato store, suggesting it operated as a grocer's with a wide range of goods. The accommodation comprised a shop, kitchen and scullery on the ground floor; a drawing room, bedroom and WC on the first floor; and three bedrooms and an attic room on the second floor. The distinctive curved shop window to number 13 was installed in 1917, while the shopfront of number 15 is a modern replacement. Valuer's notes from the 1930s indicate further extension in 1933, with one of the rear outbuildings (now absorbed into 3 Long Commons) used for pork curing. The building was listed in 1977. Renovations in the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s included replacement of the shopfront. The premises is currently in use as a café.