9/11 Linenhall Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OHQ

9 and 11 Linenhall Street, Limavady

A pair of red brick terraced houses in the Georgian style, built between 1840 and 1859. Originally a single residence, the building was later converted into two dwellings and represents the only structure on Linenhall Street with the Georgian character seen on Main Street and Catherine Street in Limavady.

The pair are each four bays wide and face south-west. The upper floors retain intact, though decaying, twelve-pane sash windows with stone cills. The roof is natural slate with red clay ridge tiles. Brick chimneys are positioned at each end of the group and, unusually, one bay from the south-east end, very close to its neighbouring chimney.

Number 11 originally served as a shopfront on the ground floor, with two windows widened into a shop opening and a third window surviving. The entrance door sits at the south-east end, featuring a segmental fanlight with cobweb pattern astragals, an entablature supported by blank pilasters below, and a panelled door in poor condition with simple period door furniture.

Number 9 has a segmental arch at the south-east end giving access to the rear, with a full-height painted timber gate. Two surviving twelve-pane sash windows at ground level are now boarded up. The main door, positioned at the north-west end, is lower than that of number 11 and features a rectangular fanlight divided into three panes. The entablature below is broken by two scroll brackets (consoles) supported on reeded pilasters. The door itself is a smaller version of number 11 with similar period furniture. The flat arch above the door is notably one brick too short on either side.

To the rear, the buildings have roof lights and a less ordered pattern of windows. Two-storey stables at the rear remain intact.

The property first appears on the 1848 Ordnance Survey map. In the 1858 Griffiths Valuation it was recorded as a single residence occupied by Mr James Proctor, valued at £30. The smaller door to number 9 was likely a window at that time. Frederick McCausland was the immediate lessor in 1858 for this and the other buildings on this side of Linenhall Street.

The buildings were acquired from Mr George Henry Perrott Buchanan of 27 Ashley Gardens, London by the Northern Ireland Electricity Company on 17 August 1965 for £4,250, with George Norman Porter then in occupation. The company used the premises as a showroom and offices until 1988, when they were sold to Mr Robert Noble, who sold them to the present owner in 1997. The buildings have remained unoccupied for some time.

The property is considered a good example of its type which would enhance the architectural character of Limavady if properly maintained and preserved.