3 Clifton Terrace, Main St., Castlerock, Coleraine, Co.Londonderry

A late-Victorian three-storey two-bay blackstone end-terrace townhouse built around 1873, located on the south side of Main Street in Castlerock town centre. The building is the best-preserved example in the terrace and retains much of its original architectural detailing. It holds special interest as a typical example of late-Victorian townhouse design and forms an important group value as part of a terrace of three buildings, contributing significantly to the architectural character of Castlerock alongside Babington Terrace to the east.

The building has a rectangular plan with a two-storey canted bay to the front and a two-storey gabled return to the rear, abutted by a rubblestone gabled outbuilding. The roof is pitched natural slate with angled ridge tiles and a yellow-brick chimneystack to the gable. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on a rubbed yellow-brick eaves course, with decorative black and yellow brick banding below. The walling is uncoursed squared blackstone with coursed snecking, while the west gable is finished in smooth render.

The north-facing front elevation features a two-storey canted bay at the left with a leaded roof and moulded cornice over the window openings. Windows throughout are 2/2 timber sash, horizontally divided with horns, set in stepped painted brick surrounds with painted projecting sills and corbels beneath. The canted bay windows have painted surrounds and continuous sill courses. The second-floor windows have raised cambered heads with applied moulding to the jambs. A segmental-headed door opening is positioned at ground floor right, containing a double-leaf panelled-and-glazed door with a segmental-headed transom in a painted brick surround. The return has uPVC windows. The east gable is abutted by the adjoining building HB03/12/002F. The south (rear) elevation has two windows to the second floor. The two-storey gabled return at the left has a window to the first floor, and is itself abutted at the right by the rubblestone gabled outbuilding with slated roof and red-brick quoins. The west elevation is blank, abutted by a neighbouring garage wall.

The building is set back from the road behind a concrete plinth wall with saddleback coping enclosing a concrete yard. It is situated to the west of Babington Terrace in the centre of Castlerock, with access to a communal yard at the rear via gravel alleys at the east and west of the terrace. Modern metal fencing bounds the site to the railway line at the south.

Historically, the terrace first appears in valuation records in 1873 as vacant houses leased from Joseph Connell, the likely developer. Castlerock developed as a coastal bathing resort following the opening of a railway halt in 1853. The growth of the resort was actively promoted by the railway company, who offered cheap tickets to those who would build or buy villas. Sir Henry Hervey Bruce, the local landlord and a former part of the Clothworker's Company estates, took particular interest in Castlerock's development and required all new building to be of a certain quality and size.

Joseph Connell, the likely developer, was the first recorded occupant in 1879. The house was valued at £16 and leased from Sir Henry Hervey Bruce. Alexander McCoy took over in 1896, followed by Mary Robinson in 1909. In that year the house was improved and the valuation raised to £21, with rent set at £34. The house had been purchased for £500, including £50 for furniture. Mary Robinson, who appears in the 1911 census as having a private income from the interest of money, was visited by a hospital-trained nurse from County Monaghan. Subsequent occupants included Marion J Connell (1924), Catherine A Tosh (1925), Jack Campbell (1960), and William John McIntyre (1966).

Valuer's notes from the 1930s describe the building with a two-storey return and adjoining passageway, with a further one-and-a-half storey outbuilding beyond. The accommodation comprised, on the ground floor: a kitchen, scullery, pantry and two reception rooms; on the first floor: five bedrooms, a bathroom and WC; and on the second floor: two bedrooms. The house was listed in 1977. Renovations were carried out in the 1980s, including replacement of the front door.