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

2 Lodge Road, Coleraine

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic end-terrace former dwelling, now commercial premises, built in 1879 and located on the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine. The building forms part of an important and prominent terrace of sixteen houses built between circa 1859 and circa 1888 for Coleraine's rising middle classes. This terrace represents one of the best-preserved examples of mid-nineteenth-century terraced architecture in the town and makes a significant contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre.

The building is square on plan with a two-and-a-half-storey return and single-storey lean-to extension to the rear. The pitched natural slate roof is fitted with blue and black angled ridge tiles and features a rendered chimneystack to the gable with a moulded cap. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are mounted on bracketed eaves. The walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth, with a moulded string course between ground and first floor, a continuous sill course at first-floor level, and a moulded platband under the eaves.

Windows throughout are 2/2 timber sash with horns, set in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills (sandstone sill to the rear). A tripartite timber-sheeted gabled dormer to the attic contains round-headed window openings and features decorative bargeboards with trefoil detailing and finial.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is three openings wide at each floor. The entrance to the ground floor right comprises a bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with a plain transom light in a stop-end chamfered reveal. The entrance is flanked by pilasters surmounted by plain entablature with an ovolo-moulded cornice, with a moulded panel and piers between floors above the entrance. A moulded plaque between the upper floors, shared with number 4, reads "WOODVILLE".

The northwest gable contains a 1/1 window to the centre at all floors. The northeast (rear) elevation has, at the left, a 2/2 window over the two-and-a-half-storey return. To the right is a 1/1 window and a 2/2 window over the slated lean-to extension, which has a 2/2 window and modern glazed timber door; a 1/1 window appears to the right cheek. The return has a 2/2 window to landing level and a 1/1 window at ground-floor level, with a diminutive 2/2 window to the northwest elevation. The southeast elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

Lodge Road was laid out between 1833 and 1845, first shown on O'Hagan's map of 1845 and named after "The Lodge", a dwelling at the southern end (now replaced by a hotel). The terrace was considered to occupy the best side of Lodge Road due to its sunny aspect and was occupied largely by middle-class merchants and professionals who kept at least one servant. The group of four houses (numbers 2–8), of which this is the end terrace, was inserted into valuation records in 1879. Numbers 2 and 4 were named "Woodville", as recorded on large-scale maps, in valuation records, and on a plaque on the buildings themselves. The house, offices, yard, and small garden was valued at £24 10 shillings and was initially occupied by Mrs McReynolds in 1879, leased from Alexander Higgins, who was most likely the developer. Subsequent residents included W J Smith in 1881 and James G Fyvie in 1882. At the 1901 census, the occupier was Catherine Fyvie, a married woman living on private income with her daughter (born in Australia) and her young son, who later studied at Magee College. The thirteen-room house was designated first class at the 1901 census. The Fyvie family remained resident until at least the 1950s. Valuer's notes of the 1930s list the accommodation as: on the ground floor, a reception, kitchen, scullery, and pantry; on the first floor, a reception and two bedrooms; on the second floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom; 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, and renovations took place in the 1980s including re-roofing and repairs to plasterwork. The building is currently partially laid out as offices and is no longer in domestic use.

The setting is on the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre, set back from the street with a small yard to the front laid in modern paving and enclosed by a rendered wall with saddleback coping and square piers with pointed caps supporting a replacement cast-iron latch-gate. A tarmacadamed alley to the northwest leads to a rear yard and gives access to a car park to the east. The property is bounded by a rubblestone wall at the north.

An outbuilding to the rear forms part of a terrace and comprises a two-storey roughcast cement-rendered building with a slated roof and rendered chimneystack. Four timber-casement windows appear to the southwest elevation with an off-centre timber-sheeted door at ground floor; the northwest gable is blank. The northeast elevation has two evenly-spaced timber-casement windows at first-floor level over square-headed timber-sheeted garage doors and a window.