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

16 Lodge Road is a two-bay three-storey-with-attic mid-terrace former dwelling, now in use as temporary accommodation, built in 1880 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 approximately 1859 and 1888, which represents one of the best preserved examples of mid-to-late nineteenth-century terraced architecture in the town and makes a significant contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre.

The building is rectangular in plan with a two-and-a-half-storey gabled return and a single-storey flat roof extension. It has pitched natural slate roofs with blue and black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks, including a tall rendered chimneystack with two clay pots to the gable of the return. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods sit on bracketed eaves. The walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth with a moulded string-course embellished with paterae between ground and first floor, continuous sill course at first floor, and moulded platband under the eaves.

Windows throughout are 1/1 timber sash with horns in stop-end chamfered reveals and projecting painted sills. Two gabled dormers feature 1/1 pointed-headed windows and decorative bargeboards with trefoil detailing and finials. The principal elevation faces southwest and has three openings at each floor. The entrance at ground floor left comprises a bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with plain transom light in a stop-end chamfered reveal. The entrance is flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a plain entablature embellished with paterae and an ovolo-moulded cornice, and is accessed by a modern paved ramp. The northwest elevation is abutted by the adjoining building. The northeast (rear) elevation has a modern two-storey return at right, a modern dormer window to the attic, and modern timber casement windows to each floor at left. The southeast elevation is abutted by the adjoining building.

The setting consists of a small gravelled yard to the front with a concrete paved pathway, enclosed by a painted render wall with saddleback coping and square piers with pointed caps. A tarmacadamed alley to the northwest of the terrace gives access to a car park to the east, and the terrace is bounded by a rubblestone wall at the north. A small paved yard to the rear is enclosed by a high painted render wall and a two-storey outbuilding. This outbuilding, which forms part of a terrace, has painted smooth rendered walls, slated roofs and rendered chimneystacks. The northeast elevation of the outbuilding is blank at first floor and has been modified at ground floor.

The house was initially known as 'Marie House' on valuation and large-scale maps of the 1880s. Lodge Road itself was laid out between 1833 and 1845, being first shown on O'Hagan's map of Coleraine dating from 1845, and is named after 'The Lodge', a dwelling house at the southern end which has since been replaced by a hotel. The terrace was considered to be on the best, sunniest side of Lodge Road and was occupied largely by middle-class merchants and professionals who kept at least one servant. The closing decades of the nineteenth century saw a building boom of terraces and villas in Coleraine of which local people were extremely proud, with the boom said to have begun in the late 1850s when Thomas Boyd built Waterford Terrace at numbers 26 to 32.

When first recorded in 1880, the house, offices, yard and small garden was valued at £28, occupied by Thomas Andrews and leased from David McMullen. Subsequent occupiers included the Gage family (1894) and John Mains (1898). At the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Margaret Mains, a widow living with her three children, one of whom later became a manure manufacturer. By 1911 the family employed a general domestic servant. In 1914 the house was taken over by the Tomb family and then in 1952 by Daniel H Kerr. Valuer's notes from the 1930s describe the accommodation as comprising, on the ground floor, two receptions, kitchen, scullery and pantry; on the first floor, two bedrooms, bathroom, WC and linen room; on the second floor, three bedrooms; and on the third floor, two attic bedrooms. The house had water laid on and gas lighting at this time. The house was listed in 1977. In 1986 it was converted together with its neighbour at number 14 into a single homeless hostel for the Simon Community, which entailed some rebuilding at the rear and restructuring of the interior.

The building's architectural detailing is largely intact, and it displays proportions and details typical of the Victorian period. The terrace is of significant local interest and group value importance.