17-19 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEP

A pair of late Victorian terraced houses located on the south-east side of Main Street in Limavady. These buildings were originally well-integrated into the more restrained Georgian character of the street, but subsequent inappropriate renovations to the ground floor facades have diminished their architectural merit.

The houses are two storeys and three windows wide, constructed of brick. The first floor features evenly spaced two-pane sash windows. A decorative terracotta cornice runs along the eaves, incorporating an ‘ovolo’ moulding supported by ‘dentils’ and a plain ‘astragal’ moulding. Number 19’s ground floor appears to have been completely demolished and rebuilt. A large window spans most of its facade, serving as an office, and is flanked by modern brickwork of a different colour and quality than the original. A recessed entrance provides access to the office, with a second door leading to the staircase and the flat above. The ground floor of number 17 (owned by a different landlord, see HB02/12/011B) has two double-pane sash windows and a door with a blanked-out rectangular fanlight. An archway provides access to the rear of the property, abutting number 15. The rear elevation is rendered, with barred windows. A two-storey return projection, lower than the main building, extends from number 19. A flat-roofed single-storey extension occupies most of the remaining site behind the buildings. The roof is slate, with brick chimneys and PVC rainwater goods.

Maps from 1830 and 1848 show these buildings as a single structure, its return aligned with that of number 21. The present rear opening was not previously covered. The Griffith Valuation of 1858 lists the lessor as J Moffat and the occupant as Mr Hugh Lane, with a value of £13.10s. A 1907 map depicts the two separate buildings and a passage built over. The detailing is characteristic of construction during the high Victorian era. Hugh Lane also occupied the adjacent building in 1858 (see HB02/12/012). A historic buildings survey from the 1970s noted that alterations to number 19 hadn't occurred, and that each entrance door was originally surmounted by a ‘plain rectangular fanlight’. The buildings were considered to form a group with numbers 13 and 15, with an assessment that number 15 would be more visually effective if constructed of brick.