86 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 0ET

86 Main Street is a two storey, three structural bay brick house in Georgian style, built with a basement and slate roof. The building sits in a pleasant walled garden behind Main Street, accessed via a narrow passage between two terraces—an unusual arrangement for a property of this type.

The main north east elevation features a panelled door with fanlight recessed in the centre, flanked by timber Tuscan columns and the base of missing pilasters. The fanlight has crude and modern mullions, and the door itself is not original. Three concrete paving slab steps with contrasting brick provide recent access. Two tall eighteen pane sashed windows flank the entrance, with five smaller windows of similar design aligned above. Sandstone cills to all windows are painted, while the sandstone kneeler course at eaves level remains unpainted. Brick chimneys rise from each gable; the south east example is small and plain, while those to the north west are decorated and Victorian. Cast iron rainwater goods complete the front elevation.

The basement is exposed at ground level on the south east side due to the garden sitting a storey higher than Main Street. Two small basement windows near the front comprise one casement and one sash. Concrete steps mount the side of the building to garden level, flanked by a curving brick wall.

To the rear, twelve pane sash windows align at ground and first floor levels. The attic features a small round headed sash window centred on the gable, its cill forming a sandstone string course that aligns with the kneeler stone of the front elevation. A small lean-to return, measuring approximately 2 metres long by 4 metres wide, projects from the centre of the rear elevation and abuts the boundary wall. A rendered strengthening arch springs from the south east corner of the building to the top of the wall at first floor level. One sash window aligns at each floor to either side of the return, with smaller windows lighting its sides. To the north west of the return, a one metre wide slot lights the basement, continuing along the length of the north west gable. The north west gable features a twelve pane sash at ground floor near the back of the building, and a small off-centre sash above the string course. A painted steel fire escape descends from a first floor door.

On both gables, the barge detail has been recently altered. Proprietary metal interlocking flashings combine to produce a slate grey box approximately 50 millimetres in height, projecting a similar dimension from the side of the building.

The building first appears on the 1848 Ordnance Survey maps of Limavady. The Griffith Valuation of 1858 lists it as house, offices and out-house, valued at £44, with Samuel Long as occupant and R Ogilby as ground owner. In the early 1940s it served as a hotel, owned by Murphy of Ballymena. The segmental fanlight was blocked in during 1972, although its glazing bars were retained. By 1970 the property was owned by the County Londonderry Health Committee and was in use as a health clinic. The Roads Service and Rates department of Limavady Council took over in 1973 when a new Health Centre opened in the town. The Roads Service has been the sole occupier since the early 1980s. Fire doors were installed circa 1990, exterior renovations took place in 1993, and the fire escape dates from the early 1980s.

The quality of the building has been diminished by heavy handed renovations to the main entrance, evident in the modern door, concrete steps, and crude fanlight mullions.