7 Waterside, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 3DP

7 Waterside is a three-storey terraced building with basement, constructed around 1850 as part of a phased Georgian-style terrace built between approximately 1846 and 1854. The terrace was designed under the oversight of Samuel Angell, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers' surveyor in Ulster, with individual buildings regulated by Angell and surveyor Stewart Gordon to conform to a unified architectural scheme. The building originally provided living accommodation over a shop — a typical urban arrangement of the period — and currently contains a modern glazed shop front at ground floor with a dental surgery on the upper floors.

The building is two openings wide and three storeys tall over a basement. Its principal elevation faces south and is finished in ruled-and-lined render, painted throughout, with roughcast render to the rear. The roof is pitched slate with blue-grey angled ridge tiles. The brick chimney has been removed in recent decades. Cast iron ogee-section rainwater goods and rounded downpipes are mounted on painted eaves brackets.

The windows throughout are square-headed replacement 2/2 timber sash windows. On the upper floors of the principal elevation, each window has a projecting moulded architrave and a projecting sill; the sills on the first floor are continuous across the width of the elevation. A raised masonry strip runs along the far left side of the upper floors, separating this building from the adjoining terrace to the east. At ground floor level, the painted masonry shop front incorporates an expansive plain glass bipartite window with a panelled masonry insert below. A modern timber and glazed door to the left has a plain glass transom over a stall riser, and modern vinyl and uPVC signage runs across the full length of the elevation.

The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace to that side. The north rear elevation is largely obscured by a neighbouring three-storey building and associated returns. From the partial view available from the rear alley, there is a window on each floor to the left, with a similar window arrangement to a projecting return on the right. Windows to the rear generally have replacement metal bars on their exterior. The entire ground floor and basement level at the rear are abutted by a flat-roofed roughcast return containing two 2/2 timber casement windows with concrete sills. At basement level there is a four-panelled replacement timber door to the right of centre, with horizontal uPVC panelling to the right-hand side. The east elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace on that side.

Directly behind the building is a small courtyard enclosed on all sides by the substantial returns and extensions of neighbouring properties, and the rear of the building is abutted by a two-storey flat-roofed extension.

The building sits on the western side of Coleraine town, on the western bank of the River Bann, west of the town's central Diamond. Its principal elevation directly fronts one of the main thoroughfares into Coleraine town centre via the nearby Old Bridge. The terrace extends westward and eastward from this building, with a corresponding terrace on the opposite side of the street to the south. Together these terraces define the character of one of the main approaches into Coleraine and constitute one of the only coherent street facades in the town.

The historical background to the terrace is substantial. This area, part of Killowen Parish and now known as Waterside, was originally a suburb of Coleraine and had been in the ownership of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers — one of the London Merchant Companies charged with developing and settling, or 'planting', County Londonderry during the early 17th century. The Company had historically leased out these lands, often to absentee landlords, which led to general decline, a lack of new construction and uncertainty of tenures. The Company regained direct control of its proportion in 1840 when the existing lease expired, and a subsequent period of improvement followed, encompassing significant expenditure on buildings, infrastructure and education. Around 1844 a new bridge of increased height was built to replace a previous timber construction dating from around 1735, and stabilising works were carried out to the western embankment of the river. The raising of the street level on the Killowen side to correspond with the new bridge affected the existing buildings in the area. It was judged more fitting to demolish and rebuild the entire Waterside area in order to create a more dignified approach into the Clothworkers' estate from the main part of Coleraine to the east.

The general layout of Waterside had already been established before redevelopment, so the terrace did not alter greatly in plan. However, the design, scale and style of the new buildings followed a strict architectural discipline, set in the first instance by the erection of the neighbouring Clothworkers' Arms Hotel around 1846. The hotel marked the first stage of the new development, and demolition of the neighbouring houses commenced in 1847. Samuel Angell designed a new terrace to complement the hotel and to line the near-processional approach into the Clothworkers' estate across the new bridge. Although individual buildings within the terrace were largely designed by other architects, each was strictly regulated by Angell and Stewart Gordon to conform to the overall scheme. The terrace was completed around 1854, and the Clothworkers' Company recorded expenditure of approximately £4,000 on the erection of houses in the Waterside area during this period. As architectural historian James Curl noted in 1986, the plain, balanced and unembellished style of the terrace reflects the Company's deliberate decision to avoid the excessive ornamentation adopted by other London Companies during this widespread period of architectural improvement.

No. 7 itself was first valued at £23 in Griffith's Valuation of 1856, though it remained unoccupied until around 1859 when James Barbour took up residence. Ownership transferred to Sir Hervey Bruce in 1868, but the assessed value did not change until the mid 20th century. The building was occupied by Richard Keith in 1884, and from 1898 by Thomas and William Wilson, who ran a bakery at ground floor level and resided in the house above, as recorded in the 1901 Census. Prior to 1904 a small return was added to the rear of the property. The substantial outbuildings visible on earlier maps were removed during the latter half of the 20th century. In 1907 John Millar, a printer, became the occupier and remained until the mid 20th century, after which the shop was converted for use as a bank.

No. 7 forms an important element within the overall redevelopment of Waterside and holds group value with the other listed buildings in this terrace. The integrity of the building's historic character has been largely retained across the upper floors, though incremental changes to the ground floor shop over the decades have resulted in some loss of historic fabric at street level.