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

No. 11 Waterside is a three-storey-with-basement, Georgian-style terraced building constructed around 1850, forming part of a largely homogeneous 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 is two openings wide and functions as a shop with residential accommodation above, representing the typical urban form of living over commercial premises.

The roof is pitched slate with blue-grey angled ridge tiles. The brick chimney has been removed. Cast iron ogee-profile rainwater goods are mounted on a plain timber fascia to the boxed eaves. The external walls are finished in ruled-and-lined rendered and stuccoed render to the principal elevation, with smooth painted render to the rear.

The windows are square-headed 2/2 timber sash throughout, unless otherwise noted. The principal south-facing elevation has two windows to each of the upper floors. These openings are framed by rendered moulded architraves, with floating cornices over the first-floor openings, and projecting sills that are continuous across the first-floor windows. The sides of the upper floors are framed by raised panel-strips with a circular insert that separates the façade from the adjoining terraced properties. The ground floor has a modern timber shopfront of no architectural interest, featuring a deep timber fascia and modern openings. To the left of the shopfront is a plain timber door with deep timber sheeting across the top, a plain projecting architrave, and banded rustication above a painted plinth course.

The west elevation abuts the adjoining terrace. The east elevation similarly abuts the adjoining terrace on the other side. The view of the north rear elevation is largely obstructed by a neighbouring three-storey building. What can be seen includes a flat-roofed single-storey return to the left and a three-storey gabled return to the right, the latter having 6/6 timber sash windows to the upper floors and a wide modern opening at ground level. The right cheek of this return has similar windows. The remainder of the rear elevation is obscured from view.

The building is set in an urban and residential context, with its principal elevation fronting directly onto one of the main approach roads into Coleraine town centre, via the nearby Old Bridge. It stands on the western bank of the River Bann, to the west of the central Diamond, and forms part of a terrace of similar buildings. A related terrace faces from the opposite side of the street to the south.

The building has considerable historical significance rooted in the planned redevelopment of this part of Coleraine. The area known as Waterside falls within Killowen Parish and was originally a suburb of Coleraine under the ownership of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, one of the London Merchant Companies responsible for developing and settling County Londonderry during the early 17th century. Having leased out their lands over many generations — often to absentee landlords, which led to a decline in building and estate management — the Company regained direct control of their proportion in 1840 when the lease expired. A sustained period of improvement followed, encompassing investment in buildings, infrastructure, and education.

Around 1844, a new bridge of increased height was constructed to replace an earlier timber structure built around 1735. Stabilising works were also carried out to the western embankment of the River Bann. The raising of the street level on the Killowen side, necessary to align with the new bridge, had a significant impact on the existing buildings in the area. Rather than adapt the existing fabric, the Company chose to demolish and rebuild the entire Waterside area in order to create a more dignified and fitting approach into the Clothworkers' estate from the main town to the east.

The architectural tone for the redevelopment was set by the neighbouring Clothworkers' Arms Hotel, built around 1846, which was the first stage of the new scheme. Demolition of the neighbouring houses commenced in 1847. Samuel Angell then designed a new terrace to complement the hotel and line the processional approach to the estate across the new bridge. The terrace was completed around 1854, by which time the Clothworkers' Company reported having spent 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 character of the terrace reflects the Company's deliberate decision to avoid the excessive ornamentation adopted by other London Companies during this era of widespread architectural improvement.

The terrace as a whole is important to the visual balance of Waterside, helps define the character of one of the main approaches into Coleraine, and presents one of the only coherent street façades in the town. The integrity of the upper floors has been largely preserved, though incremental changes to the ground-floor shopfronts over the decades have resulted in some loss of historic fabric at street level.

No. 11 was first occupied by the Belfast Northern Banking Company and was valued at £28 in Griffith's Valuation of 1856. Ownership subsequently passed through a number of occupiers before transferring to Sir Hervey Bruce around 1868, with the valuation remaining unchanged until the mid-20th century, when Annie McCandless took on ownership. Census records from 1901 and 1911 show the building occupied by Charles Hamill, a saddler who ran his business from the shop. By 1911, outbuildings to the rear included a stable, coach-house, and workshop. Ordnance Survey maps dating from 1904 to 1968 indicate that two small returns were added to the rear of the property during the early and mid-20th century. The outbuildings were later removed and replaced by a large modern factory building in the latter part of the 20th century.

No. 11 has group value with the other listed buildings in this terrace and is an important element within the broader planned redevelopment of Waterside.