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

No. 2 Waterside is a three-storey-with-basement Georgian-style terraced building, constructed around 1846–1854 to designs by Samuel Angell, Surveyor to the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers in Ulster. It forms the corner unit of a largely homogeneous terrace on the western side of Coleraine town, occupying a prominent site on one of the main approaches into the town centre via the nearby Old Bridge over the River Bann.

The building is rectangular on plan with a canted north-east corner, two openings wide on its principal elevation, and currently accommodates a shop and restaurant at ground floor level with residential accommodation above. The roof is partially hipped with slate covering and blue-grey angled ridge-tiles, a brick chimney with multiple terracotta pots, and half-round cast-iron rainwater goods (some replaced in uPVC), mounted on a plain timber fascia to boxed eaves with a projecting course below. The upper floors are faced in red brick laid in Flemish bond, while the ground floor is smooth rendered and painted with banded rustication. Window openings are flat-arched with rendered and painted reveals and painted projecting sills; the original windows are 6/6 timber sashes.

The principal (north) elevation carries two windows to the upper floors and single windows to the canted bay on the left side, which has a moulded architrave and entablature to the first-floor window. At ground floor, a large modern glazed opening serves the shop, with a lead-covered replacement timber fascia above supported on scrolled timber brackets. The entrance door to the accommodation on the right side is a four-panelled timber door with original furniture, set within a timber panelled doorcase with plain glass side-lights and a transom over. The east elevation has two windows to the upper floors, though those to the right are false, with a similar glazed shop opening at ground floor and a window opening to the left side. The south elevation is entirely abutted by a hipped three-storey building, which in turn is abutted by a further lower extension to the south. The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining terrace.

The building sits on a prominent corner site in an urban setting, with its main elevation fronting directly onto one of the principal thoroughfares into Coleraine town centre. It is situated on the western bank of the River Bann, terminating the western end of its terrace. A comparable terrace faces it from the opposite side of the street to the north. The eastern elevation of the abutting building to the south is constructed in the same style as the main terrace.

The historical context of the building is closely bound up with the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, one of the London Merchant Companies that was given responsibility for developing and settling — or 'planting' — County Londonderry during the early 17th century. The area known as Waterside, then part of Killowen Parish, formed part of this estate and was originally a suburb of Coleraine. Over time, the Clothworkers tended to lease their lands, often to absentee landlords, which led to a general decline in the estate and a lack of new building due to the uncertainty of tenures. The Company regained direct control in 1840 when the lease expired, and a period of substantial improvement followed, encompassing new buildings, infrastructure, and education. Around 1844, a new bridge of increased height was built to replace an earlier timber structure dating from around 1735, and stabilising works were carried out to the western river embankment. The raising of street levels on the Killowen side to match the new bridge affected the existing buildings significantly, and it was decided that it was more appropriate to demolish and rebuild the entire Waterside area in order to create a dignified entrance to the Clothworkers' estate from the main part of Coleraine to the east.

The neighbouring Clothworkers' Arms Hotel, erected around 1846, established the architectural template for the new development and marked its first phase, with demolition of the surrounding houses beginning in 1847. Samuel Angell, who had designed the hotel, was also responsible for overseeing and regulating the broader development of the terrace, and it was he who designed this corner building — considered particularly important because it needed to provide visual balance to the newly isolated hotel and help establish a grand approach from the town. The terrace is first shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1849–50, and the development was completed around 1854, by which time the Clothworkers' Company had spent approximately £4,000 on erecting houses in the Waterside area. The plain, balanced, and unembellished character of the terrace reflects a conscious decision by the Clothworkers' Company to avoid the excessive ornamentation adopted by other London Companies during the same period of widespread architectural improvement.

The first recorded occupier was Edward Gribbon, who held the house, shop, and extensive outbuildings to the rear, valued at £48 in Griffith's Valuation of 1856. Ownership passed to Sir Hervey Bruce around 1872, and by 1875 the premises had been divided in two: Alexander Tannahill occupied the house and ran a drapery there until 1930, the house and drapery being valued at £30, while the warehouse and offices of Edward Gribbon and Sons were valued at £18. By 1893 the rear premises had come to front onto Strand Road. The outline of the building has changed little since the Town Plan map of 1882, though the rear abutment has been largely remodelled and the main house has been reconfigured and subdivided into apartments. More recently, the ground floor has been remodelled and refurbished to form a takeaway restaurant with a kitchen in the basement.

The building has group value with the other listed buildings in this terrace, and its architectural interest lies in its style, proportion, restrained ornamentation, and setting, though incremental changes to the ground-floor shopfront over the decades have eroded some historic fabric at that level. The upper floors retain a high degree of integrity and continue to contribute to what remains one of the few coherent historic street facades in Coleraine town.