19 Aberfoyle Terrace, Strand Road, Londonderry, County Londonderry, BT48 6SE

19 Aberfoyle Terrace is a mid-terrace two-storey townhouse with attic level, built in red brick with yellow brick dressings, completed in 1903 on the west side of Strand Road, Londonderry, overlooking the River Foyle and close to the University of Ulster. It was designed by local architect and engineer William A. Barker (1851–1898) as part of a terrace row of seventeen similar houses erected in stages over two decades between 1891 and 1911. No. 19 forms part of the second phase of construction and is a fine example of a terraced dwelling of its period, retaining strong historic character to its front façade, particularly in its polychromatic brickwork.

Architectural Description

The house is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return. The principal elevation faces east onto Strand Road and is set behind a red-brick plinth wall with painted stone coping. The roof is a slated pitched form with terracotta clay ridge tiles to the main roof, dormer and rear return, and a large two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rising from the north side, centred on the ridge and carrying six circular clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and a circular downpipe are present to the front.

The principal (east) elevation is laid in Flemish brick bond with yellow brick dressings and a projecting brick cornice at eaves level. To the right-hand side at ground floor there is a canted single-storey bay with a hipped roof. A continuous painted sill course runs across the full width of the elevation at first-floor level. Window openings to the canted bay and first floor are segmental arch-headed, while the wall-headed gable dormer above has a round-headed opening with a painted apex fascia board. All windows — to the canted bay, first floor, and dormer — are 2/2 timber sliding sash. The entrance doorway has a segmental arch-headed opening, three steps up from the pavement, fitted with a modern painted six-panelled door and a plain fanlight above.

The north and south sides abut the adjoining Nos. 17 and 21 Aberfoyle Terrace respectively. The rear (west) elevation is three storeys in height with a cement-rendered, partially painted finish, and is abutted by a two-storey cement-rendered and partially painted rear return built at half-landing height. The fenestration to the rear is irregular, with timber sliding sash windows. A flat-roofed dormer to the rear roof slope is fitted with timber casement and top-hung windows, installed in 1981.

Historical Context

The northward expansion of Londonderry began in the mid-19th century with Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street, followed by the residential terraces of Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace. By the end of the 19th century this expansion had reached the campus of Magee University, which had been incorporated into the Royal University of Ireland in 1879. New red-brick terraces followed at Clarence Avenue, College Terrace, and Aberfoyle Terrace itself.

The Annual Revisions record that Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace were built on land belonging to John McFarland, a local magistrate and engineer who resided at Aberfoyle House on the hill overlooking Strand Road. The terrace was originally known as Templemore Terrace before being renamed Aberfoyle in around 1903, taking its name from Aberfoyle House directly above. The standard design for the terrace was produced by William A. Barker, who was also responsible for Florence Terrace on Northland Road, a Professor's House within the Magee Campus, and was associated with the layout of the Foyle College grounds for building purposes. Barker died in 1898, by which time only half the terrace had been completed; construction continued after his death to his original designs.

No. 19 was originally valued at £16 10 shillings. By 1911 the house was occupied by Alexander Hamilton, a retired Coast Guard Chief, whose census building return described it as a second-class dwelling of eight rooms. The McFarland estate retained ownership of the terrace until at least the 1970s, during which time the Holman family resided at No. 19 from at least the 1930s through to the 1970s. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the rateable value had risen to £23, and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72) it was further raised to £26.

Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace were listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The modern dormer window at the rear was installed in 1981. The property was converted from a private dwelling into office premises for a Chinese Medical Centre in around 2003.

Setting and Group Value

Aberfoyle Terrace sits on the western side of Strand Road immediately to the north of Derry city centre, with Magee College (University of Ulster) rising on high ground directly to the rear to the west, and the River Foyle to the east. Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace are considered to have group value and their late-Victorian and Edwardian detailing and form enhance the Magee Conservation Area. The Conservation Area Design Guide identified Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the Conservation Area, while also noting that the terrace now appears somewhat isolated on Strand Road, its setting having changed considerably since its days as a family residential street, with it today overlooking heavy flows of fast-moving traffic on the four-lane Strand Road.