19-21 Main Street, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7AS

19–21 Main Street, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone

This is an attractive detached three-bay, three-storey house built around 1820, situated on the west side of Main Street in Castlederg town centre. The building is clearly readable as two distinct blocks. Although both were built around 1820, the street-facing block displays confident Victorian style and proportions, reflecting a major refurbishment around 1860 when a second floor was added and the property was converted to hotel use. The rear return, by contrast, survives largely intact in both its plan form and its detailing, and retains much of the original late Georgian character. The building forms part of an important group within Castlederg town centre, which also includes the adjacent outbuildings at No. 17 (built around 1870) and the passageway known as "The Entry" (built around 1840). Together, this group demonstrates the evolution of Castlederg's town development.

Form and Plan

The building is rectangular on plan, facing east, with a T-plan return to the west. A single-storey lean-to extension closes the re-entrant angle between the main house and the return, and a further single-storey flat-roofed extension sits at the west end of the return.

Roof and Rainwater Goods

The roof is hipped and covered in natural slate, with a slightly higher ridge line at the south bay. Blue-black clay ridge tiles are used throughout. Six smooth rendered corbelled chimneystacks punctuate the roof. Deep overhanging eaves are supported on moulded timber brackets. Rainwater goods are cast-iron with an ogee profile.

Walls

The walls are finished in ruled-and-lined render with a projecting sill course and a projecting smooth rendered plinth. At ground floor level the corners have V-jointed rock-faced quoins; at first and second floor levels these are replaced by V-jointed reticulated rusticated quoins.

Windows

Windows throughout are six-over-six timber sliding sashes with a projecting sill course. Moulded architraves are present on the principal elevation only. The windows diminish in height at first and second floor level.

Principal (East) Elevation

The central bay is recessed and contains the principal entrance, flanked by two windows to the right and a modern shopfront to the left. Both the left and right bays have V-jointed rock-faced quoins at their projecting corners. There are five windows at first floor level and five at second floor level.

The principal entrance is reached by a stone step and comprises double-leaf panelled doors with weather boards, flanking timber pilasters, and a radial fanlight above. This doorcase is itself set within a secondary, later surround consisting of fluted pilasters, a moulded archivolt with keyblock detail over, and flanking spandrels with moulded architrave. The glazed shopfront is recessed, with the main wall above supported on two cast-iron columns.

South, Rear, and North Elevations

The south elevation contains a projecting smooth rendered pier at the right, which supports a timber-sheeted fence enclosing the yard to the west. There is a single window at second floor level at the centre.

The rear elevation is abutted to the left by the two-storey return (also built around 1820 but not remodelled around 1860 to include a second floor), and to the right by the single-storey lean-to extension. The exposed section contains a bowed bay to the left — at the centre of the west elevation — added around 1870. This bowed bay contains three windows at each floor, with the central window diminished in height. To the right there are two windows at first floor level and two at second floor level.

The north gable contains a single window to the right at first floor level.

The Return

The return has a hipped natural slate roof with blue-black clay ridge tiles, stone corbelled eaves, and cast-iron rainwater goods.

Walls are ruled-and-lined render. Windows are six-over-six timber sliding sashes with projecting painted masonry sills unless otherwise noted.

The return's south elevation is abutted at centre by a slightly lower two-storey wing aligned north–south. The exposed section to the left is abutted by the single-storey extension at the re-entrant angle; there is a single window to the right at first floor level. The exposed section to the right is abutted by a single-storey lean-to extension; the first floor of this section is blank. The west elevation is abutted by a single-storey extension to the left; there is a two-light window (dipartite) and a single window to the right at first floor level. The north elevation was not surveyed. The east elevation abuts the main block.

The North–South Aligned Wing

The west elevation of this wing is abutted at ground floor level to the left by a single-storey extension built around 1880, and has a single window to the right and two windows at first floor level. The south elevation contains two windows at ground floor level. The east elevation is abutted at ground floor level by a lean-to extension, with a single window at first floor level.

The Lean-To Extension

The lean-to extension is detailed in the same manner as the main block. It is abutted to the west and north by the two-storey return, and to the east by the main block. The exposed south elevation contains double-leaf glazed timber panelled doors with an original folding metal screen.

The L-Plan Extension

This extension is detailed in the same manner as the return, with a felted flat roof and timber eaves boards. The west elevation has a projecting bay to the left containing a glazed timber panelled door with flanking sidelights. The right bay contains a narrow four-over-four timber sliding sash to the right and a replacement timber casement window to the left. There is a single window on the south elevation. The rear elevation is abutted by an east–west series of outbuildings, the eastern part of which was constructed around 1820 at the same time as the main house; the western part appears to be later.

Setting and Group

The house sits at the street frontage and is enclosed to the south by a timber-sheeted fence. The yard to the west contains a series of single- and two-storey outbuildings of varying age. Immediately south of the entrance to the enclosed rear yard is No. 17 (built around 1870), now used as a shop in connection with the main house. This building is adjoined to the west by a series of small-scale, vernacular-style outbuildings known as "The Entry" (built around 1840). Connected further to The Entry is a series of attached outbuildings arranged around a courtyard. The north–south aligned block within this group is among the earliest on the site, built around 1820 simultaneously with the main house and prior to the construction of The Entry.

Historical Background

The buildings can be identified on the Townland Valuation Town Plan of around 1834, at which time two dwellings are shown on the site, numbered 49 and 50, with No. 49 possessing a considerable return. The fieldbook records that the two houses were occupied by Mrs Funston and Thomas Funston, valued at £6 6s and £7 14s respectively. By the time of Griffith's Valuation (1856–64), the two houses are shown as one and the return has grown in size. At that stage, William Henderson leased the "House, offices, yard and garden" from Sir Robert A. Ferguson Bt, with the property valued at £33 — a substantial increase indicating significant remodelling since the earlier valuation. A further addition to the return, corresponding to a bay containing a stairwell and further outbuildings, was added onto the Griffith's Valuation Town Plan of around 1859 at a later date. Revision notes record that the lessor had become John G. Smyly and the property was valued at £41, with a marginal note stating: "Rebuilt and storey added 1863, £400." By 1864, the fieldbook describes the property as a hotel.

In 1872 the value was revised to £42 10s following the addition of offices, and in 1875 J.F.R. Johnston became the occupier. The value rose again to £43 10s in 1877, after which there were several changes of occupier until Samuel Gailey took occupancy from 1912. The Ordnance Survey town plan of 1905 captions the building as "Hotel." An advertisement placed by Samuel Gailey and Co. in a short history of Second Castlederg Presbyterian Church, published in 1953, describes the business then operating from the former hotel as "Select Family Grocers, Provision, Seed and General Hardware Merchants, Timber, Coal and Iron," with the Kinnear family as proprietors at that time.

The main block, built around 1820, is indicated on the 1830 map as two buildings divided east–west — a single-bay house to the south and a two-bay house to the north. The current plan form and detailing suggest that the original building structure survives but was substantially remodelled around 1860 when the second floor was added, with the three-storey bowed bay containing the stairwell added subsequently around 1870. The west return was also built around 1820 but has not been remodelled to the same extent: it remains two-storey with its original detailing and proportions largely intact. The simpler characteristics of the main block's facade are now obscured by the V-jointed reticulated rusticated quoins, while the remodelling is most emphatically expressed in the elaborate ornamentation of the principal entrance doorcase.