29 Aberfoyle Terrace, Strand Road, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, BT48 7NP

29 Aberfoyle Terrace is a mid-terrace, two-storey with attic level townhouse built in red brick with yellow brick dressings, completed in 1906. It sits on the west side of Strand Road, Londonderry, overlooking the River Foyle, close to the University of Ulster (formerly Magee College). It was designed by the 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. Barker had died before the terrace was complete, having finished only around half the row by the time of his death. No. 29 was constructed as part of the third phase of the development.

The house is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return. Its principal elevation faces east onto Strand Road, set behind a low brick wall with painted metal railings above. The roofline is finished in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, and a large two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rises from the north side, centred on the ridge and fitted with six circular clay pots.

The front (east) elevation is laid in Flemish brick bond with yellow brick dressings and features a projecting brick cornice at eaves level. At ground floor on the right-hand side there is a canted single-storey bay window constructed entirely in yellow brick. A continuous painted sill course spans the full width of the elevation at first floor level. Window openings to both the canted bay and the first floor are segmental arch-headed, and the gable dormer window above is round-headed with a painted apex fascia board. Glazing throughout the front elevation consists of 1-over-1 timber sliding sash windows to the canted bay and first floor, with a casement window at dormer level. The entrance doorway has a segmental arch-headed opening, is approached by three steps up from the pavement, and is fitted with a painted six-panel fielded timber door with a plain fanlight above. uPVC guttering and a square downpipe serve the front elevation.

The north and south sides of the house are abutted by the adjoining nos. 27 and 31 Aberfoyle Terrace. The rear (west) elevation is two storeys, finished in unpainted cement render, and is abutted by a two-storey unpainted cement rendered rear return built at half-landing height. This steps down to a single-storey unpainted rendered extension that spans the length of the rear yard, abutting the rear boundary wall, which has a timber sheeted and braced gate. The fenestration to the rear is irregular, with casement windows on masonry sills. The rear roof also has black clay ridge tiles, and uPVC rainwater goods serve the rear of the building.

Internally, some historic detailing survives, though no specific elements are recorded beyond this general observation. The 1911 census building return described the house as a second-class dwelling containing eleven rooms.

Aberfoyle Terrace was built on land belonging to John McFarland, a local magistrate and engineer who lived at Aberfoyle House on the hill directly above Strand Road — the name Aberfoyle being derived from this house. The terrace was originally known as Templemore Terrace and was renamed Aberfoyle in around 1903. Barker was also responsible for designing 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. The development of Aberfoyle Terrace was part of a broader northward expansion of Londonderry that had begun in the mid-19th century with Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street, followed by Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace, and latterly by the red brick terraces of Clarence Avenue and College Terrace that accompanied the growth of the university campus.

No. 29 was originally valued at £16 10 shillings and was first occupied by Humphrey Hayes, a draper and commercial agent. By the 1930s, following the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland, the value had risen to £23 and the house was in the possession of Thomas C. Wylie, a local solicitor. By the 1950s a Mr William B. Bleakley had taken possession and continued to reside there through to the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72), by which time the value had increased to £27. The McFarland estate retained ownership throughout this entire period. Around 2003 the house underwent a restoration that included re-slating the roof, renewing the rainwater goods, and repointing the red brick chimney stack.

Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace were listed in 1979 and were incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The Conservation Design Guide for the area identified Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the conservation area, while also noting that it appears somewhat isolated on Strand Road, which today carries heavy four-lane traffic in contrast to the quieter residential setting the terrace would originally have overlooked. No. 29 has group value as part of the wider terrace, and the late-Victorian and Edwardian detailing of nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace collectively enhances the Magee Conservation Area.