'Cloneen' 34 Derry Road, Strabane, Co Tyrone, BT82 8DX

Cloneen, 34 Derry Road, Strabane

A detached three-bay two-storey house built around 1920 in a vaguely Arts and Crafts style with some classical elements, located on the west side of Derry Road, Strabane. The building is rectangular on plan with a two-storey projecting gabled bay at the east and hipped roof at the south, adjoined by a single-storey hipped garage at the north.

The roof is natural slate with angled terracotta ridge tiles. Two corbelled roughcast rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots are positioned as party walls. Plain timber bargeboards and ogee-profile cast-iron rainwater goods are supported on exposed roof timbers. A dipartite timber sliding-sash dormer is positioned at the west elevation.

The walls are roughcast rendered. Windows throughout are square-headed timber-framed 1/1 sliding sashes with projecting masonry cills unless otherwise stated. The principal elevation faces east and contains a two-storey projecting gabled bay at the centre with an eaves line slightly lower than the main block. The central bay gable contains the principal entrance at the left and a tripartite window at the right, with three windows at first floor, the central window contained within a round-arched-headed recessed panel. The exposed section at the right contains a window at each floor, with the ground-floor window being tripartite. The exposed section at the left contains two windows at ground floor and a single window at first floor. The left cheek of the gable is blank; the right cheek contains a single window at ground floor.

The south elevation is half-hipped and abutted on the right by a two-storey hipped return, also built around 1920 and detailed as the main block. A veranda at first floor abuts this section. A single-leaf timber door with twelve glazed panes is located at ground floor, with single windows at first and attic floors, the attic window being diminished. The return south elevation contains a tripartite window at each floor. The left cheek contains a door at ground floor, and the first floor is overgrown with ivy, obscuring any window openings. The rear west elevation contains a timber-framed bay window at the right, a tripartite window at the centre, and two windows at the left. At first floor, three central windows are flanked by tripartite windows at left and right. The north elevation is abutted on the left by a single-storey hipped extension containing the garage. The exposed ground-floor section is not visible but contains a back door, enclosed by a high boundary wall. Three windows at first floor, the left one being diminished, are visible above.

The house is set within an unspoiled landscaped setting with an expansive garden on all sides. Access from the road to the east is via an alcoved entrance with square-plan roughcast rendered piers and timber gates. The extensive landscaped setting which now screens the house from the road is an important element contributing to the charm of the property.

Despite the house being vacant for a considerable time and slight alteration to interior detailing, the plan layout and exterior proportions and characteristics remain intact, including original fenestration with internal linings and fine doorcases.

The house first appears on the fourth edition Ordnance Survey map of 1951, captioned 'Cloneen', and does not appear in Annual Revision records from 1860 to 1931. By 1933, the occupier was W.B. Smyth in fee, though ownership subsequently transferred to Mabel Smyth and then Hugh Lane who leased it from W.D. Smyth. The valuation was reduced on appeal from £83 to £75 in 1935.

According to the 1935 valuation record, the house comprised a kitchen, scullery, porch, three rooms, store room, maid's room, pantry, and cloaks with partitioned W.C. downstairs, and upstairs four bedrooms, a dressing room, bath, W.C., and four attic rooms. Outside stood a motor house, fuel store, coal store, and outside W.C. The valuer noted in 1935 that it was a "large detached house in excellent order, well planned with good light rooms, erected about fifteen years or so ago at a cost of about £10,000. Electric light throughout, previously own plant, now supplied by Electricity Board Northern Ireland. House is absolutely modern with good floor, staircase &c. Excellent repair throughout."

W.B. Smyth was a son of Robert Smyth, whose family owned several properties in and around Strabane. Robert Smyth and Son operated a successful milling business in buildings on Canal Street from around 1880, continuing in business until the 1980s. The mill served the local agricultural community, grinding grain sold by farmers in the area. W.B. Smyth was a keen golfer and the first captain of Strabane Golf Club on its foundation in 1909. In 1913 he was recommended for a place on the Finance and Business Committee of the Provisional Government that Edward Carson had promised to establish in Ulster if Home Rule were introduced.