14 Florence Terrace, Northland Road, Londonderry

No. 14 Florence Terrace is a mid-terraced Victorian townhouse of three storeys and two bays, built in 1874–75 to an Italianate style, with a rendered and painted finish. Its architect is unknown. The house sits on the north-west side of Northland Road, in the Edenballymore townland on the west side of the River Foyle in Londonderry, and forms part of a terrace of six houses. Nos. 12–20 Florence Terrace were built together in the 1870s; the adjoining No. 10 was added in 1890 but is similar in form and style. The terrace as a whole carries group value, and its presence enhances the Magee Conservation Area, in which it has been included since 2006.

The building follows a rectangular plan, facing south-east, with a three-storey rear return built at half-landing height. The roof is pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles, and includes a small dormer centred on the front slope with a rooflight to either side. A large two-stage brick chimney stack, which has been rebuilt, is topped with buff clay pots. Timber fascia boards and a moulded soffit with paired block modillions run beneath the eaves, and the front elevation is fitted with cast aluminium rainwater goods.

The front elevation is the architectural focus of the house. To the right of the entrance door is a single-storey three-sided canted bay window with segmental arched headed windows, moulded panels below the sill course, a deep moulded cornice, and a parapet above. All windows are one-over-one double-hung timber sliding sashes with moulded horns. Upper-floor windows have moulded architraves with stop blocks on the sills, and the first-floor windows have keystones. The entrance is approached by two steps up to a recessed segmental arched headed door opening. The doorway is flanked by decorative corbel brackets set on plain pilasters to either side, which support a deep moulded cornice with a plain fanlight above. The door itself is a pair of raised-and-fielded two-panel timber doors. A low painted concrete wall stands to the right side of the entrance. The south-west and north-east sides of the house are adjoined to the neighbouring properties, Nos. 12 and 16 Florence Terrace.

The rear elevation has a rendered painted finish, and its windows are not visible as they are obscured by an external metal fire staircase abutting the rear return. At second-floor level on the north-east side, this fire staircase is enclosed by corrugated Perspex. The three-storey rear return, also of rendered painted finish, has square-headed window openings: a two-over-two timber sliding sash window at first-floor level and a uPVC casement window at second-floor level on the north-west elevation. The rear return roof is pitched slate with black ridge tiles. Rainwater goods to the rear are uPVC.

The setting is pleasant. To the front of the house is a paved area enclosed by a low painted concrete boundary wall with metal railings above. The south-east-facing front elevation looks out over Magee University and the River Foyle beyond.

The house retains much of its historic character, style, and proportions, though some alterations detract from its overall integrity, most notably the uPVC windows and rainwater goods to the rear, and the metal fire escape structure.

Historically, the terrace was developed during a period of significant northward expansion in Londonderry, driven by economic prosperity from the 1860s through to the end of the 19th century. The opening of Magee College in 1865 stimulated the construction of a number of new terraced streets in the vicinity, including College Terrace, Clarence Avenue, and Florence Terrace itself. The area around Edenballymore and Northland Road had still been largely rural in character when the earlier Victorian terrace of Crawford Square was built in the 1860s–1870s. Nos. 12–20 Florence Terrace were leased by James Caldwell, a local tea merchant whose business, J. Caldwell & Co., operated from the Strand Road. The terrace first appeared on the Annual Revisions Town Plan of Londonderry (circa 1873–1910), which showed the row in its current layout — including the rear returns — suggesting that few structural changes have been made since the houses were erected.

The adjoining No. 10, built later in 1890, was designed by William Barker (1851–1898), a local architect and civil engineer who was also responsible for one of the red-brick professor's residences on the opposite side of Northland Road, the Bethany Hall on Park Avenue, and the standard design of Aberfoyle Terrace on the Strand Road. It is considered unlikely that Barker designed Nos. 12–20 Florence Terrace, as those houses were constructed before he had established his independent practice in the city.

Annual Revisions records confirm that No. 14 was built between 1874 and 1875 and was originally valued at £33. Its first occupant was Alexander McVicker, a local magistrate, tailor, and secretary of Londonderry's Temperance Council. The 1901 census recorded the house as a first-class dwelling comprising eleven rooms, with a coal house as its sole outbuilding. McVicker continued to live there until his death in 1904. By the time of the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the terrace was owned by the McFarland family of Aberfoyle House, and the rateable value of No. 14 had been increased to £32. During the 1930s the house was occupied by Hugh R. E. Roberts, a local company director. Roberts died in 1956, but his family continued to reside at Florence Terrace until at least the 1970s. The value of the house remained at £32 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72). No. 14 Florence Terrace was listed in 1979.