78 Culmore Point Road, Londonderry, BT48 8JW

This is an example of model semi-detached cottages built under the direction of the Honourable Irish Society, intended as prototypes for similar dwellings. They are situated overlooking the River Foyle, where it narrows before broadening into Lough Foyle. While some of the cottages have been altered, they retain enough original features to be attractive and merit recording.

Numbers 76 to 86 comprise three pairs of one-and-a-half storey semi-detached cottages facing the River Foyle immediately north of Culmore Point. They are set back a short distance from the water's edge by a concrete embankment. Each dwelling has a front and rear garden. The cottages are constructed with handmade brick and are two bays wide, featuring pitched roofed porches. They have wide, square proportioned ground floor windows with hood mouldings positioned high above, and centrally placed, pitched roofed dormer windows with cills just above the gutter line. A plaster frieze sits under the gutter, supported by widely spaced cast iron decorative brackets. Gutters discharge into a centrally placed decorative cast iron trunkhead with a single downpipe between the two dwellings, secured by decorative brackets. The slate roof has a central chimney between dwellings, which has been altered to rustic brickwork and now includes four chimney pots from original Tudor style chimneys. The buildings have gable roofs with a lean-to roof over the rear. The gable wall is plastered, and a new back return extension has been added. The porch is timber clad with decorative barges and a pointed timber finial, and the dormer is similarly treated. The brickwork is in Flemish bond. Doors are sheeted, and windows are divided into 12 equal panes with top-hung opening lights at the head. Dormer windows are triangular pointed with a top centre diamond pane. The gables feature a ground floor bedroom window and a centrally placed first floor window. A door has been inserted into the gable in a new position. A flat-roofed, dry dash rendered garage is attached to one side.

The Culmore estate reverted to the Irish Society in 1860. Richard Williamson was appointed Irish Society surveyor, preferred over Fitzgibbon Louch. The Society’s intention was to construct cottages fronting onto the river at the back strand of Culmore Point. Williamson’s plans and elevations were based on those of Henry Roberts (1803-76), who had prepared designs for the Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes. Construction took place between 1863 and 1864. The cottages are now under individual ownership. An Ordnance Survey Map from 1853 depicts a terrace on this site named 'Kings Row'.