35 Aberfoyle Terrace

35 Aberfoyle Terrace is a three-storey end-of-terrace red brick townhouse with polychromatic yellow brick dressings, built in approximately 1911 to designs by the local architect and engineer William A. Barker (1851–1898). It stands on the west side of Strand Road in Londonderry, overlooking the River Foyle, close to the University of Ulster (formerly Magee College). It is the southernmost house in a terrace of seventeen and sits within the Magee Conservation Area.

The terrace as a whole was erected in stages over two decades, from 1891 to 1911, on land belonging to John McFarland, a local magistrate and engineer who resided at Aberfoyle House on the hill above Strand Road. The row was originally known as Templemore Terrace but was renamed Aberfoyle Terrace in around 1903, taking its name from that same house. Barker established the standard design for all seventeen houses, but died in 1898 before the terrace was complete, with only roughly half the houses finished by that point. Numbers 35 and 33 were the last to be built, completed in 1911 as the final phase of the development. The terrace is recorded as having been designed to complement the wider northward expansion of Londonderry, which had been underway since 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. By the late 19th century this northward expansion had reached the Magee University campus, which had been incorporated into the Royal University of Ireland in 1879, and was accompanied by the construction of new red brick terraces at Clarence Avenue, College Terrace and Aberfoyle Terrace. Barker was also responsible for the design of Florence Terrace on the Northland Road, a professor's house within the Magee campus, and was associated with the layout of the Foyle College grounds for building purposes.

Number 35 differs noticeably from the majority of the terrace. Whereas houses numbered 7 to 31 are two storeys with a dormer attic level, No. 35 — along with its counterpart No. 3 at the north end — rises to a full three storeys, with a two-storey canted bay window. Together, these two taller end houses effectively bookend the remainder of the row.

The building is rectangular on plan with a large projecting rear return. The principal elevation faces east onto Strand Road and is set behind a painted low brick wall with steel railings enclosing a concrete-paved forecourt. The brickwork is laid in Flemish bond. A projecting brick cornice runs at eaves level. A canted bay window projects from the ground floor and rises through two storeys, with a sill course to both the ground and first floor windows and a slightly projecting moulded cornice at the top. All window openings in the canted bay, and at first and second floor level across the elevation, have segmental arched heads and are fitted with one-over-one timber sliding sash windows. A sill course spans the full width of the elevation at first floor level. The entrance doorway has a semicircular arched opening approached by three steps, with a plain architrave surround, a painted six-panel fielded timber door, and a plain fanlight above. The south elevation is finished in a blank cement render with a painted finish. The north side abuts No. 33 Aberfoyle Terrace. The rear west elevation is three storeys high, with a two-storey rear return built at half-landing height and covered by a slated pitched roof. The main slated pitched roof and the rear return both have black clay ridge tiles. A two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rises from the north side of the main roof, centred on the ridge, with circular buff clay pots. Rainwater goods to the front elevation are uPVC guttering with a circular downpipe.

It is noted that the brickwork to the two-storey bay and around the front door has been painted over, which somewhat detracts from the building's character, though the front façade otherwise retains its historic character, particularly in its use of contrasting brick colours.

Records indicate that No. 35 was originally occupied by a Mr. F. W. A. McCormack and was valued at £18 10s. By the time of the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the value had risen to £30, and the house changed occupants frequently until George Trimby, a chiropractor, took possession in 1946. Trimby's family continued to live there until at least the 1970s. The Second Revaluation (1956–72) records that the McFarland estate retained ownership throughout this period and that the value had risen to £34 by 1972. In 1970 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described the terrace as "a pleasing terrace of two-storey houses with half dormers, each house with a ground floor half-hexagonal bay window in yellow brick. The whole terrace is in red brick with brick reveals, and dressings in yellow brick. The end houses (No. 3 and No. 35) are a little higher than the rest."

Numbers 3 to 35 Aberfoyle Terrace were listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. In 1987 the building underwent a renovation that included the reconstruction of its chimney, the reslating of its roof using second-hand slate, and the installation of cast aluminium rainwater goods. In around 2006 the building was converted from a single dwelling into a number of self-contained apartments.

The Conservation Design Guide for the Magee Conservation Area identifies Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the conservation area, while noting that the terrace is "quite disconnected" from the rest of the area and appears isolated on the Strand Road, observing that "the ambiance surrounding Aberfoyle Terrace has changed out of all recognition from the days when it was home to families and would have looked onto a somewhat different Strand Road. Today the terrace overlooks heavy flows of fast moving traffic on the four lane Strand Road."

The building has group value as part of Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace, whose Late Victorian and Edwardian detailing and form enhance the Magee Conservation Area as a whole.