Red House, 88 Urney Road, Strabane, Co Tyrone, BT82 9RX

Red House is a detached three-bay two-storey asymmetrical Arts and Crafts house built around 1890, located on the east side of Urney Road in Strabane. It represents a fine example of the mock Tudor style that became fashionable in the local area during the latter part of the nineteenth century, largely due to the architectural preferences of the Herdman family, prominent linen merchants based in Sion Mills.

The house is T-shaped in plan with a gabled projecting bay to the north. It features a single-storey hipped entrance porch set into the re-entrant angle, abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed veranda to the north-east, and a two-storey gabled return to the south-east with a single-storey lean-to extension abutting its south side.

The roofs are pitched and covered in rosemary clay tiles with timber bargeboards over deep overhanging eaves. The chimneys are red brick with corbelling and retain their original clay pots. The walls combine Flemish-bonded red brick at ground floor level with timber shingles at first floor. Windows are square-headed timber-framed with leaded lattice lights (now blocked), set within corbelled brick sills and voussoirs; sandstone sills are used to the return.

The principal elevation faces north. The left bay contains a single window at first floor, with a flat-roofed timber-framed glazed veranda over a brick plinth at ground floor. The re-entrant angle is occupied by a timber-panelled glazed porch containing a nine-panelled timber door with sidelights (now blocked). The central gabled bay features two segmental-headed windows at ground floor, with roughcast and half-timbering to the projecting first floor supported on corbelled brackets containing a single window, and a hipped dormer with a single attic window. The right bay has a single window at each floor with a hipped dormer to the attic. A gabled dormer with decorative half-timbering containing a single window sits above the left bay.

The east gable contains a central projecting chimney-breast with a single window at ground floor. The exposed section at left shows a double-leaf entrance opening (door now missing) surmounted by a window at first floor. The south elevation's exposed section contains a single window to each floor at left, with small windows at ground floor and two small windows at first floor to the right. The west gable has a central projecting chimney-breast with rosemary clay tiled weathering and a single ground floor window at left, with two timber casement windows at first floor. The exposed section at left shows double-leaf entrance doors accessed by sandstone steps, whilst the exposed section at right contains a single ground floor window.

The south-east return features an east gable with two windows at each floor and roughcast with decorative half-timbering supported on corbelled brackets to the gable. The south elevation is abutted at centre by the lean-to extension containing a single west-facing window and a first floor window, with single windows to each floor at left. The west gable contains a central ground floor window flanked by four-panelled timber entrance doors, two windows at first floor left, and roughcast with mock half-timbering supported on corbelled brackets to the gable.

The ornate brick chimneys and timberwork are particularly indicative of the period. The external rainwater goods consist of cast-iron half-round gutters and round downpipes.

The house stands within mature gardens. Associated outbuildings include a single-storey red brick stable block with pitched natural slate roof to the south-east, and a single-storey gabled red brick gate lodge to the north featuring mock half-timbering to the gable. The road boundary to the north-west is defined by red brick walling, with access gained through a pair of stretcher-bonded brick piers topped with concrete orbs positioned in an alcoved entrance.

Historical records first show the house on the third edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1905, captioned "Red House." The previous edition from 1855 records only a "Standing Stone" on the site. Valuation Revision records document the addition of "house and land" in 1891–96, with Fred Doyle listed as the first occupier. This changed to Emerson Herdman in 1899, with the building valued at £16. The house and gate lodge together form a valuable part of the architectural heritage of Strabane.