31 Aberfoyle Terrace, Strand Road, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, BT48 7NP

No. 31 Aberfoyle Terrace is a mid-terrace, two-storey-with-attic red brick townhouse completed in 1906, situated on the west side of Strand Road, Londonderry, overlooking the River Foyle and close to the University of Ulster (formerly Magee College). It was designed by local architect and engineer William A. Barker (1851–1898) as part of a terrace row of seventeen similar houses built in stages over two decades between 1891 and 1911. The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return, and its principal elevation faces east onto Strand Road, set behind a low painted brick wall.

The roof is a natural slate pitched roof with black clay ridge tiles to the main roof, dormer, and rear return. A two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rises from the north side, centred on the ridge and fitted with circular clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and downpipe serve the front elevation.

The principal (east) elevation is laid in Flemish brick bond with yellow brick dressings and a projecting brick cornice at eaves level. At ground floor on the right side there is a canted single-storey bay window, constructed entirely in yellow brick. A continuous sill course painted in contrasting colours runs across the full width of the elevation at first floor level. Window openings to the canted bay and first floor are segmental arch-headed, and there is a round-headed opening to a wall-headed gable dormer window, which has a painted apex fascia board. The glazing comprises 1-over-1 timber sliding sash windows to the canted bay and first floor, and a 2-over-2 timber sliding sash window at dormer level. The entrance doorway has a segmental arch-headed opening with three steps rising from the pavement, fitted with a painted four-panel fielded timber door and a plain fanlight above. The north and south sides abut the adjoining properties, Nos. 29 and 33 Aberfoyle Terrace. The rear (west) elevation is two storeys, abutted by a two-storey rear return built at half-landing height, which steps down to a single-storey extension spanning the length of the rear yard and abutting the rear boundary wall.

Aberfoyle Terrace was developed on land belonging to John McFarland, a local magistrate and engineer who resided at Aberfoyle House, on the hill overlooking Strand Road. The terrace was originally known as Templemore Terrace but was renamed Aberfoyle in around 1903, taking its name from Aberfoyle House above. Barker established the standard design for the houses in the terrace, but only roughly half of the row had been completed at the time of his death in 1898. Beyond Aberfoyle Terrace, Barker was also responsible for Florence Terrace on Northland Road, a professor's house within Magee Campus, and was associated with the layout of the Foyle College grounds for building purposes.

No. 31 was built in 1906 as part of the third phase of the terrace's development, and originally formed the end-of-terrace building until Nos. 33–35 were added in 1911. Annual Revision records note that the house was originally valued at £16 10 shillings and was first occupied by Philip McLaughlin, a sorting clerk and telegraphist at Derry's General Post Office. The 1911 census described the house as a second-class dwelling with eleven rooms. By the 1930s, the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) recorded that McLaughlin had vacated the house and its rateable value had risen to £23. From 1940, No. 31 was occupied by Mr William J. Braithwaite, who continued to reside there until at least the 1970s. The McFarland estate retained ownership of the house throughout this period, and the valuation remained at £23 by 1972.

The terrace's development followed the broader northward expansion of Londonderry that had begun in the mid-19th century with Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street, and Clarendon Street, and continued with the residential terraces of Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace. By the end of the 19th century the city's northward growth had reached the campus of Magee University, which had been incorporated into the Royal University of Ireland in 1879. The development of the campus prompted the construction of new red brick terraces at Clarence Avenue, College Terrace, and Aberfoyle Terrace itself.

In 1985, No. 31 underwent a restoration that involved reslating of the roof in natural slate, installation of cast-iron rainwater goods, and installation of new sliding sash windows to the ground floor. Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace were listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The Conservation Design Guide for the area identified Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the Conservation Area, while noting that the terrace is now quite disconnected from the rest of the Conservation Area and its surroundings have changed considerably, with the street today overlooking four lanes of fast-moving traffic on Strand Road. Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace as a group have recognised group value, and the terrace's late Victorian and Edwardian detailing and form enhance the Magee Conservation Area as a whole.