41 Bowling Green, Strabane, County Tyrone, BT82 8BW

41 Bowling Green is a three-storey late-Georgian terraced house of around 1835, one of an almost identical pair that together represent some of the few remaining substantial late-Georgian townhouses in Strabane. The building has since been converted into four apartments, though it has been altered internally.

The property sits within a terrace on the east side of Bowling Green, with its front elevation facing south-west. The facade is asymmetrical. On the ground floor to the left is the main entrance, comprising a panelled timber door and semicircular fanlight with radial tracery, all framed by plain pilasters, an entablature decorated with paterae and incised panels, and a projecting cornice. The doorway is reached by a flight of stone steps fitted with simple wrought-iron railings, some of which have urn finials. These railings continue around the basement area, and the steps are shared with the entrance to the neighbouring property to the north-west. To the right of the entrance is a window with a horned timber sash frame glazed in Georgian panes (six over six) and a moulded surround with a vermiculated keystone. The first floor has two similar windows, but without keystones, and the second floor has two shorter versions of the same pattern. At basement level there is a further window, similar in form to those on the second floor but without a surround and fitted with wrought-iron security bars. Building plans suggest there is an additional window to the left of this one, hidden beneath the entrance steps, though it could not be seen during survey.

The ground floor of the front facade is finished in painted rusticated render, the upper floors in painted plain render, and the basement in painted roughcast.

The rear elevation could not be seen in full. On the right-hand side of the rear there is a large two-storey gabled return. Only the north-east face of this return was visible, on which there is a large first-floor window — undoubtedly enlarged at some point — with a modern timber frame. Plans suggest a ground-floor window is also present on this face, but this could not be confirmed. Plans further indicate a door and window on the ground floor of the south-east face of the return, with another window to the left on the first floor; again, this could not be confirmed during inspection. The main rear section of the house is shown on plans as having a window to the left on the ground floor and another directly above it on the first floor, neither of which could be seen. On the second floor, one window was visible to the left and a smaller one to the right, both with modern timber frames. The entire rear elevation appears to be finished in plain unpainted cement render.

The main section of the building has a gabled roof that appears to be fully slated. There is a large rendered chimneystack to the south-east, topped with several octagonal clay pots. The roof covering of the gabled return could not be seen; this roof has an overhang with plain bargeboards. Rainwater goods are cast iron to the front and PVC-U to the rear.

The site is shown as developed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34. The town plan of Strabane produced to accompany the valuation of 1832–34 has been lost, making it difficult to trace the buildings present at that date with certainty. The valuation book itself appears to contain nothing matching the scale of this property and its neighbour, suggesting both houses were built after 1834. Their late-Georgian styling, however, points to a date close to that year — most likely the later 1830s. Both buildings were certainly standing by the second valuation of 1857, at which point number 43 was occupied by a Margaret Stevenson, with the representatives of Alexander Auchinleck recorded as the immediate lessor. An Alexander Auchinleck is noted in the 1832 valuation as owning an old, long, one- to one-and-a-half-storey thatched house on the Bowling Green, measuring 43½ feet. It seems likely that this earlier structure occupied the site of the present building, with its plot probably covering the sites of the present numbers 39 and 43 as well, both of which were also in the hands of Auchinleck's representatives in 1857.

Margaret Stevenson remained in residence until 1863, when a James Stevenson is listed as tenant. He was succeeded eight years later by Francis M. Boyd MD, who was followed in 1872 by Oliver Stevenson. In 1892 the freehold was acquired by William Keatly, who rented it to Andrew Hamilton from 1894. Robert P. Cresswell was tenant from 1902 to 1907, followed by Robert Graham (1907–22), Elizabeth Graham (1922–27), William Lynn (1927–28), A. Reynolds (1928–30), Eleanor Stevenson (1930–approximately 1933), and Ronald Hill (approximately 1933–36). Subsequent occupants were Bernard A. Murphy (1936–39), Frank McKay (1939–41), Edward D. Monteith (1941–42), John H. Sweeney (1942–68), and Robert Wray, who was still in occupation in 1972. At some point after that year the property was divided into four apartments.