25 Aberfoyle Terrace, Strand Road, Londonderry, County Londonderry, BT48 6SE

No. 25 Aberfoyle Terrace is a mid-terrace two-storey townhouse with attic level, built in 1906 as part of a row of seventeen similar red brick houses lining the west side of Strand Road, Londonderry, overlooking the River Foyle and close to the University of Ulster. It was designed by William A. Barker (1851–1898), a local architect and engineer who played a significant role in the development of the university area during the 1890s. The terrace was constructed in stages over two decades, from 1891 to 1911, on land belonging to John McFarland, a local magistrate and engineer who lived at Aberfoyle House on the hill above Strand Road — the source of the terrace's name, which was changed from its original name of Templemore Terrace to Aberfoyle in around 1903. No. 25 forms part of the third phase of construction. Barker had died before the terrace was completed, with only half the houses finished by the time of his death in 1898.

The house is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return, and sits behind a red brick plinth wall with concrete coping and replacement modern metal railings.

The principal elevation faces east onto Strand Road and is built in Flemish brick bond in red brick with yellow brick dressings and a projecting brick cornice at eaves level. At ground floor on the right-hand side is a canted single-storey bay window with a hipped roof. A continuous painted sill course runs across the full width of the elevation at first floor level. The window openings to the canted bay and the first floor are segmental arch-headed, and there is a round-headed opening to a wall-headed gable dormer window with a painted apex fascia board. All windows have been replaced with uPVC: sliding sash units to the canted bay and first floor, and a casement window to the dormer. The entrance doorway has a segmental arch-headed opening with a plain architrave surround, approached by three steps up from the pavement, and fitted with a replacement uPVC panelled door with a plain fanlight above.

The north and south sides of the house are abutted by the adjoining Nos. 23 and 27 Aberfoyle Terrace. The rear west elevation is three storeys finished in unpainted cement render, abutted by a two-storey unpainted cement rendered rear return built at half-landing height. There is a small rooflight in the slope of the main roof.

The roof is natural slate to the front (east) slope and artificial slate to the rear (west) slope, with terracotta clay ridge tiles to the main roof, the dormer, and the rear return. A large two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rises from the north side, centred on the ridge, with six circular clay pots. Rainwater goods to the front are cast iron, with a circular downpipe.

In terms of its history, in 1911 the house was occupied by David McCallum, a local watchmaker, whose census building return described it as a second-class dwelling of eight rooms, originally valued at £16 10 shillings. The McCallum family remained in residence until 1943. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the value had risen to £23, and it remained at that figure through the Second Revaluation (1956–72). The McFarland estate retained ownership of the property until 1954, when it was purchased outright by a Mr. David S. Craig. A renovation carried out in 1984–85 included reslating of the roof and the installation of new cast iron rainwater goods.

The house shares group value with Nos. 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace, which were listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The Conservation Design Guide for the area identifies Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the Conservation Area, while also noting that the terrace is somewhat isolated on the Strand Road, its setting having changed considerably since the houses were built, with the terrace now overlooking heavy flows of fast-moving traffic on the four-lane Strand Road. Magee College (University of Ulster) lies immediately to the rear at higher ground to the west.