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

21 Aberfoyle Terrace is a mid-terrace, two-storey with attic level red brick townhouse with polychromatic brick dressings, completed in 1903 to designs by the local architect and engineer William A. Barker (1851–1898). It sits on the west side of Strand Road overlooking the River Foyle, close to the University of Ulster, within the Magee Conservation Area.

The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return, and forms part of a unified terrace row of seventeen similar houses lining the west side of Strand Road. The terrace was built in stages over two decades between 1891 and 1911, with Barker responsible for the standard design across all the houses. By the time of his death in 1898, only around half of the terrace had been completed. The terrace was originally known as Templemore Terrace, but the name was changed to Aberfoyle around 1903, derived from Aberfoyle House, the residence of John McFarland — a local magistrate and engineer — which stood on the hill directly above the Strand Road. The land on which the terrace was built belonged to McFarland, whose estate retained ownership until at least the 1970s.

The principal east-facing elevation is set behind a red brick plinth wall with stone capping and is constructed in Flemish brick bond with yellow brick dressings. It is two bays wide, with a projecting brick cornice at eaves level. At ground floor right there is a canted single-storey bay window with a hipped roof. Window openings to the canted bay and first floor are segmental arch-headed, and a continuous painted sill course runs across the full width of the elevation at first floor level. Above, a wall-head gable dormer with a round-headed opening and painted apex fascia board rises from the roofline. Windows to the ground floor canted bay and first floor are 1/1 timber sliding sash; the dormer has a 2/2 sliding sash window. The entrance doorway has a segmental arch-headed opening with three steps up from the pavement, a modern painted six-panelled door, and a plain fanlight above. The natural slate pitched roof to the front has terracotta clay ridge tiles, and a two-stage polychromatic brick chimney stack rises from the north side, centred on the ridge with six circular clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and a circular downpipe serve the front elevation.

The north and south sides of the house are abutted by the adjoining properties at numbers 19 and 23 Aberfoyle Terrace respectively. The rear west elevation is three storeys in height with a cement rendered finish, abutted by a two-storey cement rendered rear return built at half-landing height. The fenestration to the rear is irregular, with uPVC casement and top-hung replacement windows throughout. A flat-roofed dormer with timber casement windows is set into the rear roof slope. The rear elevation and rear return are covered in artificial slate, with terracotta clay ridge tiles to the dormer and rear return roofs.

The original rate valuation for number 21 was £16 10 shillings. In 1911, the house was occupied by William Patton, a retired farmer, and was recorded in the census as a second-class dwelling containing eight rooms. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) its value had risen to £23, and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72) it had increased further to £27. A renovation carried out in 1984–85 included the re-slating of the roof in second-hand natural slate, the installation of replacement cast-iron rainwater goods, and the fitting of a new entrance door. Around 2000 the building was converted to student accommodation, and around 2003 it was changed to office use, which remains its current function.

The broader historical context of the terrace lies in the northward expansion of Londonderry, which began in the mid-19th century with Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street, and Clarendon Street, followed by the residential terraces of Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace. By the end of the 19th century this expansion had reached the campus of Magee University, which had been incorporated into the Royal University of Ireland in 1879. Aberfoyle Terrace was developed alongside new red brick terraces at Clarence Avenue and College Terrace as part of this broader growth around the university area. Barker was also responsible for Florence Terrace on Northland Road, a professor's house within Magee Campus, and was associated with the layout of Foyle College grounds for building purposes.

Numbers 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace were listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The Conservation Area Design Guide identified Aberfoyle Terrace as one of five zones of distinct character within the Conservation Area, noting that the terrace is quite disconnected from the rest of the area and appears isolated on Strand Road, its setting having changed considerably from its original residential character, now overlooking four lanes of fast-moving traffic. Number 21 shares group value with the rest of numbers 3–35 Aberfoyle Terrace, the terrace as a whole being notable for its consistent late-Victorian and Edwardian detailing and its polychromatic brickwork.