9 College Terrace, Rock Road, Londonderry, County Londonderry, BT48 7NZ

9 College Terrace is a two-storey-with-attic mid-terrace redbrick townhouse, built in 1889–90 as one of a uniform row of thirteen similar houses lining the eastern side of College Terrace, close to the junction of Rock Road and Strand Road on the north side of Londonderry city centre, on the eastern bank of the River Foyle. The terrace faces west, overlooking an urban tree-lined green and the boundary wall of the University of Ulster at Magee College. No. 9 is flanked by No. 8 to the north and No. 10 to the south.

The house is rectangular on plan, set at the back of the pavement, with a projecting two-storey rear return that steps down to a single-storey extension with a slated lean-to roof. The principal west-facing elevation is laid in Flemish brick bond and finished with ornate Victorian industrial brickwork dressings in contrasting colours. A dentilled brick cornice runs at eaves level, with black brick dressings below. Fenestration on this elevation consists of a single segmental arch-headed window opening on the ground floor, two segmental arch-headed openings on the first floor, and a single small semicircular arch-headed window opening at dormer level, all centred on the elevation. All openings are dressed with red and black brick voussoirs. The entrance is a semicircular arch-headed doorway, one step up from the pavement, fitted with a painted four-panel timber door flanked by scrolled brackets on moulded timber architraves that support a slightly projecting cornice, with a plain fanlight above. Continuous decorative brick stringcourses in contrasting colour run at ground-floor level, first-floor level, and below the dormer window. The ground- and first-floor windows are 4/2 timber sliding sashes, as is the small dormer window above. All sills have a painted finish. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes serve the front elevation.

The roof is pitched natural slate, with terracotta clay ridge tiles to both the main roof and the rear return. A modern timber Velux roof light has been inserted to the rear slope. A large two-stage redbrick chimney stack rises from the north side, centred on the ridge, and is topped with clay pots. The rear east elevation is cement rendered and painted. Rear elevations were not visible at the time of survey. The north and south sides are abutted by the adjoining terraced houses.

The terrace was originally built by the Trustees of Magee College to provide accommodation for college employees, and was laid out as part of the northward expansion of Londonderry during a period of economic growth and prosperity that ran from the 1860s to the end of the 19th century. This expansion had begun in the mid-19th century with the construction of Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street, and Clarendon Street. With the development of the Magee College campus from the 1880s, College Terrace and the three-storey redbrick houses of Clarence Avenue were erected to house students and employees of the college. Magee University had opened in 1865 as a seminary for young men seeking a career in the Presbyterian Ministry, and was renamed the Presbyterian Theological College when it became a constituent college of the Royal University of Ireland in 1879. A period of intensive building activity followed between 1881 and 1911, during which three redbrick professors' houses were constructed by the university to designs by Young & Mackenzie, W. A. Barker, and Robinson & Davidson.

No. 9 was built as part of the complete terrace of nos. 1–13 in 1889–90, with the Annual Revisions recording a total rateable value of £10. Despite the terrace's original purpose, within a decade most of the houses had passed to occupants unconnected with the college. The first recorded occupant of No. 9 was Robert Mills, a local merchant, who lived there until his death in 1897. His widow, Annie Mills, remained in the house until her own death in 1922. The 1911 census building return described the house as a second-class dwelling containing six rooms. By the 1930s, a Mr Robert Lyttle had taken possession and remained there until at least 1972. The rateable value of the property was raised to £20 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), and further increased to £28 by the close of the Second Revaluation (1956–72).

The terrace was listed in 1980. Following Magee's incorporation into the University of Ulster in 1969, the majority of houses along College Terrace were converted from private dwellings to multiple-occupancy student accommodation, a change which the Magee Conservation Area Design Guide attributes to the negative impact of Strand Road bars and nightclubs on residential quality of life. In 1986, No. 9 underwent an extensive renovation that included reslating of the roof in natural slate, repointing of the front elevation brickwork, overhaul of the front sliding sash windows, and repointing of the red brick chimney stack.

College Terrace was incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006, where it was identified, along with the Rock Road and part of Northland Road, as a zone of distinct character. The terrace's gentle curve represents a departure from the earlier rectangular arrangements at Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace. The Magee Conservation Area Design Guide notes that the overall composition, the pattern of stepped eaves, attic dormers, and chimneys, combined with the high architectural quality of the terrace, contributes greatly to the quality and variety of the wider Conservation Area. Commentator D. Calley has suggested that College Terrace competes with Palace Street for the title of most charming street in the city, observing that the north side, which contains no buildings and borders the Magee campus, is defined by a low schist wall topped with plain iron rails and backed by mature trees, giving the small space the feeling of an oasis.

The western frontage of the terrace overlooks this low schist wall, which lines the western side of the street and forms the boundary with the university. A rear alleyway runs the full length of the terrace, giving access to the rear yards of all thirteen houses.