Site of former no. 13 Bowling Green, Strabane, Co Tyrone

This is the site of a former large three-storey terraced house that once stood on the southern corner of Bowling Green, Strabane, County Tyrone. The house was probably built before 1832 and was demolished around 1997, after which a Credit Union office (opened October 1999) was constructed on the combined site of the former numbers 13 and 15. The façade of the new office building is a virtual replica of the original.

The house formed part of a short terrace of four largely identical three-storey properties. A First Survey report dated 10 February 1970 describes the terrace as having rendered walls and slated roofs. The windows were drop-hung sashes, either plain or divided into two panes by a single horizontal glazing bar, and — in most of the houses — set within square moulded architraves. Two of the entrances were flanked by plain pilasters rising to consoles supporting cornices, with rectangular fanlights containing radial glazing bars. Number 13 itself had its entrance set in a moulded architrave with a plain fanlight above the door.

The site is shown as developed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34. The valuation plan of Strabane drawn up to accompany the 1832–34 valuation has unfortunately been lost, making it difficult to trace building details with certainty at that date. Reading through the valuation book itself, four dwellings of identical size are recorded, with dimensions of 23ft × 26ft × 27ft with returns of 23ft × 12½ft × 12ft. These dimensions appear to match the two surviving original houses in the terrace (numbers 17 and 19), which are still standing today. The four houses were regarded by the valuers as already "not new" at that point, and were occupied by a Francis O'Brien, Colonel McAlpin, Daniel Wauchob (probably Wauchop), and William Elliott.

The second valuation of 1857 retains its map, which shows the terrace much as it remained until the partial demolitions of recent years. Unusually, the 1857 valuers supplied no dimensions or quality letters, making direct comparison with the 1832 entries difficult. Two connecting threads do suggest it was the same terrace, however. First, the immediate lessors of the houses in 1857 are listed as "the representatives of Colonel James McAlpin" — apparently the same man noted as an occupier in 1832. Second, in both valuations two of the four houses are valued slightly lower than the other two, attributed in the 1832 record to one pair lacking cellars.

The general external appearance of the surviving houses, notwithstanding later plate glass sashes and flat-panel doors, can be safely described as late Georgian. The remaining original internal detailing at number 17 — in particular the staircase and the noticeably squat doorways with five-panel doors — supports this assessment. The decorative console brackets over the doorways have a somewhat Victorian feel, but may well have been later additions.

In 1857, the house later known as number 13 Bowling Green was occupied by a Charles McColgan. Subsequent occupants were: Thomas Craig (from 1867), Walter Scott (1869 to approximately 1875), James Scott (approximately 1875 to 1898), John S. Carey (1903–04), and Samuel McClure (1905). In 1906 one A. K. S. Robertson became the immediate lessor, initially renting the first floor to a John Elliott — probably for use as offices — while a William Wilson occupied the remainder of the building. By 1908 the firm of Elliott & Clarke (probably solicitors) had taken over the entire property. Subsequent occupants were Ralph Long (from 1923), Patrick McGrath (1926–46), Anne Duggan (1946–47), Robert Crawford (1947–55), William McGonigle (1955–68), and Dorothy Elliott, who was recorded as still in residence as late as 1972.