17 Main Street, (including 1 The Entry), Castlederg, Co Tyrone, BT81 7AS

17 Main Street (including 1 The Entry), Castlederg, Co Tyrone

A late-nineteenth century three-bay two-storey former terrace house, now in use as a shop store, positioned on the west side of Main Street, Castlederg. Built around 1870, the building forms part of an interesting group that includes the house at 19-21 Main Street (built circa 1820) and the entry buildings (built circa 1840), though extensive remodelling has diminished its historic character. The building is recorded only and was not considered worthy of listing.

The rectangular-on-plan structure faces east, with a two-storey return extending to the west. The pitched roof is finished with natural slate and blue-black clay ridge tiles, with cast-iron ogee profile rainwater goods supported on flush timber eaves boards. The walls are rendered in roughcast, while the principal east elevation is ruled-and-lined rendered.

The principal elevation facing east contains three square-headed ground floor openings (the central one diminished in width) fitted with modern replacement single-pane glazed windows surmounted by modern signage. Two windows occupy the first floor. Windows elsewhere are predominantly 4/4 timber sliding-sashes with projecting masonry cills. The south gable is abutted by No.15 Main Street. The west elevation includes a blank section abutted by the two-storey return of No.1 The Entry. The north gable features a projecting pier at left supporting timber-sheeted gates that enclose a yard to the west; a multi-pane metal casement window occupies the exposed section at right, with a replacement timber casement at first floor level.

The return south elevation is accessed from the north via central vertically sheeted timber doors flanked by multi-pane metal casements with margin lights; double-leaf vertically sheeted timber loft doors occupy the centre at first floor, with a nine-pane metal casement to the right. The building is abutted to the south by No.15 Main Street and to the west by the small-scale vernacular outbuildings known as 'The Entry' (built circa 1840). A timber-sheeted fence encloses the shop store at the street front. The yard at west contains single- and two-storey outbuildings of varying age. The rear return is adjoined to the west by the entry buildings, which in turn connect to further attached outbuildings arranged around a courtyard; the north-south aligned block represents one of the earliest structures on the site, built around 1820 contemporaneously with the adjacent house, and predating 'The Entry'.

The buildings do not appear on the Valuation Town Plans until the 1904-9 edition and are stylistically datable to around 1870. Originally, they formed part of the offices of the large house next door, which functioned as a hotel during the 1870s. The current buildings were not separately listed, valued, or occupied during the Annual Revisions period of 1860-1929. Valuation records show an addition of £1 10 shillings to the plot value in 1872 due to the addition of offices, with a further £1 increase in 1877; one of these raises may refer to the present buildings. Despite inappropriate remodelling of the proportions on the principal elevations of the main building, the remaining detailing is sympathetic to the earlier outbuildings to the west.