23 Glenmacoffer Road, Omagh, Co.Tyrone, BT79 7RJ

A detached three-bay two-storey symmetrical vernacular house built around 1860, located on the west side of Glenmacoffer Road, Omagh. The house stands on sloping grassed ground off a minor road with mature trees and occupies an unusual architectural position between vernacular and formal design, distinguished by its symmetrical principal elevation contrasted with a nearly blank rear elevation incorporating a bed outshot—a rare combination that historically represents the progression from traditional vernacular building practice.

The rectangular building faces south with a pitched natural slate roof finished with blue and black clay angled ridge tiles. Brick chimneystacks with traces of render sit at the gables, with a stone verge at the west gable and remnants of half-round metal guttering. The walls are of coursed rubble basalt with traces of lime render and cut quoins.

The principal south elevation is symmetrically arranged with three bays. The centre bay features a slightly canted lean-to windbreaker porch, while the remaining bays each contain single windows. The ground floor right bay has a replacement metal casement window, but elsewhere windows are square-headed painted timber 2/2 sliding sashes with smooth rendered reveals and stone sills.

The rear north elevation is roughcast. At the left end, a section projects slightly to accommodate a bed outshot; the remaining ground floor contains two diminished timber casement windows. Both the west and east gables are abutted by ruinous outbuildings, with the exposed sections of the gables remaining blank.

Attached to the west gable is a lean-to store with coursed basalt rubble walls and a single square-headed entrance opening, its roof now missing. A similarly detailed outbuilding is attached to the east gable.

The house first appears on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1905–6 and can be dated to around 1860. An earlier, smaller building stood to the south of the present site and appears on the 1854 edition. Griffith's Valuation records this smaller building as occupied by Arthur McCullagh and leased from Major A W C Hamilton, valued at 10 shillings. Annual Revision records from 1860 onwards show the occupier as James Keenan with a value of £1 15 shillings, indicating either a more substantial property or a raised structure. James McCullagh became occupier in 1895 and owner in fee in 1909. The house retains much of its original detailing and layout, and the combination of two storeys with a bed outshot is unusual, as outshots were normally associated with single-storey clachans, and the raising of vernacular houses typically occurred in the later nineteenth century. This architectural progression adds to its historical and architectural interest.