William Porter & Son, 21 High Street, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 1BA

This is an attached, two-bay, three-storey rendered townhouse built around 1930 on the south side of High Street in Omagh. It has a sensitive design that relates well to its neighbours. While locally significant, it is a late interpretation of an earlier style, and alterations, particularly to the front elevation at ground floor level, have diminished its original architectural and historical interest.

The building is arranged in an L-shape, facing north with a return to the rear. It has a pitched natural slate roof with angled blue/black clay ridge tiles, rendered chimneystacks topped with beaded terracotta chimneypots, and half-round metal gutters set within corbelled box eaves. The walls are finished with smooth painted render. The windows are square-headed, painted timber 8/1 sash windows with moulded rendered architraves and sills. Replacement glazed timber doors are square-headed. The north-facing principal elevation has a window in each bay; the first-floor windows have keyblocks. The ground floor has a modern fascia spanning a square-headed plate glass display window and door on the left bay, and a replacement door with overlight and moulded architrave with keyblock on the right bay. The east-facing gable abuts an adjoining building, with the exposed section blank. The rear (south-facing) elevation is abutted to the left by the return. The west-facing gable is entirely abutted by 19 High Street. The building sits prominently on an elevated site on Omagh High Street, close to the Courthouse and opposite the former town hall.

A building is shown on the site on early Ordnance Survey maps. A valuer’s records from 1933 indicate that the house was rebuilt in 1931, which is consistent with some of the building’s detailing. The 1933 valuer’s records show the occupier as Kathleen J Doris, a dental surgeon, and detail the layout as a kitchen, larder, reception room, three bedrooms, a bathroom, a WC, and a waiting room. The property also included a large return, a coal hole to the rear, and a shed. Valued at £32, the property was described as being in good order with modern fittings. The building is situated within the Omagh Conservation Area.