7 Mellon Road, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, BT78 5QU

Detached three-bay single-storey direct-entry thatched dwelling built around 1810, located on the south side of Mellon Road. This house remains in its original location and forms the centrepiece of the Ulster American Folk Park open-air museum.

The roof is scallop thatched with stone verges and two external sod chimneys, with scallops exposed at ridge and eaves only and concealed elsewhere by overlying thatch (restored around 2009). The walls are lime-rendered random rubble. Windows throughout are 4/4 timber sliding sashes with timber lintels and projecting masonry cills.

The principal elevation faces west and features a projecting windbreak porch off centre at the left. To the left of the porch is a single 6/6 window, and to the right are two windows, the left being 6/6 and the second a diminished 4/4. The windbreak porch contains a half-door hinged outside with a vertically sheeted timber inner full-door, accessed externally by a semi-circular cobbled surface. The left gable is abutted at its centre by a lower single-storey outbuilding (detailed as a dwelling), which contains a window at its left (now painted). The rear elevation contains a door off centre at the right, a single window at the right, and two windows at the left. The right gable is blank.

The interior retains a well-preserved wall hearth with lime-rendered wattle canopy supported on masonry jambs, with a cobbled open hearth. The plan form and internal detailing are largely intact.

The house stands within its original farmyard setting. Associated outbuildings include a thatched granary and cart shed to the north and a later byre and stables to the south; these buildings are similarly detailed but have pitched natural slate roofs. The entrance from Mellon Road is at the north through an original wrought-iron gate supported on two circular random rubble lime-rendered piers. A stone drinking trough and cow-tail pump stand to the north of the house.

Historical context: The main house appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1833, though most outbuildings are not recorded at that stage except for a small rectangular building to the left of the south elevation. The 1854 map records the outbuilding to the north-west of the main house, and the 1905 edition shows the larger outbuilding at the south elevation. Griffith's Valuation records the occupier as Catherine Colhoun with a building valuation of £1. Valuation Revisions record the occupier revised to John Ferguson and then to Joseph Steel in 1872. In 1905 a house valued at £0.5s on the same plot was deleted from the fieldbook.

The house was home to the Mellon family, who built it shortly before 1813 when Thomas Mellon was born. The family emigrated to America in 1818, where Thomas Mellon rose to prominence as an industrialist and Judge. His descendants are significant figures in American society. The house was restored around 1968 by descendants of Thomas Mellon and became the centrepiece of the Ulster American Folk Park when the museum opened in 1976.

This is one of only a few dwellings in the Ulster American Folk Park to remain in its original location. The overall restoration has taken care to retain original fabric and character, and the house represents a very good example of a rare type of rural dwelling. It has historical importance as the original homestead of Thomas Mellon and is notable for its connection to the emigrant trail to America.