37 Molesworth Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8NX

37 Molesworth Street, Cookstown

A well-proportioned and detailed three-storey sandstone house built around 1874, representing an important element of nineteenth-century Cookstown. The building is part of a long terrace (numbers 19–53 Molesworth Street) constructed between 1850 and 1880 in stages, yet maintaining remarkable uniformity throughout. The quality of the stone masonry contributes significantly to the character of this important streetscape, and the building has group value with adjacent listed structures.

The property is rectangular in plan, constructed of ashlar sandstone on its north-facing street elevation, with a single-storey rendered return to the south elevation. The building now contains a café shop and barber shop at ground floor level (added around 1980), though it was originally built as a house.

The north elevation is street-fronted. The ground floor contains two replacement shopfronts. The right shopfront is symmetrically arranged in Victorian style, with a central square-headed timber-panelled doorway and overlight, flanked by two large single-light shop windows set on a painted ruled and lined rendered stall riser. Panelled pilasters frame each side, topped by outsized timber console brackets and a timber fascia and signboard. The barber shop shopfront to the left is set within an elliptical-headed coach arch with rusticated stone surrounds and central keystone, upon which an illuminated barber's pole is mounted. This shopfront features a central glazed and panelled timber door with overlight, and two segmental-headed windows on either side set on rendered stall risers, surmounted by a simple painted timber fascia. The upper storeys contain 1/1 timber sliding sash windows set on cut stone sills.

The south elevation is painted render with an irregular arrangement of replacement painted timber windows with concrete sills to the upper level. The roof is covered in fibre cement slate with cast-iron rainwater goods and a simple brick chimney. The single-storey rendered return has timber casement windows and a square-headed doorway with metal infill covering.

The building was constructed in 1874 by William Taggart, who had erected the two neighbouring properties to the west (present numbers 27–29 and 31–33) two years earlier. The first recorded occupant was Thomas McKay, with a substantial rateable value of £46–10–0. Following William Taggart's death in 1893, McKay took on the lease, sharing the property with his son (also named Thomas) from 1908 to 1916. Subsequent occupants and leaseholders included Joseph Anderson (1923), Bernard Donaghy (1929), Joseph Donaghy (1952, also listed as leaseholder from 1956), and Patrick McCusker (from 1970, recorded as occupying the property until at least 1972).

The rear of the building faces onto a service yard and car park. Although the ground-floor shopfronts are later additions, they provide colourful elements to the overall streetscape. The building is situated north-east of the town centre as part of the uniform and matching three-storey terrace.