1 Loy Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8PZ

This is a two-storey end-of-terrace former house, built around 1850, located on the west side of Loy Street in Cookstown, County Tyrone. It is a modest early Victorian property, typical of its era in Cookstown, and while the front façade retains much of its original character, the building is a common type and is not considered of special interest. There is evidence that the interior has been substantially altered, reducing its architectural and historic value.

The building is roughly rectangular in plan with a two-storey return to the rear and a further single-storey lean-to extension beyond that. The front (east) elevation faces onto Loy Street and is finished in painted render. Chimneys are brick with profiled stepped capping, and the roof is covered in artificial slate with extruded aluminium rainwater goods.

The front elevation features a carved recessed square-headed doorway to the ground floor, with one window to its left and two to its right. The doorway has a panelled timber door and an overlight above. The windows are square-headed with 1/1 timber sash frames set on painted cut-stone sills, and the first floor windows follow the same pattern. The north (side) elevation is gable-ended with a brick chimney at the apex, and the side elevation of the rear return is visible to the right. The rear (west) elevation has replacement uPVC windows.

The two-storey return has replacement uPVC windows, artificial slate to the roof, replacement uPVC rainwater goods, and walls finished in unpainted dry-dash render. It is set behind a rendered wall with a concrete capping. The single-storey lean-to extension sits at a lower ground level and has a square-headed door, artificial slate to the roof with modern rooflights, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods. An L-shaped rendered wall with concrete capping at ground level obscures the walls of the extension from view.

The house is set back from Loy Street behind a low rendered boundary wall with a small front garden. Access to the rear yard is via an integral coach arch forming part of the adjacent building to the west.

The site has a documented history stretching back to the early 19th century. It appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34 as an already developed plot. The valuation book of 1835 records the plot as occupied by a Thomas Black, with an old dwelling measuring 52 feet by 20½ by 16½ feet, and three outbuildings of varying sizes, the last two of which were thatched. The whole property was rated at £8-7-5. By 1859, the property had passed to a James Smith, who leased it from the Gunning-Moore estate, and the rateable value had risen substantially to £33-10-0. This sharp increase suggests either that a new building had been erected between 1835 and 1859, or that the existing dwelling had undergone comprehensive refurbishment — meaning the structure visible today dates from somewhere in that period. In 1875, a J.B. Twigg became leaseholder and occupant and added a shed to the property, raising the rateable value to £34-10-0.

In 1882, the lease passed to Margaret and Charlotte Smith, who subdivided the property into the two separate dwellings that exist today. To the larger northern house — initially rated at £22 — they also added a small rear extension by acquiring a room from the neighbouring property to the west. The newly created dwelling is recorded as occupied in 1883 by William John Hopper, followed by George and Thomas James Hopper in 1884, George R. Bear (a solicitor) in 1887, and Mary McVeagh in 1889. By 1897, Edward Liddle had taken over the lease, with John Shaw recorded as occupant. Shaw was succeeded by Hugh Donnelly in 1903, who by 1912 had acquired the lease of both this and the smaller house to the south. Hugh Donnelly remained in residence until around 1956, when the lease was acquired by T.J. Eastwood, who is recorded as occupying the house from that date until at least 1972.