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

7 Loy Street, Cookstown

This is a terraced three-storey rendered house, built around 1870. It is a well-proportioned example of mid-Victorian terraced housing, notably larger in scale than the modest surrounding two-storey houses, giving it a prominent appearance in this part of town. The building survives in unaltered condition and represents the larger Victorian properties that began to appear as Cookstown developed as a commercial centre. When viewed together with the adjacent matching terraced buildings to north and south, it has considerable group value and character.

The building is rectangular in plan. The front west elevation is set back from the street with a small garden. A square-headed doorway sits to the right, set within an elliptical-headed surround with a panelled timber door and overlight. To the left is a two-storey canted bay containing 2/2 timber sliding sash windows with coloured leaded glass in the upper panes. Each floor is surmounted by a projecting carved stone cornice. Signage has been incorporated above the ground floor canted bay. The first floor windows are square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash windows, while the second floor has 2/1 sliding sash windows. All windows have cut-stone sills, with classical proportions reducing towards the upper levels. The rear elevation contains replacement uPVC windows. The pitched slate roof has a brick chimney with profiled capping to the south. The external walls are painted render with a carved dentilled course at the eaves. Single-storey outbuildings occupy the rear.

The site was shown as developed on the Ordnance Survey map of 1833–34. The 1835 valuation records two old thatched dwellings on the plot: one to the south occupied by Mrs Story, the other to the north, a slightly larger building, in the possession of David McCleland. By 1859, William Bell leased the southern house from the Gunning-Moore estate, and Elizabeth Ballantine leased the neighbouring property. The present uniform terrace of three dwellings was built in 1870 by John Ballantine, with the lease of all three acquired by Richard Cluff around 1872. This particular house was occupied by a succession of tenants in its early years: John W. Waters, William Wadders, James McKenzie, Michael Mullally, and Emma Gourley. In 1894 the lease of the terrace passed to Mary A. O'Neill, who remained until 1912 when Richard Charles took over. Ms. O'Neill took up residency in this house, staying until 1915 when Michael Quin is recorded as the occupant. Quinn was followed by Isabella Cluff in 1921, James D. Devlin in 1925, Frank McCullagh in 1929, Head Constable Henry Close in 1939, and Patrick Devlin, who acquired the lease, in 1950. William J. Eastwood snr is noted as occupier and leaseholder in 1952, remaining as such until at least 1972.

The building is set within a mixed terrace on the western side of Loy Street at the southern edge of Cookstown's commercial centre, set back from the pavement to provide a small front garden. The mixed terrace comprises mainly two and three-storey Victorian buildings ranging in date from the early to late nineteenth century. The building is currently vacant.