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

5 Loy Street, Cookstown is an end-of-terrace three-storey rendered house built around 1870, now in use as a solicitors office. It is a mid-Victorian terraced building, larger in scale than the modest surrounding two-storey houses, and formed part of a significant development as Cookstown rose in stature as a commercial centre. The building is part of three matching terraced structures located within a long row of mixed terrace buildings along the western side of Loy Street.

The building is rectangular in plan with a three-storey pitched return to the rear and several single-storey outhouses. The walls are cement-rendered masonry with a pitched slate roof. A polychromatic brick chimney with profiled capping projects from the north elevation. The front western elevation is set back from the street with a tarmac parking area to the front. The doorway to the right is semi-circular headed with a timber panelled door and fanlight. To the left is a projecting two-storey canted bay surmounted by a projecting carved stone cornice. The canted bay contains 1/1 replacement uPVC casement windows. Modern rectangular signage is attached above the ground floor canted bay. The windows to the upper levels are square-headed with replacement uPVC windows and concrete sills, following classical proportions that reduce to upper levels. The rear elevation has replacement uPVC windows. The main three-storey return is gable-ended with no visible window openings.

The building has been significantly altered both externally and internally to the extent that its original quality has been degraded. However, when viewed with the adjacent matching terraced buildings, it retains some group value and character.

Documentary evidence indicates that the site was occupied in the 1830s by two old thatched dwellings. 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. The property has had numerous occupants throughout its history, including Robert Kennedy (original occupier), various residents through the late 19th century, and from 1949 Patrick McErlean, who acquired the lease and held the property through at least 1972.

The building is situated within a mixed terrace on the western side of Loy Street at the southern edge of the commercial centre of Cookstown. The mixed terrace comprises mainly two and three-storey Victorian buildings dating from the early to late 19th century.