48 James Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8LT

48 James Street, Cookstown

This is a three-storey late Victorian building constructed around 1896 as part of a matching group of three properties, which retains significant original architectural detailing and possesses group value with its neighbours at 44 and 46 James Street. The building now houses a House of Prayer.

The building is roughly rectangular in plan, stretching back to the east with a two-storey lean-to return dating from around 1896 and a further two-storey extension from the 1960s. There is an additional modern pitched-roof extension to the rear. The L-shaped return extension is accessed from a yard to the rear. The building forms part of a short matching terrace within a longer row of mixed Victorian terraced buildings along James Street.

The west elevation faces directly onto James Street. The ground floor comprises a doorway to the left and two windows to the right. The shallow-pointed arched doorway has a panelled timber door and overlight, with chamfered cut-granite surrounds. The windows are paired with shallow-pointed arches and 1/1 timber sash frames, also with chamfered cut-granite surrounds. The upper levels contain shallow arched windows with 1/1 timber sliding sash windows; the upper sashes contain coloured glass in a checkered pattern. A stone string course runs at first-floor level with a projecting stone string course at second-floor level and a dentilled eaves course above. The second floor features a roundel window with cut-stone surround and a carved timber quatrefoil frame containing stained glass. A paired window at second-floor level has stone dressings, positioned beneath a small gablette with decorative carved and painted timber bargeboard.

The ground floor of the west elevation is faced with rock-faced squared granite rubble, while the upper floors are faced with red clay brick with stone string courses and dressings. The main roof is covered in fibre-cement slate with cast-iron rainwater goods. All original brick chimneys have been removed.

The stepped rear east elevation is faced with smooth render and contains an irregular arrangement of timber sliding sash windows. Both the modern flat-roofed two-storey return and the L-shaped two-storey extension are faced with dry-dash render and contain an irregular arrangement of timber and uPVC casement windows and doors with uPVC rainwater goods. A wrought-iron escape staircase with painted railings has been added to the flat-roofed return.

The building is set on the rising sloped pavement to the eastern side of James Street on the southern edge of Cookstown's commercial centre, surrounded by a mixed terrace comprising mainly Victorian buildings.

Historical record indicates the property was first recorded as a house and yard in the valuation book of 1897 with a rateable value of £19, with Edward Liddle as leaseholder and presumably the developer. Samuel Richards MD was listed as tenant in 1899, followed by Sergeant James Johnston in 1909. In 1910, Robert J. Lindsay acquired the lease of this and the two matching houses to the north, with Charles M. Richards noted as occupant that same year. Richards was succeeded after a few months by Thomas Crilly. The house is listed as vacant in 1912. Subsequent occupants included Alex McGaffin (1914), T.J. Crawford (1918), Thomas Foster (1921), Mrs Boyd (1922), Mary Jane Boyd (1925), and Harry McIvor (1929). Peter Cosgrove was tenant in 1936 and became leaseholder in 1949. F.D. Flanagan occupied the property in 1950, followed by James McAuley from around 1959; McAuley was still in residence in 1972.