Telephone Exchange, Molesworth Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 9NR

Telephone Exchange, Molesworth Road, Cookstown

A Grade B2 listed building comprising two separate structures that illustrate the rapid technological evolution of mid-twentieth-century telecommunications infrastructure.

The primary building is a detached single-storey telephone exchange constructed around 1956, approximately T-shaped in plan. Built in modern vernacular style, it is well proportioned and carefully detailed. The external walls are Flemish-bond clay brick with a projecting brick plinth at the base.

The North elevation, which faces Molesworth Road, is nearly symmetrical and features a projecting central gable-ended bay. A raised stone typeface inscribed 'Telephone Exchange' sits above the central window. Above this is a carved stone datestone inscribed '1965', surmounted by a narrow square-headed vented opening. The elevation is fenestrated with square-headed Crittall-style steel casement windows set on pre-cast concrete sills. The East face of the central bay contains a square-headed timber door with a four-light overlight, approached by two cut-stone steps and flanked by two Crittall-style casement windows with cut-stone surrounds.

The East and West side elevations are gable-ended and fenestrated identically with Crittall-style windows and narrow square-headed vented openings. The South (rear) elevation mirrors the North elevation with a projecting central gable-ended bay, square-headed Crittall-style double windows positioned in two skins with substantial air gap between, and a glazed timber door with overlight accessed by two cut-stone steps.

The roof is finished in clay rosemary tiles with projecting carved stone eaves and projecting carved stone kneelers to the gable-ends. Rainwater goods throughout are cast iron.

To the rear to the South stands a two-storey framed flat-roofed telephone exchange building, built approximately thirteen years later around 1969. This structure displays a clearly modernist appearance and is constructed of pre-cast concrete panels.

The North elevation of the 1969 building comprises a single-storey recessed entrance bay to the left with a single-storey canopy over, and a two-storey block to the right. The recessed entrance bay features glazed floor-to-ceiling windows with timber frames and timber and glazed double doors. The over-sailing canopy has metal panelling to the sides and timber soffit, supported by a single square column at the outer corner. A datestone on the North face of the canopy is inscribed 'ER II 1969'. Concrete flagstones lie on the ground beneath the canopy.

The two-storey block has an exposed aggregate pre-cast concrete frame to its edges. The ground floor displays metal double doors with a solid metal infill panel above. The first-floor pre-cast concrete slabs are exposed. Floor-to-ceiling glazed panels extend across the full width of the block, with metal spandrel panels to the lower pane. All glazing is covered by metal grills.

The West elevation presents the side of the two-storey block to the left and a tall single-storey block to the right. The two-storey block has a floor-to-ceiling height window at upper level. The tall single-storey block features floor-to-ceiling height windows at ground level with metal spandrel panels to the lower pane, covered by metal grills and louvered pre-cast concrete panels above.

The East elevation shows the side elevation of the single-storey entrance canopy to the right, with a taller single-storey block to the left similarly fenestrated with floor-to-ceiling windows and metal grills. The South (rear) elevation is the rear of the tall single-storey block with one window opening.

Both buildings are set back from Molesworth Road within the north-eastern suburbs of Cookstown at the beginning of the mainly Victorian suburban character of Molesworth Road. A timber fence marks the boundary, with a high metal fence continuing around the perimeter of both structures. A tarmac parking area lies to the East and a garden to the West.

The buildings together provide significant insight into the rapid technological advances of the period, with the 1956 exchange representing the immediate post-war modern vernacular approach, and the 1969 annex embodying the full modernist aesthetic that had developed within a single decade.