57-59 Molesworth Street, Cookstown, C9o Tyrone, BT80 8NX

Originally constructed as a house in the mid-Victorian period, 57-59 Molesworth Street is a three-storey rendered end-of-terrace building built around 1880-1881. The property now contains a shop on the ground floor with apartments above. It forms part of a long row of mixed three-storey buildings erected in stages between 1850 and 1880, now largely converted to shops, pubs and offices.

The building is rectangular in plan with a two-storey pitched-roofed return to the right of the rear elevation. The north elevation faces the street and has been largely modernized. A replacement shopfront of approximately 2007 spans the full width of the ground floor, with render to the first floor above. The ground floor shopfront comprises three elements: a square-headed timber-paneled doorway with a side panel and overlight to the right; a glazed shopfront with full-height modern glazing to each side of a central fully glazed doorway to the centre; and an integral coach arch with period-style but recent iron gates to the left. Stylized painted timber pilasters flank each side of the shopfront, with further narrow timber pilasters at either end of the ground floor. A projecting timber fascia with a recessed signboard surmounts the ground floor. The upper levels have paired square-headed replacement uPVC windows on a shared concrete sill, with a render band at window head level. The rendered rear south elevation displays an irregular arrangement of uPVC windows, as does the return, which also contains uPVC doors. Fibre-cement slate covers the pitched roofs of both the main building and return. A polychromatic brick chimney with profiled capping rises from the roof.

Historically, numbers 57 and 59 were originally a single property built in 1880-1881 by Henry Morgan and initially valued at £34-15-0. Morgan occupied the building briefly before being succeeded by Joseph Montgomery (1881-87), Isabella Aiken (1887-88), and John Mayne, who took over the lease in 1888. Andrew McVeigh became occupant in 1912 and acquired the lease in 1916. David and Mary McVey are recorded as occupants and leaseholders in 1925. By 1936 the property had been divided, with a ground-floor shop occupied by Samuel Munn and a dwelling above held by Mary Jane Craig. Sydney Milligan is recorded as leaseholder and sole occupant by 1946, followed by Cecil Wilson in 1957, who remained in residence until at least 1972.

The building contains little architectural interest either externally or internally, having been much altered during the twentieth century. It is set in the north-east of the town centre as part of a uniform three-storey terrace.