39-41 Molesworth Street, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8NX

A three-storey former house built around 1874, now containing ground-floor shops with accommodation above. The building is part of a uniform terrace of mixed three-storey buildings constructed between 1850 and 1880, largely converted to commercial and office use, and represents an important element of Cookstown's late nineteenth-century architectural heritage.

The external walls are faced with good quality ashlar sandstone with clay brick dressings to openings and chamfered sandstone quoins to the front elevation. The symmetrical north elevation is street-fronted, with the ground floor containing two shopfronts—one to the east and one to the west—and a central doorway. The central panelled doorway is square-headed with brick surrounds and sits on a shallow stone step that extends across to both shopfronts.

The western shopfront is a replacement with symmetrical composition. It features a central timber doorway with a solid bottom panel and glazed top panel with overlight. Two large timber double-light windows flank each side of the door, set on a rendered stall riser. Panelled pilasters on each side are surmounted by plain timber console brackets supporting a carved painted timber signboard. The eastern shopfront follows similar symmetrical design with comparable elements. The upper levels contain 1/1 timber sash windows with brick dressings and classical proportions that reduce in scale toward the upper storey.

The east elevation is gable-ended with a painted render profiled chimneystack and clay chimney pots set to the ridge line. It has a square-headed timber casement window at upper levels; the ground-level opening is blocked. The south elevation has a random composition of replacement timber casement windows; the ground-level window is also blocked. The roof is natural slate with plain ridge tiles and cast-iron and replacement uPVC rainwater goods.

The flat-roofed returns contain square-headed doors at ground level and timber casement windows at ground and first floors, with grills to the ground-floor windows.

The property was originally part of a single plot acquired in 1872 by William Mason. The dwelling was completed in 1872, with outbuildings constructed between then and 1879, reaching a rateable value of £56 in the latter year. The outbuildings included a small single-storey structure to the east of the carriage arch. In 1893 the property was subdivided, with the small eastern structure and half the rear outbuildings forming a separate lease initially held by James Mason but occupied by Matthew and Richard Mason. By 1899 Richard Mason was sole tenant of the smaller property, and by 1912 he had acquired the lease of the larger building. Silas G. Glasgow held the lease of the main property by 1924, with Samuel Glasgow as occupant. Hugh Donnelly acquired the lease of the smaller building in 1925, having occupied it since 1916. He was succeeded by William Donnelly in 1948. The smaller building was acquired by Patrick MacMahon around 1956–57 and remained in his ownership until at least 1972, when it was demolished sometime after 1975. The main building remained occupied by Samuel Glasgow in 1972, with William Mason listed as immediate lessor from 1956 onward.

The building contributes significantly to the group value of Molesworth Street, forming part of a long uniform terrace that has maintained remarkable consistency despite being built in stages over a thirty-year period.