16 Molesworth Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8NR

This is a well-proportioned and detailed semi-detached house designed in the picturesque late-Victorian style. Built around 1897, it was constructed together with the adjacent semi-detached house, and the pair creates a balanced symmetrical appearance. Located on Molesworth Road in the north-eastern suburbs of Cookstown, the house contributes significantly to the overall Victorian character of the area, particularly when viewed alongside the nearby railway-related structures and other Victorian houses in the neighbourhood.

The building is a rendered semi-detached house of two-and-a-half storeys, roughly square in plan with a two-storey return to the rear. The front south elevation faces onto the road and is set back behind a low boundary wall with cast-iron railings and simple square pillars with pyramidal stone caps. The front elevation features a doorway to the left and a canted bay window to the right. The doorway is set within a semi-circular headed recess and contains a four-panelled timber door with a semi-circular headed overlight. It has a carved stone surround with a central carved fluted keystone, and is finished with a brass knocker, doorknob and letterbox. Both this doorway and its adjacent twin are surmounted by a projecting string course at keystone level and a projecting cornice above.

The canted bay has segmental-headed windows with 1/1 timber sash frames. All window openings have carved stone surrounds with central carved fluted keystones. A projecting carved stone string course runs at sill level and again at half-window level, with further projecting carved string courses above window level on the canted bay. The upper levels also contain segmental-headed windows with 1/1 timber sash frames and matching surrounds. The window above the doorway is decorated with a rendered apron beneath its sill. A dormer projects from the roof, featuring a round-headed 1/1 timber sash window with overhanging eaves, decorative timber bargeboards to the gable, and a central timber finial at the apex.

The side east elevation is gable-ended with two round-headed windows to the second level, each a 1/1 timber sash set on carved stone sills with window surrounds matching those of the front elevation. These windows have decorative aprons beneath their sills. The continuous string course from the front elevation continues around at half-window level. The rear north elevation contains square-headed timber casement windows set on painted cut-stone sills. The main roof is slated with carved stone eaves and cast-iron rainwater goods, overhanging to the gable-end. The eaves are decorated with four timber brackets and a decorative timber bargeboard. A rendered chimney rises to the right on the east side.

The external walls are painted render with smooth stone quoins to the front elevation and a carved stone plinth at its base. The two-storey return has an assortment of 2/2 timber sash windows on cut-stone sills, with a square-headed door and overlight to the west elevation. The return's external walls are ruled-and-lined render.

The house is set back from Molesworth Road with a small front garden and a gated path leading to the entrance. A tarmac access drive on the east side leads to the yard to the rear north.

Historical records indicate that the pair of semi-detached houses was built in 1897, probably by Stewart Devlin, who held the lease of the plot at that time. According to the valuers' office notebook, each dwelling was constructed of rubble masonry and brick with a slate roof, at an estimated cost of £443 per house, with a rateable value of £18. The property dimensions were recorded as 21½ feet by 27 by 28 feet, with a return of 13½ by 24 by 22 feet, and a bay of 8 by 3 by 12 feet. In 1899 the property was occupied by William Porter. A James Ross succeeded the occupant in 1903. The property re-emerges in historical records in the General Revaluation book of around 1935–36, when it was occupied by Henry N. Raphael with Edward Quinn as leaseholder. Mary E. Raphael is recorded as tenant in 1943, followed by Morris Corrigan in 1954. Thomas Quinn became leaseholder in 1954, and Brian Toner was the occupant in 1959, a situation that remained unchanged until at least 1972.