Aka Grey Gables, 2 Station Road or 42 Lawford Street, Moneymore, Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, BT45 7RA

A good 1½ storey house in Tudor Gothic style, designed by William John Booth in 1840 for the Drapers Company. The house was built to accommodate their head forester, who supervised the extensive woodlands being planted by the Company in the 1830s and 1840s. Though some alterations have occurred, the original design is easily recognised.

The building is a 1½ storey, 3 bay gabled house constructed of coursed, squared white limestone with sandstone trim to openings, featuring natural slated roofs and a rear extension. Heavy kneelers accent the gables, and weathered barge stones complete the detailing.

The south elevation contains the principal entrance door, centred on the gable within a 3 centred arch with chamfered sandstone reveal and heavy door frame painted white with good brass ironmongery. To the right of the entrance is a small vertical casement window with chamfered reveals and diamond pane glazing. At first floor, centred over the entrance, sits a 2 light casement with square head and chamfered reveals, set half within the gable. To the left of the entrance gable stands a small 2 storey extension with modern windows, gabled with plain timber fascias and barges at a lower roof pitch. The walls of this extension are finished in smooth rendering, unpainted.

The west elevation features a principal gable with a central ground floor 6 light diamond panel casement, square headed with chamfered reveals, neatly tooled, and a deeply undercut hood moulding. At first floor is a window with chamfered reveals, though the original casement has been replaced with a modern pane window.

The north elevation contains a narrower projecting gable with a canted bay in sandstone on the ground floor, featuring three equally sized double hung sliding sash windows with 2 panes each. The bay has a slated and hipped roof. Directly above the bay is a vertical window opening with chamfered reveals and modern casement insert. The north wall is largely obscured by a lean-to conservatory with a small metal flue rising from its roof.

The east elevation comprises a projecting gable with a 6 light diamond panel casement, square headed with chamfered reveals, neatly tooled, and a deeply undercut hood moulding. At first floor is a 2 light diamond panel casement with chamfered reveals. The roofs contain natural slates with several valleys where roof pitches join, and 2 diagonally placed chimney stacks, one now redundant.

The house is sited well back from Station (Lawford) Road within a large garden. It is enclosed by a random rubble high boundary wall with impressive circular gate piers topped with conical finials. A further wall separates the garden from adjoining ground to the south. Behind the house stands a store, recorded separately, built in keeping with the house and later extended in stone with brick trim.

In 1839, the Drapers Company had planted some 340 acres of trees to enhance the appearance of the countryside, including oak, elm, beech, ash, Spanish chestnut, Scotch spruce, Balm of Gilead firs, larch, alder, willow, birch and poplar in enormous quantities. Foresters were brought in from Scotland to manage the woodlands. The house displays all the hallmarks of Booth's Tudor Gothic style.

The building has been altered over the years. The canted bay on the north elevation is an obvious addition made when a wall was removed to enlarge the sitting room, probably during the occupancy of the previous owner, Henrietta Burns, a music teacher. The 2 storey extension dates from the current owner's occupancy of some 30 years, as do several replacement windows. It is probable that the Drapers Company disposed of the property around 1900. A similar house by Booth exists on the Magherafelt Road.