Alexander House, Main Street, Caledon, Co Tyrone, BT68 4TZ

Alexander House is a large, relatively plain, two-storey rendered and gabled gentleman's village residence on Main Street, Caledon, County Tyrone, probably dating from the mid-18th century — most likely constructed by the Pringle family around or shortly after 1737, and serving as the estate agent's residence for much of its history. It stands close to the southern end of a terrace and makes an important contribution to the character of the village through its style, proportion, setting, internal quality, and group value within a conservation area.

The front elevation faces roughly east and is symmetrical. At the centre of the ground floor is a tall, flat-roofed porch projection — not original, but added prior to around 1859 — reached by a splayed flight of stone steps edged with a low stone wall and coping supporting simple wrought-iron railings, which appear to date from the 19th century and survived wartime salvage drives. The wall and railings continue around the front of the house, enclosing paved areas with small light wells for the basement windows. The porch is rendered with a projecting cornice course, and its east face contains the main entrance: a plain sheeted double door surmounted by a large semicircular fanlight with spoke tracery (that is, the fanlight is divided into sectors like wheel spokes). A stringcourse runs at the springing level of the fanlight arch.

To the left of the porch is a narrowish sash window with horizontal glazing bars in a 2-over-2 arrangement and a simple moulded surround; to its left is a much broader window with a late Victorian or Edwardian mullioned and transomed frame. The same arrangement is mirrored to the right of the porch. At basement level on the left side of the porch are three small windows, only partly above ground level, each with an early-to-mid-20th-century metal frame and a small stone-rimmed light well to the front. At first-floor level the window arrangement repeats that of the ground floor, with an additional window above the porch; these upper windows are marginally shorter than those below. A stringcourse runs above the first-floor window level.

The south gable is largely blank, with two very small plain sash windows at attic level and a very small window to the far left at basement level, now boarded. A tall stone wall enclosing the rear garden extends from the left (west) side of this gable. The north gable is largely covered by the two-storey service section, though it is exposed at attic level where there is a very small window to the left — apparently sash-framed and partly cut across by the roofline of the service section. There may be a corresponding window to the right, but that portion of the gable could not be inspected.

To the rear elevation, set at an intermediate level between basement and first floor near the centre, is a low panelled and glazed doorway. To the left are two tallish sash windows with Georgian panes in a 6-over-6 arrangement. To the right is a single-storey, flat-roofed square bay built in light-coloured sandstone, with a cornice course and blocking course, set on a broad slightly raised base. The west face of the bay has four narrow lights separated by stone mullions, each with a 2-over-2 sash frame; the short north and south faces each have a single similar light with a four-pane fixed frame. At the centre of the rear elevation is a large semicircular-headed window at half-landing level with a Georgian-paned sash frame (10 panes over 6), with relatively old-looking wrought-iron railings positioned above it. At first-floor level there are five sash windows with Georgian panes in a 6-over-6 arrangement. The rear facade (excluding the stone bay) is finished in unpainted lined render.

The gabled roof is slated and has four small skylights to the rear. There are two large rendered chimneystacks, one to each gable, with uniform pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron.

Internally, the building retains features of special quality, most notably the staircase and architraves, which appear to date from the early to mid-18th century and support the view that the house predates its first confirmed documentary appearance on Robert Barns's map of 1813. A large opening in the living room wall linking it with the kitchen was inserted at some point in the mid-20th century, and most of the fireplaces have been removed.

Abutting the house to the north is a large two-storey service section, which probably took its present form in 1898 when its roof level was raised (the uppermost portions of the walls are in brick rather than stone) and a small series of fretwork gables added to the front; its front windows sit awkwardly close to the eaves as a result of this heightening. The roofline of this section cuts across an attic window of the main house. To the rear of the house is a large U-shaped limestone-built gabled outbuilding dating from 1830, mainly used as stabling. Both the service section and the outbuilding are recorded separately. The whole ensemble is situated close to the southern end of Caledon Main Street, with a large garden to the southwest.

The other significant alterations carried out in 1898 — evidenced by the style of the work and confirmed by the annual valuation revision books — include the enlargement of some front window openings and the addition of the mullioned and transomed window frames. A large return to the rear of the service section has the appearance of being slightly earlier in date, seemingly constructed entirely of rubble, though no documentary evidence confirms this.

The house is believed to have been built by the Pringle family, who held leases on much of the western side of Caledon's main street from at least 1737. A lease of that year required an earlier John Pringle to build six dwelling houses, and it is possible that the present house was constructed at or shortly after that date — a suggestion supported by the early-to-mid-18th-century character of the internal detailing. Members of the Pringle family served as estate agents for the owners of Caledon from at least 1776, and the house almost certainly served as the agent's residence throughout that time. The last Pringle occupant, John Pringle, died around 1815 and was succeeded as both resident and agent by Henry Leslie Prentice, who is listed in the 1838 valuation; the Prentice family remained until the 1870s. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries the property was occupied by various members of the Alexander family, relations of the Earls of Caledon, from whom it takes its present name.