13 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey four windows wide Georgian terraced house in a group of two. Brick facade, natural slate roof, brick chimneys on party walls. Larger chimney on party wall with sister building number 15, (HB02/12/010B). Houses are symmetrical about their junction though number 15 has been rendered with sand cement. House faces north west onto Main street. Georgian sash windows have been replaced by PVC with exposed mullions matching the original pattern. Ground floor and third floor windows have each twelve panes and are equal in height. Second floor is a pane taller and windows have 15 panes. Unfortunately the heavy transom at this level does not align with sash division on number 15 next door. The panelled entrance door has a rectangular fanlight divided into a brick joint pattern by fine astragals. Three stone steps rise from the street to the door. A stone quoin on each side of the door-case is set into the brick base of the entrance. Across the dront of the facade a light well to the basement trimmed by stone has been concreted over. The flat arches over three basement windows can be seen. Windows have sandstone cills, rainwater goods are in PVC.

To the rear windows are less ordered. Windows in line with the stair are dropped to landing level. There are only three openings to the third floor. A steel fire escape descends from the south west window on the third floor. The gravel courtyard behind is enclosed by a high brick wall (over two metres) and terminated by a two storey coach house. The coach house is in good repair, slate roof, brick walls, five openings of different sizes all closed by solid match board doors. A line in the brickwork reveals that a lean-to shed has been removed.

Historical information

Building shown on this site on 1831 Ordnance Survey Map. However, it has a long return and is the same depth as its neighbours. The present arrangement with numbers 13 and 15 much deeper than those to the south west, appears on the 1848 survey, as does the modern courtyard arrangement. The 1835 Ordnance Survey memoirs state that 50 years earlier there were ‘only a few cabins and indifferent houses’ on Main Street. It is likely therefore that the 1831 building was thatched (as numbers 11-15 until 1904 see HB2/12/009) and dated from the second half of the eighteenth century. This was replaced by the present much more substantial building circa 1840. On the 1907 map the house is indicated as the dispensary, but the present occupants claim that their practice was established in the building in 1905.

References:

Primary Sources:
OS Map 'Newtown Limavady' enlarged from 1st Edition Map (1831) PRONI: Val 2D/5/4 & T2933/4/126
OS Map 'Newtown Limavady' (1848 revision with notes of 1858 valuation) PRONI: 058/120/1/1 & T2933/3/140
OS Map ' Town of Limavady' (1895) PRONI:Val 2D/5/4 & 293/4/261
OS Map ' Town of Limavady' (1907) PRONI:058/120/2/3

Secondary Sources
D Girvan, 'The Buildings of north Derry' UAHS 1975 p12
TH Mullan 'Limavady and the Roe Valley' Limavady Council 1983 p75
'Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol 9 Co Londonderry11' QUB 1995 p90

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A fine, well maintained townhouse in the Georgian style which added much to the formal quality of Limavady Main Street. The entrance door and vestibule with fanlight are of note. Unfortunately all windows to front and rear have been replaced inappropriately thus degrading the architectural quality of the building.