93 Main Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A one-and-a-half-storey, two-bay twin-gabled end-terrace house and commercial premises; built c.1850 and situated to the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre. Rectangular plan with flat-roof extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack to north gable; plastic bargeboards and terracotta finials to west gables. Plastic rainwater goods. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render with contrasting plinth and raised quoins; moulded string-course between floors. Windows are replacement uPVC; those to first floor gables in projecting segmental-headed surrounds with flush sills and keyblock; ground floor windows with projecting painted sills.

Twin-gabled front elevation faces west; gables each contain a tall window breaking eaves line. Ground floor has large window opening and uPVC door to left bay, right bay has shop front comprising large modern window opening and glazed uPVC door with modern fascia over.

The north gable is blank.

The east elevation was concealed (see surveyor’s comments); abutted by the flat-roof extension.

The south gable is fully abutted by the adjoining building (HB03/02/006).

Setting:

Street-fronted and situated to the east side of Main Street with access to rear yard via a modern timber gate at north gable.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Ruled-and-lined render
Windows: uPVC
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

The current shop/dwelling house is of mid-nineteenth century appearance but appears to have been remodelled a number of times and earlier fabric may be present. A building is shown on the site on the first edition OS map of 1832, but this is listed in the Townland Valuation of 1828-40 at a very low valuation of £2.8s and is likely to have been a single-storey building of vernacular character. In Griffith’s Valuation of 1856-64 the building is listed in its present form, as two separate holdings, occupied by Michael McCloskey, a carpenter (Slater’s 1846 Directory) and Michael Keegan and valued at £2.10s and £2.5s respectively. The structure is 15 feet high and there are thatched outbuildings to the rear. The building is leased from John Quigg.

The shops were both taken over by Robert Cox in the mid 1880s. The 1911 census lists him as a carpenter and builder living in the eight-room, second class house with his wife, daughter and granddaughter. (1911 census)

In the 1920s the premises became a single shop run as ‘Garvagh Drug Store’, becoming a ‘hairdressing saloon’ in the 1930s. Valuer’s notes of that period list the accommodation as a reception, saloon, kitchen, scullery and five rooms. The premises had an earth closet and water was laid on to the scullery. The attached plan shows the house and scullery return and stables and sheds to the rear.

Although valuation records show no major changes in valuation during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the building appears to have undergone a number of phases of remodelling, including the recent altering of the ground floor doors and windows. Since the first survey photograph was taken in the early 1970s windows on the upper floor have been replaced and the shop window to the right of the ground floor has been reduced in size. The building was listed in 1977 and alterations took place to the rear in the 1980s. (HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/18/1 First Edition OS Map 1832
2. PRONI OS/6/5/18/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-53
3. PRONI OS/6/5/18/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904-05
4. PRONI OS/6/5/18/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1924-33
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/56 Townland Valuation (1828-40)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/6B Griffith’s Valuation (1856-64)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/12A-F Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/2 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/3/K/4 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. HB file – 03/02/007
11. Slater’s 1846 Directory

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A one-and-a-half-storey, two-bay twin-gabled end-terrace house and commercial premises; built c.1850 and situated to the east side of Main Street in Garvagh town centre. Refurbishment and inappropriate replacement fabric in the late twentieth century has degraded the original character. The building does not meet the criteria for listing.