5-7 The Diamond

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Formerly two two-storey two-bay rendered terraced townhouses, now amalgamated into the neighbouring hotel (HB03/08/004A); built c.1880 and located to the east side of The Diamond in Portstewart town centre. Rectangular on plan.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks. Plastic rainwater goods on projecting eaves. Walling is rubble stone with lime pointing. Windows are replacement timber sash; 6/6 to ground floor and 3/6 to first floor all with horns, flat brick heads and projecting concrete sills.

The principal elevation faces west and can be read as two terraced units, each with three openings to each floor. Ground floor left at both have replacement four-panelled timber doors surmounted by slender transom lights and flat-brick heads.

The north gable is abutted by adjoining building; HB03/08/004A.

The east elevation was not viewed;

The south gable is abutted by adjoining building; HB03/08/004E.

Setting:

West-facing, at the northerly end of the terrace. The terrace is prominently situated, facing an important junction on the approach to Portstewart town centre. The area is characterised by mainly commercial units housed in two-storey terraces on the southern edge of the town. Numbers 5-7 is set back from the road with tarmacadamed public parking area to front. Large two-and-a-half-storey modern extension with dormers to north side of terrace, extending to full length of terrace at rear. To north side of The Diamond is Agherton Parish Church (HB03/08/001).

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Rubblestone with lime pointing
Windows: Replacement timber sash
RWG: Plastic

Historical information

Buildings are shown on the site of this terrace on the first edition OS map of 1830. However, valuation records record the dwelling houses then on the site as four structures of low value, ranging from £1 to £2.5s in valuation, and possibly therefore single-storey vernacular buildings. The terrace was remodelled in its present form as seven dwelling houses between 1875 and 1882, reflecting the growth of Portstewart into a successful bathing resort, although the row is without architectural pretension and is likely to have retained fabric from its simpler predecessors. The larger house and shop at the northern end were a successful commercial enterprise while the attached terrace was let out to a succession of working-class tenants.

A rebuilt or remodelled number five/seven was entered into valuation records in 1880 and leased from William Martin suggesting he was the developer of the site. The newly remodelled number five and its neighbours, valued at £4.10s, are initially listed as vacant but by 1881 the tenant was William Law and in 1900 the house passed to Henry Dixon, merchant tailor, who was running a shop in the adjacent houses at numbers 1 and 3. The house passed to Charles Upson, grocer in 1905 along with the adjacent houses. The house was often vacant in subsequent years but noted occupants are Rose Graham (1914) and John Logan (present in the early 1930s). The accommodation in the 1930s comprised a kitchen and five rooms and the rent was £3 per quarter.

Number seven was was also leased from William Martin. By 1881 the tenant was Nicholas Cunningham and by 1900 Richard Brown. Brown was a general labourer from Tyrone who lived in the seven-room house with his wife and two young sons. Subsequent tenants were William J Wallace (1905) Tomas Martin (1906) James Murphy (1908) John McMullan (1910) James McPeake Junior (1911) Richard O’Dowd (1912) and John Boyce (nd). In the 1930s the accommodation comprised a kitchen, parlour and four bedrooms and the rent was £3 per quarter. The associated plan shows the terrace and within the yard to the rear, coalsheds, WCs and open sheds with corrugated iron roofs.

Girvan commented in the 1970s that the Diamond was ‘a pleasant enclosure, away from the sea-front...and dominated by the Parish Church’. (Girvan)

In 2006 permission was granted for conversion of 1-5 The Diamond and replacement of 2-4 Lever Road to the rear with a 17-bed boutique hotel with lounge bars, restaurant and conference facility to designs by Kevin Cartin Architects Ltd. The development ultimately also incorporated number 7 as a snug bar and an additional bedroom. The front elevation has been retained, but little original fabric remains to the rear. (www.colerainebc.gov.uk; HB file)

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/3/1 First Edition OS Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/3/2 Second Edition OS map 1856
3. PRONI OS/6/5/3/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/3/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1922-39
5. PRONI OS/6/5/3/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1939-50
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/539A-B Townland Valuation (1828-40)
7. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/10 Griffiths Valuation (1861)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/17A-H Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/18 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/8/A/5 First General Revaluation 1933-57
11. 1901 census
12. 1911 census
13. HB file – 03/08/004C-D
14. Street Directory 1861

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W D “Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings, Areas of Architectural Importance in Coleraine and Portstewart” Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1971-2

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

A two-and-a-half-storey former house, now part of a hotel, built 1875 and converted 2006; located to the east side of The Diamond in Portstewart town centre. Despite substantial alterations, the front façade retains its late-nineteenth century character. Along with its prominent position on the approach to the town, the building remains of special historic interest. It has group value with the other listed buildings in the terrace.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; also applies.