5 Old Coleraine Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached painted rendered two-storey Modernist house with full-width mural panel to the upper floor, possibly by Colin Middleton . Set on a slightly elevated site on the north side of Old Coleraine Road enclosed by low rendered walls.

Flat roof supported on series of concrete beams exposed to the overhanging eaves. Painted concrete walling and square-headed window openings with concrete sills and replacement timber windows.

Front elevation comprises a series of rectangular masses, abutted by a replacement timber glazed entrance porch with flat concrete roof. The side elevation planes project forward to form textured concrete fins framing the mural. The mural comprises six vertical sculpted panels of abstract design forming a single composition finished with monochrome paint. The ground floor extends to the right as a single-storey block.

A single-storey flat-roofed double-garage structure abuts the south side elevation.

Rear elevation not seen.

North side elevation has glazed panels between the concrete beams and abutted by a single-storey projection.

Setting:
Located on the west side of Old Coleraine Road on an elevated site. Steep bitmac front drive and lawn enclosed by low painted rendered wall with replacement timber gates.

Roof : ConConcrete
RWG: Concealed
Walling Concrete /render
Windows : Replacement timber

Historical information

Girvan, writing in 1972, stated that ‘the last forty years have seen considerable expansion in the form of housing estates and private bungalows and villas, few of which are distinguished architecturally’ (Girvan, p. 31). No. 5 Old Coleraine Road, an L-shaped two-storey modernist dwelling, was constructed in c. 1968 when the street was known as the ‘Old Road off Larkhill Road.’ The building was not depicted on the current edition of the Ordnance Survey map of Portstewart which was surveyed in 1966; however an outline of the dwelling was depicted on a 1968 version of the same map (which was used for valuation purposes). The map depicted the building along its current L-shape layout. Despite having been erected in c. 1968, the dwelling was not included in the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-1972); only a small number of earlier buildings on the street were included, none of which were No. 5 Old Coleraine Road.

The architect and the artist responsible for full-width mural panel located to the first floor of the dwelling’s facade are not known with certainty; however the mural resembles the work of Irish artist Colin Middleton. A Belfast-based artist, Middleton (1910-1983) described himself as the only surrealist artist in Ireland and was responsible for a similar mural at No. 108 Strand Road, Portstewart (see HB03/08/011). A contemporary dwelling, No. 108 Strand Road was also designed in a modernist style by local architect Noel Campbell and it is possible that the pair collaborated a second time at No. 5 Old Coleraine Road, however there is no documentary evidence to support this claim.

No. 5 Old Coleraine Road continues to be utilised as a private dwelling and, although there is uncertainty concerning the names of both the Architect and mural artist, the International Modernist building is locally significant as one of the most architecturally distinguished domestic structures constructed in Portstewart during the mid-20th century.

References

Primary Sources

1. Ordnance Survey map – 12-4 (1966)
2. PRONI VAL/4/A/6/57A – Second General Revaluation map (1968)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Detached painted rendered two-storey Modernist house with full-width mural panel to the upper floor. Although the windows and porch have been replaced, the building retains its bold Modernist appearance that serves as a frame to a large mural and forms part of a modest collection of twentieth-century structures in the town.

General comments

*Renumbered from HB03/09/007*