4 Lodge Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic mid-terraced townhouse; built 1879 and located to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine. Square on plan with three-storey gabled return and modern single-storey extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on bracketted eaves. Walling is painted smooth render on a chamfered plinth with moulded string-course to frieze between ground and first floor. Windows are 1/1 timber sash with horns in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills (unless otherwise stated). Tripartite timber-sheeted gabled dormer to attic, having round-headed window openings (1/1 to centre) and decorative bargeboards with trefoil detailing and finial.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is three openings wide at each floor. Bolection-moulded four-panelled timber door with transom light and bronze door furniture to ground floor left, in a stop-end chamfered reveal accessed by a single tiled step. Entrance is flanked by pilasters surmounted by a plain entablature with ovolo-moulded cornice. Moulded plaque between upper floors is shared with number 2 (HB03/17/003A), reads “WOODVILLE”.

The northwest gable elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB03/17/003A).

The northeast (rear) elevation is abutted at right by the gabled return (shared with number 2); 2/2 timber sash windows to upper floors; to left of return is a 2/2 timber sash window at second floor and a 1/1 window to first floor; abutted at ground floor by the single-storey modern extension with entrance doors (of no interest).

The southeast elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB03/17/003C).

Setting:

Situated to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre. Set back from the street with yard to front laid in modern paving and enclosed by rendered wall with painted coping. Tarmacadamed alley to northwest leads to a rear yard, and gives access to car-park at east. Outbuilding to rear forms part of a terrace and comprises two-storey painted roughcast render building with slated roof and rendered chimneystacks. The southwest elevation has two replacement timber-framed windows at first floor windows over timber-framed window and a square-headed arch entry; northeast elevation has two timber-framed windows at first floor over square-headed carriage-arch entrance with replacement timber-sheeted doors.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted smooth render
Windows: Mainly 1/1 timber sash with horns
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current dwelling dates from 1879 and is part of a terrace of sixteen houses built between c1859 and c1888 for Coleraine's rising middle classes. The terrace is first shown on the large scale map of Coleraine dating from 1882 and the group of four houses (numbers 2-8), of which the current dwelling is part, was inserted into valuation records in 1879. Numbers 2 and 4 Lodge Road were named ‘Woodville’ and this is recorded on the large-scale maps, in valuation records and on a plaque that appears on the buildings themselves. The terrace was considered to be on the best, because sunniest, side of Lodge Road and was occupied largely by middle-class merchants and professionals who kept at least one servant. Lodge Road was laid out between 1833 and 1845, being first shown on O’Hagan’s map of Coleraine dating from 1845 and is named after ‘The Lodge’, a dwelling house at the southern end (now replaced by a hotel). The closing decades of the nineteenth century saw a building boom of terraces and villas in Coleraine of which local people were extremely proud. The boom is said to have begun in the late 1850s when Thomas Boyd built Waterford Terrace at numbers 26-32 (Mullin).

The house, offices, yard and small garden were valued at £24.10s and was initially occupied by Joseph McCarter (1879) and leased from Alexander Higgins, who was most likely the developer. The next resident was Robert A Taylor in 1883. At the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Annie Mooney, a widow living with her adult daughter and the ten-room house was designated first class (1901 census). The next occupier was John Gilford in 1905, followed by Bridget McGilligan, a widow living with her domestic servant. (1911 census) The valuation of the property was reduced c1905 to £19 following a complaint and valuer’s notes of the period show a plan of the three-storey house with dormer and its single and double-height returns, together with the two-storey outbuilding at the rear of the yard.

Valuer’s notes of the 1930s list the accommodation as, on the ground floor, a reception, kitchen, scullery and pantry, on the first floor, a reception and two bedrooms, on the second floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom and on the third floor two attic bedrooms. The house had water laid on and gas lighting at this time and a plan is given showing the house, single-storey and double-height returns, coal house and closet in the yard to the rear and an outbuilding at the bottom of the yard that is still present. The house passed to David L Steele in 1930, John W Brown in 1937 and was occupied by the Millar family from 1940 until at least the 1950s. Valuer’s notes record that the building was occupied by the military in 1940 but the purpose the house was used for is not stated.

The house was listed in 1977 and renovations took place in the 1980s including repairs to guttering and plasterwork (HB file). The building has been amalgamated with its neighbour at number 6 in recent years and is in use as a dental surgery.

References:

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1 First Edition OS Map 1830
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 Second Edition OS map 1849-50
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 Third Edition OS Map 1904
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 Fourth Edition OS Map 1923
5. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 Fifth Edition OS Map 1949
6. PRONI VAL/12A/5/11-13 Valuer’s Notes 1900-1912
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-N Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
8. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/4 First General Revaluation 1933-57
9. PRONI VAL/3/D/6/2/H/23-24 First General Revaluation 1933-57
10. HB file – 03/17/003A-P

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
2. Mullin, Rev T H “Coleraine in Modern Times” Belfast: Century Services Ltd, 1979
3. www.dia.ie

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
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic mid-terraced townhouse; built 1879 and located to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine. Proportions and detailing are typical of the period and the building forms part of an important and prominent terrace situated in the heart of Coleraine(HB03/17/003A-P). Refurbished internally as a modern dental surgery in recent years, the building is of interest largely due to its group value. Coleraine is a town largely characterised by its development during the Victorian era and this is one of the best preserved examples of mid to late-nineteenth century terraced architecture in the town. Of local interest, the terrace makes an important contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R - Age, S- Authenticity.