24 Lodge Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay three-storey-with-attic terraced former dwelling, now commercial premises; built 1886 and altered c.1990, located to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre. Square on plan with two-storey return and modern extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with blue/black angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystack. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on moulded eaves. Walling is painted smooth render with platband under eaves and continuous sill course to first floor. Windows are 1/1 timber sash with horns in stop-end chamfered reveals with projecting painted sills.

The principal elevation faces southwest and is three openings wide at each floor. Entrance to ground floor right comprises bolection moulded four-panel timber door with bronze knob and transom light (boarded) in a moulded reveal and accessed via a sloped concrete step. Door is flanked by panelled pilasters with decorative console brackets supporting a corniced canopy.

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

The northeast (rear) elevation is abutted by an original two-storey return, which is further abutted by a large two-storey modern extension (of no interest), incorporating an original two-storey outbuilding.

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

Setting:
Situated to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre. Set back from the street with paved yard to front, enclosed by hedge and smooth rendered wall, with smooth rendered wall with coping stones and square piers to entrance. Tarmacadamed alley to northwest and southeast of terrace leads to car-park at east. Outbuilding to rear forms part of a terrace and is painted roughcast render with platband under eaves, having slated roof with modern skylights to ridge and rendered chimneystack. Northeast elevation has two replacement windows over a large square-headed opening with modern timber-sheeted gates.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Smooth render
Windows: 1/1 sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current dwelling dates from 1886 (although radical reconstruction behind the front elevation took place in the late 1990s) and is part of a development of sixteen houses built between c1859 and c1888 for Coleraine’s rising middle classes (Valuation records). The terrace is first shown in its complete form on the third edition OS map of 1904 and the current house was among the last in the terrace to be built, being inserted into valuation records in 1886 as a vacant, newly-built dwelling. 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 to 32 (Mullin).

The house, offices, yard and small garden was initially valued at £24, occupied by Rev John Caroll (1888), followed by Anne Clarke (1889) and leased from James McMullen who was most likely the developer. At the time of the 1901 census the occupier was Andrew Clarke, a distiller from County Donegal who lived with his mother and sister and employed two servant girls. The 1911 census records the occupier as Frederick William Skelly, a linen manufacturer who lived with his wife and two young daughters and employed a general domestic servant (1911 census). The house passed to William Lyons in 1917 and William Knox in 1919, followed by Samuel Murray and Victor Rankin in the 1950s.

Valuer’s notes of the 1930s list the accommodation as, on the ground floor, reception, kitchen with hot water cylinder and range, scullery and pantry, on the first floor, one reception, two bedrooms, a wood-lined bathroom and separate WC in the return and on the second floor, two bedrooms 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, return and an outbuilding at the bottom of the yard that is still present. The tenant laid a concrete path and concreted the yard and garage floor in the in 1930s. In 1956 a lean-to greenhouse and a coal shed were added in the rear yard causing a rise of £2 in the valuation.

The house was listed in 1977 and damaged in a bomb attack in the late 1980s. In the late 1990s the house was refurbished and extended as offices which entailed radical reconstruction, retaining little fabric other than the front elevation (HB file). The building is now in use as a Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

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
11. 1901/1911 census online

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
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 terraced former dwelling, now commercial premises; built 1886, and altered c.1990, located to the east side of Lodge Road in Coleraine town centre. Despite extensive remodelling of the original planform the building retains some typical mid-Victorian features and is part of an important and prominent terrace situated in the heart of Coleraine. Coleraine is largely characterised by its development during the Victorian era, and this group (HB03/17/003A-P) is one of the best preserved examples of mid-to-late-nineteenth century terraced architecture in the town. Making an important contribution to the architectural character of Coleraine town centre, the terrace is also of significant local interest.

General comments

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