29 Millburn Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay, two-storey semi-detached L-shaped gabled house with Gothic detailing; dated 1865 and located to the east side of Millburn Road in Coleraine town centre. L-shaped plan with breakfront to gable and oblique gabled entrance porch to re-entrant angle; two-storey lean-to extension to rear.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled ridge tiles and rendered chimneystacks having tall clay pots; decorative timber bargeboards with finials to gables. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on projecting bracketed timber eaves; cast-iron downpipes and hopper. Walling is painted ruled-and-lined render on a contrasting plinth; smooth render to rear. Windows are generally bipartite timber sash with horizontal glazing bars in simple painted reveals with projecting painted sills; those to ground floor have painted surrounds with decorative stepped head and a continuous corbelled sill.

The principal elevation faces west; gabled bay at left with openings set in breakfront advancing beneath offsets at ground floor. Inscribed stone plaque over first floor window reads “1865”. Right bay has a narrow 2/2 window at ground floor; porch to re-entrant angle has heavy timber bargeboards and is accessed by three concrete steps; replacement glazed timber door in a shouldered reveal with glazed quatrefoil over.

The north elevation is abutted by adjoining building (HB03/18/023B).

The east (rear) elevation was only partially viewed (see surveyor’s comments). Gabled wall-head dormer window to right; abutted at left by the slated two-storey lean-to extension (of no interest).

The south elevation has a 4/4 timber sash window at first floor and bipartite window at ground floor.

Setting:

Situated on a rectangular plot to the east side the River Bann in Coleraine town centre, overlooking The Rose Gardens and Alexander Park and south of Millburn Terrace (HB03/18/034A-I) and Salem Lodge (HB03/18/024). Set on an elevated site set back from the road, with brick pavior driveway and patio with mature shrubs to front, bounded to road by rubblestone wall and mature hedgerow. Enclosed yard to rear.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted ruled-and-lined render
Windows: Replacement timber sash
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The current dwelling is one of a semi-detached pair completed by 1865 for David Baxter (Mullin). The pair was initially known as ‘Fountain Villas’ and first appears on the third edition OS map dating from 1904. The two houses each with an office, yard and garden enter valuation records in c1866 and are each valued at £13 and 10s for the garden.

Millburn Road was laid out as a new road to Portrush and Portstewart at the suggestion of an Irish Society deputation of 1834. The new road, which was in progress in 1840, exposed a spring on the eastern side of the road during construction work and this fountain gave its name to ‘Fountain Villas’ (Mullin). Until 1860 the Olphert estate on the north side of Coleraine could only be used for farming, but in January of that year Chancery Court permission was obtained for 99 year leases. In March 1860 the Olphert estate advertised sites for villas on the east side of Millburn Road, commencing at the fountain but building does not appear to have taken place until the launching of the Coleraine Building Society in 1864 (Mullin).

The first occupier to be noted at number 29 was Moses McIntyre who leased the house from David Baxter. Subsequent occupiers were Robert Taylor (1870) Hugh Anderson (1876) Daniel I Clarke (1881) Andrew Clarke (1884) John Alexander (1889) Johnston (1891) Rev Charles Donaldson (1892) Miss Jessie Donaldson (1894) Mary G Stevenson (1907) David G Christie (1912) and Emily Christie (1927). Jessie Donaldson is recorded in the 1901 census as a teacher of languages from County Cork living with a friend Mary Beresford Stevenson who was a ‘lady’. The eight-room house was designated first class. The 1911 census lists David Gladstone Christie as a general merchant living with his wife and baby daughter. The house was listed in 1981 and renovations were carried out in the 1980s.

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/12/B/30/9A-N Annual Revisions (1864-1929)
7. HB file – 03/18/23A

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A mid-Victorian two-bay two-storey semi-detached L-shaped gabled house with Gothic style detailing; dated 1865 and located to the east side of Millburn Road in Coleraine town centre. Forming a pair with number 31 (HB03/18/023B), initially known as ‘Fountain Villas’, this is a well-preserved group of mid-Victorian townhouses with proportions and detailing typical of the period, illustrating the development of the town in the middle part of the nineteenth century. Of local interest, numbers 29 and 31, have group value with themselves and also form a coherent group with other Victorian dwellings along Millburn Road. They are an important element in Coleraine's architectural heritage.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age and S - Authenticity also apply.