Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/21/035 C

Address :
20 Great James Street Londonderry Co. Londonderry BT48 7DA

Townland:
Edenballymore

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
House - Terrace

Former Use
House - Terrace

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
36-4SW

IG Ref:
C4333 1713

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

Three-storey three-bay Georgian style mottled brown brick terraced house, built c.1847, with modern three-storey projecting rear return. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces south, built as part of a terrace of three similarly scaled townhouses to the north side of Great James Street, the earliest to be built in terms of domestic architecture within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles and red brick chimney stack with clay pots rising from the east side. Replacement PVC guttering connecting to original circular cast iron downpipe. Principal elevation faces south onto Great James Street of painted smooth render to ground floor; Flemish bond brick above; all window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills, two bays to right of doorcase with replacement uPVC casment windows; elliptical archheaded entrance doorway, slightly recessed, has engaged fluted columns of the Doric order either side of a raised-and-fielded four panel painted timber door with dentilled entablature and simple fanlight with timber glazing bars above. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to first floor level and 6/3 timber sliding sash windows to second floor level. East and west elevations are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.18 (HB01/21/005II) and No.22 Great James Street. North elevation to the rear is of three-storeys, with large modern three-storey rear return built at half-landing height with slated pitched roof. Walls are smooth render with unpainted finish. Square-headed window openings on unpainted masonry sills. The fenestration pattern is irregular with replacement mock Georgian upvc and timber casement windows to the rear and return. Pitched slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles and red brick chimney stack with seven clay pots rising from the east side. Replacement uPVC half-round guttering terminating at a circular cast iron downpipe to front elevation, uPVC rainwater goods to rear. Roof Natural slate RWG Cast-iron (E) uPVC (W) Walling Painted render/brick Windows Timber sliding sash / Timber casement/ uPVC Setting: Forming part of a terrace of three similar houses lining the north side of Great James Street fronting directly onto the pavement. Small rear yard enclosed by rendered wall with a large two-storey rear return. Set within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

Architects

Historical Information

Great James Street was originally laid out in c. 1833, with the first buildings constructed along the street by at least 1835-37 (the earliest building on the street, Londonderry Third Presbyterian Church (HB01/21/009), was erected during that period). The laying out of Great James Street, as well as the adjoining Queen Street and Clarendon Street, was neccesitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. John Hume notes that during the period 1825-1850 ‘reconstruction of the city’s buildings [within the city walls] took place alongside the development for the first time of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore’ (Hume, p. 147). Great James Street was the first major new street in the area (Queen Street was laid out in c. 1847 and Clarendon Street in c. 1853). The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the Great James Street area was originally rural hinterland with few significant structures. In 1830 the development of the city’s streets had extended no further than Waterloo Place, Abbey Street and William Street. In the first decades of the 19th century the only major construction north of the walls had been isolated buildings such as the Londonderry Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum and Foyle College (HB01/22/016) with little or no domestic architecture being erected in the same period. The only building in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area that predates the early-Victorian development is Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006), a Regency house that was constructed c. 1815. In The Annals of Derry, a survey of the city compiled by Robert Simpson and published in 1847, Simpson recorded that ‘all the district now covered by Great James’s Street, William Street, Little James Street … and the numerous lanes in that vicinity [originally comprised] meadow ground without a house’ (Simpson, p. 213). The initial development of housing in this area began in the late-Georgian period and continued into the Victorian era. With the construction of uniform rows of 'neat and charming' three-storey townhouses, a new affluent area was established that swiftly became the preferred residence of the city’s merchant and professional classes. The laying out of Clarendon Street, Great James Street and Queen Street followed a geometric street pattern which was characteristic of Georgian street development; the development signified the most ambitious project of town planning carried out in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city in 1613-19. No. 20 Great James Street was constructed between 1847 and 1853. O’Hagan’s contemporary plan of Londonderry records that Great James Street had been partially developed by 1847, however the map did not depict any buildings on the current site at that time, but by the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1853) a small terrace of buildings had been built on the north side of the street. The terrace originally comprised four identical Georgian-style buildings, nos 16-22 Great James Street, each of which possessed a rear return and a single outbuilding; No. 22 was rebuilt in 1903 and is now significantly different to the adjoining terrace. Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that nos 16-22 Great James Street were constructed for Andrew Thompson, a local surgeon who operated a apothecary on the Strand Road (Ulster Town Directory). Thompson leased No. 20 Great James Street, which was valued at £28 to a Ms. Elizabeth Browne. Andrew Thompson continued to own the terrace on Great James Street until his death in c. 1870 when his widow Margaret Thompson took over possession of row and took up reisdency at No. 20. Throughout its history the occupants of the Clarendon Street area were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. By 1911 No. 20 Great James Street was occupied by James William Robinson, a dentist and anaesthetist. In that year the census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms. By the 1930s ownership of the house had passed to a Ms. Mina Hurst and under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936 57) the value of the building had risen to £34. The house was occupied by a Ms. Rebecca Quigley between 1940 and the 1970s and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the house stood at £35. In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated the mid-nineteenth century streets and terraces as a Conservation Area ‘being an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’ (Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet). In 2013 Calley described nos 16-20 Great James Street as a ‘fine small terrace of three mottled brown brick houses now mostly in commercial use. They are three-storey, three-bay with rendered reveals’ (Calley, p. 220). Few of the Georgian-style townhouses along Great James Street are now occupied as residential dwellings. The majority of the three-storey buildings were converted into offices for local dentist, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. During the Second Survey No. 20 Great James Street was divided into a number of self-contained apartments. References Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830) 2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnanec Survey Map (1853) 3. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856) 4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931) 6. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) 7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13-14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 8. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847) 9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847) 10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918) 11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911) Secondary Sources 1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013. 2. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970. 3. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002. 4. Mullin, T. H., Ulster’s Historic City: Derry – Londonderry’ Coleraine: Coleriane Bookshop, 1986. 5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003. 6. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978. 7. ‘Design Guide for Clarendon Street Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Georgian style mid-terrace three-storey three-bay red brick townhouse, built c.1847 with modern three-storey rear return. Built as one of three houses of similar type lining the north side of Great James Street, principal elevation faces south onto Great James Street. The ground floor has been rendered and fitted with inappropriate uPVC windows. Together with replacment uPVC casements windows to the rear, substantial detailing and character has been lost. Although the adjoining terraced properties are largely intact, Nos.16 and 18 Gt James Street have not retained sufficient architectural and historic interest to be considered special - therefore these buildings are not listed. By reason of its imposing facade, the building does however make a significant contribution to the conservation area.

General Comments

Date of Survey

19 June 2014