Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/21/005 J

Address :
23 Clarendon Street Londonderry County Londonderry BT48 7EP

Townland:
Edenballymore

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
26/02/1979 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Office - 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:
C4332 1723

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Owner Category

Commercial

Exterior Description And Setting

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic over basement red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1862-63 and designed in the Georgian-style of the adjoining nos 25-27 (built 1853-56). Rectangular on plan with projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north onto Clarendon Street set behind low rendered wall with painted stone coping surmounted by replacement black painted metal railings. Front entrance is five steps up with bottom two steps projecting out beyond boundary wall onto pavement. Built as part of a row of similar houses of this type which line the south side of Clarendon Street. Pitched slate roof with single dormer to the rear and black clay ridge tiles. Large brick chimney stack rising from the east side, centred on ridge with seven clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front. Principal front (north) elevation is of Flemish brick bond with rendered basement level terminating at a string course at ground floor level. Three-centred-arch opening to entrance doorway to right with moulded cornice supported by columns of the Doric order to either side of a painted timber four-panelled door surmounted by a single pane overlight. All window openings are square-headed with painted cement rendered reveals and painted sills. All windows are 6/6 timber sliding sash unless otherwise stated. Two diminished windows to left of door with two windows to first and second floors (those to upper floors are not aligned with ground floor openings). Two casement windows to basement level directly below ground floor windows. East and west elevations abutted by adjoining buildings No.21 & No. 25 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005I & HB01/21/005K respectively). South (rear) elevation is cement rendered three-storey with attic over basement. Cement rendered pitched roof four-storey over basement rear return to left with a small single-storey lean-to boiler house to right. Right bay of main block comprises a modern uPVC door and sidelights to basement with a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to ground, first and second floor levels. Pitched roof timber clad dormer above with a single 6/3 timber sliding sash window. Left bay is fully abutted by rear return. Rear return south gable fenestration pattern is irregular and comprises a single casement window to basement, a single 2/2 timber sliding sash window to ground floor, a canted timber oriel window to first floor comprising margin-paned timber sliding sash windows to each facet (2/2 round arched,4/4 segmental-arched,2/2 round-arched), two diminutive 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to second floor and a 6/3 timber sliding sash window to third floor. East face has a flush fire door to basement level, a diminutive 1/1 timber sliding sash window to first floor, a round-arched margin-paned timber sliding sash window to second floor; upper floors not visible at time of survey. West face is blank. Setting: Built as part of a row of twelve early to mid-Victorian townhouses which line the south side of Clarendon Street. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the front of the property faces north and is set behind a low rendered wall with painted stone coping surmounted by replacement black painted metal railings. Front entrance is five steps up with bottom two steps projecting out beyond boundary wall onto pavement. Enclosed yard to rear. Two-storey pitched natural slate roofed white-washed stone mews building with brick dressings to rear of site. North elevation has a vertically sheeted timber door to left of centre surmounted by a square-headed three-pane overlight; first floor has two square-headed timber louvered openings. East elevation is blank. West elevation is fully abutted by the mews building of No. 25 Clarendon Street. South elevation has a square-headed timber louvered opening to first floor left and a vertically sheeted timber opening to first floor right; ground floor not visible at time of survey. Materials: Roof Slate RWG Cast Iron (N) uPVC (S) Walling Brick/Render Windows Timber (N & S) uPVC (S)

Architects

Historical Information

Clarendon Street, characterised by its long terraces of Georgian-style townhouses, was laid out in the early-Victorian period with the construction of the first dwellings commencing in c. 1853. The laying out of similar terraced dwellings on Great James Street and Queen Street was necessitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the mid-19th century. John Hume notes that during the period 1825-1850 ‘reconstruction of the city’s buildings [within the walls] took place alongside the development, for the first time, of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore’ (Hume, p. 147). The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the Clarendon 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 area that predates the early-Victorian development is Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006), a Regency house constructed c. 1815 and which, according to Calley, is ‘a pleasing composition which offers a gentle rebuke to some of the exuberance of later nearby buildings … one of it’s pleasant features is that it opens a gap in the long terraces’ (Calley, p. 116). 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 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 the years 1613-19. The contemporary 1847 plan of Londonderry, which depicted the proposed layout of Clarendon Street at least a decade before it was actually completed, recorded that the street was originally known as Ponsonby Street. The street was named after the Rt. Rev. Richard Ponsonby (1772-1853), Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, however by the 1850s the street had been renamed Clarendon Street in honour of the Fourth Earl of Clarendon, George Villiers (1800-1870), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1847 and 1852. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map records that Ponsonby Street had been renamed Clarendon Street by at least 1853. Although the 1847 plan of Londonderry depicted that Clarendon Street extended from the quay up to Francis Street, only the bottom section of Clarendon Street (between the Strand Road and Queen Street) had been laid out by 1853. The development of Clarendon Street progressed slowly throughout the 1850s. Mullin records that development of the remainder of the street did not recommence until the mid-1850s. In 1851 Skipton & Miller had advertised building ground on Clarendon Street, Queen Street and Patrick Street to be let in perpetuity. Griffith’s Valuation recorded that only nine dwellings had been constructed along the entire length of the street by 1856. In that year additional leases were advertised for building ground on the northern side of Clarendon Street (Mullin, p. 117). No. 23 Clarendon Street was constructed in 1862-63 but was designed in the Georgian-style of the adjoining nos 25-27 (built 1853-56); the building was originally valued at £40 and had been constructed for Forrest Reid, a local solicitor who also owned nos 25-27 (Ulster Town Directories). Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. The first occupant of No. 23 was Thomas Reid, but in 1865 the owner Forrest Reid occupied the building as his own private dwelling. In 1901 No. 23 Clarendon Street was occupied by a Ms. Jane Scott who derived her income from investments. The census building return of that year described her house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of ten rooms and possessed a stable as its sole out office. Forrest Reid continued to own No. 25 Clarendon Street (and many of the adjoining buildings) until his death in 1888 at which point his holdings were administered by the executors of his will (PRONI Wills). The First Revaluation records that by 1935 ownership of No. 23 Clarendon Street had passed to a Mr. J. B. Smith and that the value of the house had been increased to £42. In 1935 No. 23 continued to be solely utilised as a private dwelling, but by the 1950s the building had been partially converted into a medical surgery for a Dr. J. E. O’Donnell. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) J. B. Smith continued to be recorded as owner whilst the value of the building had been slightly increased to £46. In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated Clarendon Street (and the surrounding streets) 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). No. 23 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building was fully converted into office premises in 1984. A renovation of No. 23 Clarendon Street was carried out in 2001 that included the reslating of its roof (NIEA HB Records). In 2013 Calley described nos 23-27 Clarendon Street as three ‘terrace houses differing from their neighbours in that they have stone steps over basement wells leading to the doors, giving them the most elegant approaches of any houses on the street’ (Calley, p. 117). Few of the mid-Victorian townhouses along Clarendon Street are now occupied as residential dwellings. The majority of the three-storey buildings were converted into offices for local dentists, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. No. 23 Clarendon Street is currently utilised as office premises for a firm of accountants. 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 Ordnance 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 Northern Ireland (1935) 7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland (1956-72) 8. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847) 9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847) 10. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911) 11. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918) 12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (24 Feb 1888) 13. First Survey Record – HB01/21/005 (1970) 14. First Survey Image – HB01/21/005 (No Date) 15. NIEA HB Record – HB01/21/005I 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: Coleraine 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

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

Historic Interest

X. Local Interest R. Age S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic over basement red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1862-63 and was designed in the Georgian-style of the adjoining nos 25-27 (built 1853-56). It has group value with Nos. 5-21 and 25-73 (excluding No.53) which were built over a twenty-one year period and line the south side of the street. The conversion to office use has resulted in some modernisation of the interior. Despite this, its original character and much of its detailing survives. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the well preserved setting, the survival of its rear mews building and the railings and plinth wall to the front adds to its interest. The terrace represents the mid 19th century development of the city of Derry and the house is a noteworthy example of the type of property built during this period of growth in the economy and population of the city.

General Comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age & S-Authenticity

Date of Survey

24 March 2014