Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB01/19/065

Address :
Synod Hall 24 London Street Londonderry County Londonderry BT48 6RQ

Townland:
Londonderry

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Survey 2:
B2

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

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Hall

Former Use
Church

Conservation Area:
Yes

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
36-8NW

IG Ref:
C4346 1650

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Owner Category

Church - C of I

Exterior Description And Setting

Two-storey detached church hall. Rectangular plan form with two-storey rear return. Built 1838. Restoration and internal alterations completed 2005. Principal breakfront gable-end elevation with pedimented projecting central bay facing onto Artillery Street overlooking city walls. Original entrance relocated from Artillery Street to London Street. North elevation attached to No.28 Pump Street. East elevation faces onto shared courtyard leading to Artillery Street. South elevation of smooth painted render faces onto city walls with projecting central bay flanked by side-bays, edged with plain pilasters and deep projecting cornice and plinth. Two round-headed ‘Regency'-style painted 2/2 timber sliding sash windows to central bay at first floor and one window of the same to each side bay, with square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash windows to ground floor. West elevation faces onto London Street with painted plaster sill-course and string-course; five round-headed windows to first floor, one blocked up, and five square-headed windows to ground floor. Four cathedral-square lead-lights with edge border at first floor to west end of rear extension, with coupled square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sash windows and painted plaster hood mould above to ground floor. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles and lean-to slate roof at rear extension. Cast-aluminium guttering and downpipes throughout. Setting: Located on a corner site to London Street and Artillery Street set back from the edge of the pavement, looking onto New Gate and the City Walls to the South East across Artillery Street. Materials: Roof Natural Slate RWG Cast Aluminium Walling Painted Render Windows: Timber sliding sash and casements

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The Church of Ireland Synod Hall, located at the corner of London Street and Artillery Street, dates from 1838. The current pedimented building stands on the site of Londonderry’s first purpose built theatre which was erected in c. 1797. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) described the theatre in the following terms: ‘the theatre, which was built about forty years ago, is an insignificant structure, in an obscure situation. A few years since it underwent considerable repair, but it is altogether disused for dramatic purposes. A part of the premises have been converted into the out offices of a private establishment’ (OSM, p. 118). By 1841 the former theatre had been converted into a Meeting House for the Seceding Presbyterian congregation of Second Derry. Prior to 1837 the congregation, which was a seceding mission, met at a makeshift hall in Fountain Street, however in that year the mission was recognised as a congregation and subsequently became known as Second Derry (First Derry Seceding was located on the Strand Road (see HB01/21/011)). In 1840 the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod merged to form the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. As a result the formerly divided Presbyterian congregations within the city were reorganised, and renumbered; First Derry Seceding became Second Derry Presbyterian and Second Derry Seceding was renamed Fourth Derry Presbyterian. The Short History of Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church: 1838-1938 records that the congregation continued to meet at Fountain Street until 1841 when the former theatre on Artillery Street was acquired and converted into its new use as a Meeting House; it is not known how much of the theatre building was retained, however the current pedimented façade certainly dates from the conversion. In 1856 Griffith’s Valuation set the total rateable value of the Meeting House at £60; the Annual Revisions valuation map of Londonderry depicted the church on Artillery Street as a plain rectangular-shaped building in c. 1873. Fourth Derry Presbyterian continued to meet at the hall until 1879 when the congregation vacated the site; throughout the mid-19th century the congregation had grown to such an extent that the hall on Artillery Street was deemed unsuitable and a new church was constructed on the Carlisle Road (see HB01/19/059A-B). Immediately after the congregation of Fourth Derry vacated the hall, the building was acquired by the Church of Ireland and converted into a Diocesan Office and Synod Hall for the Diocese of Derry & Raphoe; the Ulster Town Directories record that the Synod Hall housed the Diocese Library from 1880. In 1880 the Annual Revisions lowered the value of the building to £55 (at which it remained until 1929); the valuer noted that the hall was purchased at £600 and that the Church of Ireland expended £800 upon the conversion. In 1901 the Ulster Town Directories recorded that the Diocesan Library was ‘open for reading to persons of all denominations at a cost of five shillings per year;’ whilst the Irish Builder states that Robert Eccles Buchanan, a local architect and civil engineer, installed a new heating system in 1902 (Irish Builder, p. 1330). The First Revaluation (1935) increased the value of the Synod Hall to £150, however this was decreased to £127 under the Second Revaluation (1956-72). In 1970 the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society described the Synod Hall as ‘a two-storey structure, rendered and painted externally, with a pedimented and pilastered façade to Artillery Street [to] the first floor is a large hall’ (UAHS, p. 24). The Synod Hall was listed in 1979; the NIEA HB Records note that general repairs to the building were made in 1989 which included the rerendering of the exterior, the repairing of roof, and the eradication of dry rot to the interior. The former theatre and Presbyterian Meeting House continues to accommodate the Diocesan Offices and in 2004 the building was renovated by Caroline Dickson Architects who modernised the offices by inserting a second floor and installing a modern entrance into the London Street elevation (NIEA HB Records; Calley, pp 20-21). 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/12/E/157/1/15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873) 4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856) 5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897) 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929) 7. VAL/3/B/6/11 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) 8. VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) 9. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Londonderry (1837) 10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1943) 11. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847) 12. Irish Builder (17 July 1902) 13. First Survey Record – HB01/19/065 (1970) 14. First Survey Image – HB01/19/065 (No Date) 15. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/065 Secondary Sources 1. ‘Short History of Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church: 1838-1938’ Londonderry: Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church, 1938. 2. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013. 3. 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. 4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003. Online Resources 1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/ 2. Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church website - http://www.crpci.org.uk/

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation H-. Alterations detracting from building J. Setting

Historic Interest

R. Age S. Authenticity X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Two-storey rendered church hall, built 1838, on the site of Londonderry’s first purpose built theatre which was erected in c.1797; latterly a church building, initially Presbyterian meeting house prior to its current use as Diocesan Offices for the Church of Ireland. Located within the core of the Historic Walled City, the principal facade overlooks the city walls at first floor level. The interior layout has been lost due to modern alterations and although the exterior has not retained all of its original character, style and proportions, sufficient survives to merit recognition as a significant building in its locale.

General Comments

Date of Survey

23 January 2014