Larchmount

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey over basement with attic rendered house, built c.1810, with full-height shallow bow to three-storey rear elevation. Located on a mature sloping site and set back on the north-east side of Ardmore Road.

Pitched natural slate roof with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles and four symmetrically-placed rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots. Replacement steel guttering on iron drive-through brackets to rendered eaves course and steel downpipes. Painted rough-cast render over rubble schist walling. Square-headed window openings with painted masonry sills and largely original timber sliding sash windows; 6/3 to first floor, 6/6 to ground floor and 3/3 to basement without horns and much historic glass unless otherwise noted.

Three-bay two-storey front (south-west) elevation with elliptical-arched central door opening. Continuous platband at first floor sill level. Replacement timber doorcase with four panelled timber door flanked by pilasters and arched sidelights over panels, stepped lintel cornice and webbed timber fanlight. Door opens onto flagstone platform with iron bootscraper to front gravel area.

Gabled north-west side elevation has various openings positioned to the far left and far right with a central nine-pane timber window to attic level. Openings to far left comprise a door to basement level surmounted by a blind door opening to ground floor and a 4/8 timber casement window to first floor. Openings to far right comprise a 3/6 timber casement window to basement and ground floor level surmounted by a six pane timber window to half landing level and a 6/3 timber sliding sash window to first floor level.

Symmetrical rear (north-east) elevation is four windows wide with full-height central bow having two windows to each level. Basement extension to south-east, set below conservatory with square-headed door opening having replacement timber panelled and glazed door.

Gabled south-east side elevation is symmetrical and has a modern timber-framed conservatory to the ground floor with a single central 6/3 timber sliding sash window to first floor surmounted by a window opening to attic level comprising two diminutive four-pane timber casement sashes over vertically timber sheeted boarding.

Setting:
Located on a mature landscaped site, set back on the north-east side of Ardmore Road at a lower level than the road and accessed via gravel driveway with a renovated gate lodge to the left of the entrance. Driveway opens onto the road via pair of replacement iron gates and a pedestrian iron gate hung on panelled sandstone ashlar piers with pyramidal capstones. A gravel forecourt is retained by a substantial stone wall to the north-west.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Replacement steel
Walling Painted rough-cast render over schist
Windows Timber

Historical information

Larchmount appears to have been built in the early nineteenth century. In 1814, Sampson (p. 264) noted that a short distance from Ardmore ‘Mr McClelland has built a commodious dwelling.’ Larchmount is marked on Robert Porter’s map of the ‘Beech-Hill Estate’ of 1823 and also on the 1830 Ordnance Survey map, but not named. In the First Valuation fieldbook of c. 1835 the occupier of the house was named as Carey McClelland; the buildings on the property were valued at £22 14s.

In the Ordnance Survey Memoir of Clondermot parish of 1835 Larchmount was noted as the seat of Cary McClellan [sic] Esq. It was noted that the house adjoined Ardmore without even a fence separating them, while Ardmore bleach green extended over the lawn. The house was described as small with a veranda, while the garden was good, but unwalled.

The First Valuation fieldbook of c. 1835 recorded a valuation of £22 14s for the buildings on this property. The Primary Valuation ‘house book’ of 1856 provides the following dimensions for the main block of the house: 56 feet in length, 28½ in breadth and 22 feet in height. There was also a ‘porch’ that measured 56 feet in length, 6 feet in breadth and 10 feet in height. This would appear to have been the verandah that ran the full length of the front of the house.

At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1858) Larchmount was in the possession of John McClelland and the buildings were valued at £28. The Valuation Revision Books record that the possession of the property had passed to John Acheson Smyth by 1871, to Ross T. Smyth by 1879, and to Hugh Lyle by 1894. There was a quick succession of different occupiers in the early twentieth century, but by the mid 1920s the property was in the possession of Reginald Roberts.

In the mid 1930s the house was in the possession of William Ashe King. By 1945 William Laird was in occupation. In the Valuers and Revaluation records from the 1950s the building is described as a ‘Large old country house’. The ‘attics and basement disused and not valued’; subsequently the attics and basement were used as playrooms and a store. An accompanying plan of the house shows the same dimensions as recorded in 1856.

References

Primary sources
1. Map of the ‘Beech-Hill Estate’ by Robert Porter, 1823 – D4446/A/4/19
2. PRONI, First Valuation fieldbook, c. 1835, VAL/1/B/549A-D
3. PRONI, Primary Valuation house book, 1856 – VAL/2/B/5/50
4. PRONI, Griffith’s Valuation, 1858
5. PRONI, Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930, VAL/12/B/32/1A-G
6. PRONI, Annual Revisions List of the First General Revaluation, 1936-57, VAL/3/C/6/8
7. PRONI, Valuers and Revaluation Binders, 1956-75 – VAL/4/C/6/3/15/1
8. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1830, OS/6/5/22/1
9. PRONI, Valuation map, 1856 – VAL/2/A/5/22C
10. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1905, OS/6/5/22/3
11. PRONI, Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1925, OS/6/5/22/4
12. Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 34 (Belfast, 1996)

Secondary sources
1. George Vaughan Sampson, A Memoir: Explanatory of the Chart and Survey of the County of London-Derry (London, 1814)
2. Daniel Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013)

Online sources
1. 1901 and 1911 census returns: www.census.nationalarchives.ie
2. PRONI, Will Calendars: www.proni.gov.uk

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey over basement with attic rendered house, built c.1810, with full-height shallow bow to three-storey rear elevation. A substantial Georgian country house which retains much of its character both internally and externally. It is a fine example of an early nineteenth-century residence exhibiting restrained external detailing and elegant proportions. Its interest is enhanced by its mature landscaped setting and fine pedestrian gate and gate screen.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity, T-Historic Importance