GLENKEEN HOUSE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay rendered Georgian country house, built c.1798, with central full-height bow to front and rear. Two-storey to south, three-storey to north with lower ground floor fully exposed. Rectangular on plan facing south and located on an extensive landscaped site on the north side of Ardmore Road accessed via a long winding avenue. Extensive range of two-storey outbuildings attached to the west side elevation and walled garden to the southwest.

Pitched natural slate roof with a shallow conical section to the centre (front and rear), black clay ridge tiles, four rendered chimney stacks with clay pots and cast-iron guttering on iron drive-through brackets with cast-iron downpipes. Ruled-and-lined cement rendered walling with projecting rendered plinth course. Square-headed window openings with painted stone sills and some historic glass. Largely original timber sash windows throughout without horns, 6/3 to the first floor, 6/6 to the ground floor and 3/6 to the basement.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey front elevation, facing south, is four windows wide with a central entrance and portico to the bow. Square-headed door opening having a flat-panelled timber door flanked by painted masonry Doric pilasters and responding Doric columns on plinth bases supporting full entablature to the lead-lined canopy. Door opens onto a nosed stone step and cobblelock front area.

Gabled west side elevation is abutted by a linear range of two-storey rendered former outbuildings set behind a rendered screen wall to the south. Randomly placed window openings to the west elevation comprise a single 6/3 to the first floor, a diminutive four-pane timber casement window below (at half-landing level) and a 3/3 timber sliding sash window at basement level.

Symmetrical three-bay rear elevation facing north, is four windows wide with a central full-height shallow bow. The exposed lower ground floor level presents a three-storey elevation with a large paved terrace.

Gabled east side elevation has a single 6/3 timber sash window to the first floor, two 6/6 windows to the ground floor and a single 3/3 window to the basement level and a door opening to the left with a pair of replacement timber French doors.

A rendered screen wall abutting the west side elevation conceals a two-storey range of former outbuildings with a single pitched natural slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods, cement rendered walling and square-headed door and window openings with multi-pane cast-iron windows and replacement sheeted timber doors. Abutting this range is a taller two-storey rubblestone outbuilding with hipped natural slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods and square-headed door and window openings with replacement timber casement windows and sheeted timber doors.

Setting
Located on the north side of Ardmore Road accessed via a long winding gravel avenue and set within extensive manicured grounds. The site is bounded to the north by the River Faughan. To the immediate west of the house is an attached range of two-storey former outbuildings and to the rear of this range is a walled garden with rubblestone walls and stone coping.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Ruled-and-lined cement render to main house. Stone, brick and render to out-buildings.
Windows Timber sliding sash

Historical information

Glenkeen House was built c. 1798, however it does not appear on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of the 1830s, nor is it mentioned in the contemporaneous Ordnance Survey memoirs or First Valuation fieldbook. It is marked and named on the 1856 Valuation map and in the house book it is noted as being in the possession of William McClelland. The dimensions of the house were given as follows:

Building Code Length Breadth Height
House 1A+ 53 25 22
Return 1A+ 36 15 12

There was also a basement to the house which was 7 ft in height. Griffith’s Valuation of 1858 shows that the property was in the possession of William McClelland [sic] who leased it from Henry Stacy Skipton and Alexander Skipton. The buildings were given a valuation of £23.

The Valuation Revision Books show that the house had passed to Latham Blacker by 1861 and to Major Thomas Carlton by 1874. The house was declared vacant in 1881, but some time after this (no date given) it was occupied by Patrick Maxwell. In 1902 Michael C. Feeny was the occupier and by 1919 it was Hugh Laird. Throughout this period the valuation of £23 on the buildings remained constant, suggesting that no major changes were made.

Hugh Laird of Glenkeen House, the director of a bleach works, died on 12 November 1951. In 1980 there were proposals to convert the house into flats, though this was not proceeded with. In 1985 repairs were carried out to the roof, chimneys and rainwater goods. A programme of restoration was undertaken in 1993 with the roof of the wing re-slated and a complete re-rendering of the structure; repairs were also carried out to the windows.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI First Valuation fieldbook, c. 1835 – VAL/1/B/549A-D
2. PRONI Primary Valuation house book, 1856 – VAL/2/B/5/50
3. PRONI Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1930 – VAL/12/B/32/1A-G
4. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1830 – OS/6/5/22/1
5. PRONI Valuation 6-inch map, 1856 – VAL/2/A/5/22C
6. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1904-32 – OS/6/5/22/3
7. PRONI Will calendars, 1858-1965
8. NIEA First Survey record – HB/01/06/013
9. NIEA HB Records – HB/01/06/013

Secondary sources
1. Dan Calley, City of Derry: An Historical Gazetteer to the Buildings of Londonderry (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A Georgian country house, built c.1798, located on an extensive landscaped site on the north side of Ardmore Road bounded to the north by the River Faughan and accessed via a long winding avenue. It is one of the earliest country houses in the area. Both front and rear elevations are well-proportioned with a central full-height shallow bow, the main entrance located in the bow on the south elevation. An attached range of two-storey former outbuildings to the immediate west of the house has been incorporated into the dwelling. On a split level site, the south elevation presents as two-storey and the north as three-storey with the lower ground floor fully visible. Whilst there has been some minor loss to the original plan form as a consequence of recent renovations, the house and setting are a fine example of a prominent residence greatly enhanced by its setting. The differing scale and informality of the disparate outbuildings, including the manner in which the block immediately contiguous to the house is set lower so as not to be visible from the front, is particularly attractive, and an interesting and provocative contrast with the formality and symmetry of the house. Excellent setting.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity, T-Historic Importance
The front elevation faces south-west, for ease of description this is referred to as south and the naming of all other façades follows this convention.