St. Columb's Park House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Large two-storey seven bay late-Georgian stuccoed manor house, built c.1835. U-shaped form, entrance elevation faces east with a two storey rendered extension to the west side. Set within five acres of woodland and surrounding gardens on the east bank of the River Foyle.

Hipped natural slate roof and four large rendered chimney stacks with terracotta clay pots, two centred on ridge of roof and one on north gable and one on the west side. Timber fascia boards and moulded soffit with block modillions; half round cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipes.

Front elevation faces east overlooking gardens and entrance avenue, single storey off-centre projecting portico with arched openings flanked by pilasters of the Tuscan order supporting a deep frieze and projecting cornice, parapet above with a rendered plaque and coat of arms crest centred on parapet wall. Diamond-faced keystone to round-headed entrance archway leading to two timber panelled half leaf entrance doors flanked by plain pilasters with decorative capitals, textured glazing to fanlight above set within a timber screen with integrated sidelights and deep salient cornice above; round-headed multiple-pane window to north side of portico. Moulded sills to ground and first floor windows, string-course above first floor windows and quoin corner stones at each end. Window openings are square headed with moulded surrounds on first floor, ground floor windows have decorative scrolled corbel brackets with acanthus leaf detail on plain architraves supporting entablature and projecting cornice above. There are two blind windows, both to the right of the portico, one on ground floor level and one on first floor directly above. All windows are 1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns.

South elevation overlooking the garden has a two-storey shallow bow with corner quoin stones to the west end and a single storey canted bay window on the opposite end. All windows are of the same style as the front elevation, there are three windows on ground floor, two on the left of canted bay and a single blind window on the right side of the canted bay and four windows on the first floor; canted bay has square-headed modern painted aluminium door openings, shallow bow on the west end has a single large tripartite window on the ground and first floors. Moulded sill course to ground and first floor windows and string-course above first floor windows; Timber carved corbel brackets at eaves and metal scroll finial at each corner of shallow bow.

West elevation to the rear is abutted by a single storey hipped slate roof and rendered extension to the north end, the fenestration pattern is irregular in contrast with the elevation of the main house; all windows have plain, unadorned square-headed openings and 1/1 timber sliding sashes with horns, there are three large windows on the ground floor and four smaller windows on the first floor above. Corner quoin stones to the south side only with paired timber corbel brackets above, metal scroll finial at each corner. Two-stage smooth-rendered chimney stack with stepped cornice and terracotta clay pots centred on the ridge on the north side of the elevation. Rear extension has single timber sheeted door on south elevation and three timber sliding sash windows and a single door opening on the west elevation.

North elevation has an attached single storey timber clad courtyard infill modern extension with external seated area, to the right is the north elevation of the west side extension and is of smooth-rendered painted finish, to the left is a two-storey flat roof extension of smooth-rendered finish containing an external staircase servicing first floor dormitory accommodation. A single storey pitched roof extension abuts the north elevation of the main house at the east end.

Setting:
Located within wood-pasture parkland of sixty acres visible from the river and city side, the mid-19th century manor house sits within its own park grounds surrounded by a trapezoid-shaped walled garden to the north. Within the woodland and park grounds to the east of the house are the remains of St. Brecan's Chapel (LDY014:002), reputedly the oldest building in the district dating from c1585. The site is on the Register of Parks, Gardens & Demesnes of Special Historic Interest and the N.I. Heritage Gardens Inventory.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWGs Cast Iron
Walling Painted Render
Windows Timber sliding sash

Historical information

According to the Ordnance Survey Memoir of Clondermot parish (1835), the house, described as ‘handsome’, had been given its present name by its late proprietor John Rea Esq after the ruined church in its grounds; previously it had been known as Chatham. Rea had a naval background and it is believed that the house was named after the Royal Navy’s dockyard at Chatham in Kent. The property passed to the Hill family as a result of the marriage in 1831 of George Hill, and Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of John Rea. In 1839 Hill succeeded his uncle to the Brookhall baronetcy; he died in 1845.

In the First Valuation of c. 1835 the buildings had a valuation of £43. Griffith’s Valuation (1858) shows the property (property nos 18A-B in Clooney townland) in the possession of John Meehan, leasing from Lady Hill, with the buildings – house, offices and gate house – valued at £65.

The Valuation Revision Books show that Sir John Hill Bt had replaced Meehan as occupier of the house by 1868 and that extensive improvements were being carried out around that time (‘Ho. & Offs impd’, 1868/9). As a consequence of these, the valuation of the buildings was increased from £65 to £90. Sir John Hill died on 30 July 1872 and in 1873 Barnwell P. White MD became the occupier of the house.

At this time the property was renumbered 18C-D, with the house and offices valued at £80 and the gate house at £5. White was a prominent figure in Derry’s medical history. He was medical officer to Londonderry Fever Hospital and Workhouse, and visiting physician to Londonderry Lunatic Asylum. He died at St Columb’s on 4 December 1885.

By 1895 Joseph Cooke, a wealthy timber merchant, had come into possession of St Columb’s. The Valuation Revision Books show him leasing the property from Lady Edith Sophia Hill. He died on 19 June 1896, but his family continued to live there into the twentieth century. Various tenants occupied the building from the mid 1930s until just after the outbreak of war when the house accommodated British and then American troops.

In 1945 St Columb’s was bought by Londonderry Corporation and opened as a public park. The house was subsequently used as a nurses’ home until 1985. It was renovated in 1994 as a cross-community resource and residential centre run by St Columb’s Reconciliation Trust. In 2011-12 the house underwent a major programme of refurbishment and extension, including the renovation of dormitory accommodation, office and conference space to designs by Donnelly O'Neill Architects Ltd.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI First Valuation fieldbook – VAL/1/B/549A-D
2. PRONI Valuation Revision Books, 1860-1929 – VAL/12/B/32/14A-K
3. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1830 – OS/6/5/15/1
4. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1853 – OS/6/5/15/2
5. PRONI Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, 1905 – OS/6/5/15/3
6. NIEA First Survey record – HB/01/09/001
7. NIEA HB Records – HB/01/09/001

Secondary Sources
1. Philip Dixon Hardy, The northern tourist, or Stranger’s guide to the North and North West of Ireland (1830)
2. Barney Devine, ‘St Columb’s Park House’, Review no. 6 (Foyle Civic Trust, 1995), pp 17-8
3. Angélique Day & Patrick McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, vol. 34 (Belfast, 1996)
4. R.S.J. Clarke, A Directory of Ulster Doctors (who qualified before 1901), 2 vols (Belfast, 2013)

Online sources
St Columb’s Park House website: www.stcolumbsparkhouse.org

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

T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
S. Authenticity
R. Age

Evaluation

St. Columb's Park House is a 19th century late-Georgian manor house situated in five acres of parkland on the east bank of the River Foyle. The grounds contain the remains of St. Brecan's Chapel (LDY014:002), reputedly the oldest building in the district dating from c.1585. Built c.1835, the well-proportioned two-storey stuccoed house was a private dwelling until just after the outbreak of World War II when the house was occupied by British and then American troops. Substantial alterations took place in 2012 to designs by Donnelly O’Neill Architects, which include an infill extension on the north side and an external staircase servicing dormitories on the first floor. Although altered, sufficient character remains, along with its fine setting, to regard it as of special interest.

General comments

The front elevation faces south-east, for ease of description this is referred to as east and the naming of all other façades follows this convention.