Building Number 62

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Single storey brick building built into northern boundary wall of fort and aligning east west. Main south elevation has an off centre door. This is sheeted with a board over the shallow segmental fanlight. 4 over 4 painted timber sashes to each side. Horizontal proportion to the panes and timber roll moulding cill are unusual in the context of Northern Ireland.. Soft gauged brick ‘rubbers’ form the segmental arch over the doors and windows. Dentil course at eaves formed by cantilevered bricks. Two tall narrow windows to the west end of the façade two over two sashes in one, one over one to same opening size in other. Painted deep granite cill. Unusual granite projections to either side of door probably once supporting a canopy. Square granite bases for the former steel columns in the footpath confirm this. Each gable has a granite parapet with projecting kneeler stone at eaves level. .

West gable with two flush doors surmounted by blocked single pane fanlights in segmental openings. Narrow 2 over 2 sash as front adjacent to boundary wall.

North elevation is blank. This is the fort wall in rubble whinstone (a local form of schist). A short section of brick is built on top of the wall and overhanging eaves as elsewhere on the building.

East Gable – Single size over size sash on deep granite cill. Small structure between gable and wall removed some time in past. The fort wall finishes 3m beyond this structure. It is toped in cement and barbed wire at this point.

Granite kerb detail around building with dished drain of note.

Historical information

Building first indicated on the 1904 Ordnance Survey Map with a dashed projection along ¾ of the south façade suggesting a colonnade as surmised in the external description. Projection also indicated on the 1955 and 1977 maps. The building may have originally been designed as a guardhouse. The boundary wall behind stops at this point and the site expands beyond to St Columb’s drive. This wall may be a fragment of the original north east bastion of the fort from its angle and from inspection of earlier maps. (This is not obvious on site because of its connection to a later wall to the west). The building sits to one side of the main spine road to the rear of the original fort. This would explain the colonnade (to shelter those reporting in) and the slightly higher level of finish.

References-
Primary sources

Ordnance Survey Maps 1831, 1854, 1873, 1904, 1933, 1955
O’Hagan’s Map of Londonderry 1847
Derry Journal 6th April 1841 ‘Notice to Builders’

Secondary sources
History of Ebrington Barracks (Anonymous, circa 1970’s) EHS files
Current site officer.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

A small single storey former guard house and toilet block built into the boundary wall of the original fort but forming part of the post 1891 extension of Ebrington barracks. Of architectural interest for its attention to detail, for the unusual (in a Northern Ireland context) sash windows with timber cills and horizontal proportion panes, and for its contribution to the general architectural and historical character of the base. Removal of the colonnade has reduced its historic interest and its architectural appearance however and it is not considered to meet the legislative test of special architectural or historic interest.