17 BOND'S HILL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-terrace three-bay three-storey, painted ruled and lined rendered, early-Victorian house, built c.1840s (Architect unknown). Rectangular plan form facing west. Painted smooth render to front and rear elevations. Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles which line the east side of Bond’s Hill stepping up the hill. (HB01/09/006 B-R).

Pitched natural slate roof with brick built chimney stacks to both sides, chimney stack to left (north) on party wall with No.18 (HB01/09/006L) has buff clay pots. Chimney stack to right (south) is the chimney of No.16 (HB01/09/006J) which extends above the roof of No.17. Slightly projecting rendered eaves with half-round cast iron guttering on drive through brackets discharging to cast iron downpipe to left of front elevation. Window openings are plain square-headed 6/6 (3/6 to second floor) timber sliding sash on painted stone sills unless otherwise noted.

Front (west) elevation is smooth rendered with painted finish. Four- panelled principal entrance door right of centre having paired opening half leaves, set within a door case with plain sides with corbelled brackets supporting a decorative projecting entablature below a plain glazed overlight in a ‘basket handle’ arched opening. Door flanked to left by two windows and to right by a single square-headed flush timber door which accesses the entry to the rear yard. The first and second floors each have three equally spaced windows vertically aligned over ground floor windows and off centred to right of principal entrance door (those to second floor are diminutive in height).

The north side is abutted by No.18 Bond’s Hill (HB01/09/006L).

Rear (east) elevation is painted render finish with irregularly placed timber casement windows (not fully viewed at time of survey - viewed from neighbouring property). Natural Slate roof and cast iron RWGs on drive through brackets.

The south side is abutted by No.16 adjacent (HB01/09/006J).

Setting:
Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles which line the east side of Bond’s Hill stepping up the hill. (HB01/09/006 B-R).
A roofless two-storey stone outbuilding encloses a yard to rear.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs: Half round Cast Iron
Walling: Ruled & Lined Painted Render
Windows: Timber Sliding Sash / timber casements to rear
Doors : 4 Panel painted (paired) timber front door with door case

Historical information

Bond’s Hill was laid out in c.1839 in order to provide access to Ebrington Barracks (which had been constructed between 1839 and 1841) and was one of the first streets to be developed on the Waterside District of Londonderry during the 19th century. The current site of Bond’s Hill remained undeveloped in the 1830s with no buildings depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map. Hume states that prior to 1841 the Waterside consisted of a single street and possessed 105 houses. The area was slow to develop due to the steepness of its hills and as a result of expensive tolls that were imposed on carts and pedestrians crossing the city’s wooden bridge. Hume states that the construction of the barracks and the setting up of industrial establishments initiated the rapid development of the Waterside and drew people into the city from the rural hinterland east of the Foyle. In 1849 the Londonderry Standard described the change in the area in the following terms: ‘The Waterside, which from being some 20 years since, little more than a small street, has now become a place of considerable importance having a distillery, two large mills for the manufacture of oatmeal and a third about to be erected’ (Hume, pp 32-34).

Calley states that Bond’s Hill was named after the owners of Clooney House, a late-18th century house which stood at the top of the hill (now demolished and replaced with terraced housing). The street was first depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848-49 which records that a number of houses (including a church on the current site of the Former Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter’s) Church – see HB01/09/010) had already been constructed along the route by that time. Nos 9-24 Bond’s Hill, a terrace of two and three-storey Victorian houses also known as Melrose Terrace, was constructed in stages between c. 1840 and 1891. Nos 9-17 Bond’s Hill were the first buildings to have been built on the street and can be seen on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848-49 (Calley, p. 59).

No. 17 Bond’s Hill, a three-storey three-bay Georgian-style house, was constructed between c.1839 and 1848-49. Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that the building was originally valued at £15 and was leased to tenants by a Mr. Doherty (the first recorded occupant of the house was a Mr. Henry Porter who resided there in the 1850s). Ownership passed to a Mr. Henry Donaghy in c.1860 after which time the occupants of the house changed frequently. By 1911 the house had been occupied by William Smith, a local commission agent who resided at the site with his wife and three children. In that year the census building return described No. 17 Bond’s Hill as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a shed as its sole outbuilding. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05) depicted the house along its current layout (including the two-storey rear return). William Smith continued to reside at No. 17 Bond’s Hill until his death in 1923 (PRONI Wills). Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) a Mr. John Thomspon was recorded as owner of the house, which had been increased in value to £24. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) the house was owned by a Mr. S. Butler and had been further raised in value to £28. Nos 9-24 Bond’s Hill were listed in 1979.

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 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16H – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/14A-14G – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/4C-4D – Annual Revisions (1898-1930)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57))
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/18 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Londonderry Standard (5 Jul 1849)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
11. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (2 Sept 1923)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/09/006B (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/09/006K

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
3. Thomas, A., ‘Irish Historic Town Atlas, No. 15: Derry – Londonderry’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2005 - includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05).

Online Resources
1. Digital Atlas of Derry - http://www.ria.ie/digitalatlasderry - including Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1848-49)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A mid-terrace three-bay three-storey, painted ruled and lined rendered, early-Victorian house, built c.1840s and situated on the east side of Bond’s Hill. Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings of varying styles, it has group value with Nos 9-16 & 18-21 Bond’s Hill (HB01/09/006B-J & L-O). Bond’s Hill was laid out in c.1839 to provide access to Ebrington Barracks (HB01/09/002A-II) which was constructed between 1839 and 1841. The terrace properties were constructed along the east side of the street over a fifty year period resulting in a terrace which displays the progression of design and detailing through the Victorian period. Despite having replacement casement windows to the rear, a large amount good external historic detailing remains. It is a good example of a well proportioned finely detailed early-Victorian house. It is also integral to the group value and interest of the terrace that, as a whole, is a good example of the type.