24 BOND'S HILL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An end-terraced three-bay three-storey former dwelling now reconstructed as apartments c.1995.

Rectangular plan form facing west with return to rear. Painted cement render to front and rear elevations. Two windows to GF with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows set in square headed openings with concrete sills and rendered architrave surrounds. Main entrance to RHS (S) with 4 panelled painted timber door and round topped plain fanlight above. This door accesses the flats to all floors of No. 24 as well as No. 23 Bond's Hill (HB01/09/006Q).

Three windows to first and second floors similar to GF windows.

Slightly projecting rendered eaves with half-round cast aluminium guttering on drive through brackets discharging to cast aluminium downpipes. Replacement natural slate roof with small cement rendered chimney stack with clay pots which rises centrally from the ridge to the RHS (S).

No access was available to the rear of the building.

Setting:
Part of a terrace of sixteen houses of similar type however varying styles which line the east side of Bond’s Hill stepping up the hill (HB01/09/006 B-R), located in the Waterside area of Derry on the east bank of the River Foyle.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
Walls Render
Windows Timber sliding sash
RWGs Cast aluminium

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 21-24 Bond’s Hill, a terrace of four three-storey three-bay houses, were built in c. 1865. The Annual Revisions note that in 1864 the current site of the buildings was utilised as a building yard for the Londonderry Gas Works (located on the opposite side of the road). The terrace was first recorded in the valuation entry for 1865.

No. 24 Bond’s Hill was built on land leased by Edward Lynch, a local grocer and publican with business premises on the Strand Road, and was initially valued at £16. The first recorded occupant of the building was a Mr. John [Macnie] but in 1885 the house passed to John Wiley who remained at the site until c.1901. The census of Ireland records that No. 24 Bond’s Hill was occupied by Charles S. Caldwell, a local solicitor in 1901. In that year the census building return described his house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of ten rooms and possessed a shed as its sole outbuilding. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05) records that the original building possessed a rear return. By 1911 No. 24 Bond’s Hill was occupied by a Mrs. Elizabeth Wright who continued to reside at the site until c.1930. Ownership of the house passed to John B. McCrea under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) at which time the value of the building was increased to £24. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) No. 24 Bond’s Hill was occupied by a Mr. William Keyes and was valued at £30.

Nos 9-24 Bond’s Hill were listed in 1979.

The NIEA HB Records note that nos 22-24 Bond’s Hill were demolished following a structural engineer's report which proposed demolition due to the dereliction and poor condition of the houses. In Sept 1995 HBC agreed with proposal to demolish and rebuild. Planning approval was obtained for the demolition of the 3 houses and construction of 9 no.flats in Oct 1995. In Nov 1995 Listed Building Consent for demolition was obtained. Field inspection of the site, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that No. 24 Bond’s Hill continues to be utilised as 3 no. apartments.

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/12/B/32/14A-14G – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/4C-4D – Annual Revisions (1898-1930)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/13 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57))
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/18 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Londonderry Standard (5 Jul 1849)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
10. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
11. First Survey Record – HB01/09/006B (No Date)
12. NIEA HB Records – HB01/09/006R

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

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

No. 24 Bond’s Hill is an end-terraced three-storey, three-bay rendered house which was reconstructed as self-contained apartments in c. 1995. It is one of a group of three houses at the end of a terrace of sixteen buildings (HB01/09/006 B-R) lining the east side of Bond’s Hill which is located in the Waterside area of Derry on the east bank of the River Foyle. The original dwelling was demolished and a reconstruction carried out. As a result there remains no historic fabric of the original building. Despite the current building retaining the scale and proportions of the former building the current building is a modern reconstruction.