Superintendant's House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Gothic Revival single storey with attic gate lodge (former Superintendant’s House) of rough-coursed rubble local Schist with Giffnock sandstone dressings, built 1868 to designs by Robert Collins. Square headed timber sliding sashes windows with 1/1 lights, with horns (unless otherwise noted), ashlar sandstone dressings and horizontal hood moulds over. Deep overhanging eaves to slate roof with exposed rafter tails at eaves and wide plain bargeboards; moulded cast-iron guttering discharging to circular section painted cast-iron downpipes throughout; two rectangular red-brick chimney-stacks with yellow-brick dressings and two octagonal-shaped buff clay pots to pitched slate roof. Located North-East of the Mortuary Chapel (HB01.16.001A), with tarmac perimeter path, at the entrance to the City Cemetery on Lone Moor Road.

Principal elevation to gate lodge faces South-West onto churchyard enclosed by a low stone wall with a small grassed area and a low hedge; entrance doorway, accessed via a short flight of concrete steps with metal handrails to either side, contains a square-headed four-panel replacement timber door with a plain fan light above; ashlar sandstone architrave surround with chamfered edge detail. Secondary doorway immediately to the right of main entrance contains a flush timber door (also replacement) with two-pane fanlight above; to the right is a coupled window. Carved sandstone string course connects hood moulds between door and window openings. Projecting gabled bay at left side contains a tripartite window on ground floor level and a coupled window to attic level above. Rectangular red-brick chimney stack with yellow-brick dressings, centred on ridge.

North-West elevation has a projecting bay to the left side containing a tripartite window on ground floor and coupled window to attic level above. To right of projecting bay, is a further tripartite window to ground floor. Plain timber bargeboards with ashlar sandstone toothed quoins. All windows have dressed sandstone hood moulds.

North-East elevation to the rear has a projecting bay to the left side - fenestration pattern same as that of NW elevation projecting bay; right-side wall of projecting bay is abutted by a high stone and red-brick wall with capping stone and barbed-wire above; former door or gate opening within the latter now blocked up with rubble schist stone. Irregular fenestration pattern to remaining NE elevation, ground floor walling is rendered smooth and painted; it contains two square-headed doorways and a blind window to the right; steel casement windows on first floor level.

South-east elevation faces onto the Lone Moor road; projecting bay to the left side has two pairs of coupled windows on ground and a single pair of windows at attic level above; to the right is a tripartite window. All windows have ashlar sandstone surrounds with hood mould over; plain timber bargeboards to projecting bay; moulded cast-iron gutter discharges to a painted circular downpipe to the right side of elevation.

Materials:
Roof Fibre Cement
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Rough-coursed rubble local Schist / Glasgow Giffnock sandstone ashlar; smooth render (painted) to ground floor SE
Windows Timber sliding sash (grilles to all windows); metal casements to 1st floor, SE elevation.

Setting:
Located on the North-West side of the Lone Moor Road on an elevated site to the South-East of the vast city cemetery and the River Foyle below to the South side; entrance to the cemetery is approached from the Lone Moor Road via a short tarmac avenue with the Mortuary Chapel (HB01.16.001A) to one side and the gate lodge to the opposite side. Entrance to the gate lodge faces South-West onto the church yard.

Simple wrought iron double gates hung on square steel replacement gate posts centred between the church and gate lodge. These are flanked by cast iron railings to each side set back from the pavement in a S-plan curve form over a low Schist wall with sandstone copings, terminating in a pair of sandstone pillars of obelisk form to each side. Hardscaped yard to West enclosed by a series of single storey structures comprised of block-work walling and corrugated metal flat roofs (of little interest).

Historical information

The Mortuary Chapel, a Gothic-Revival chapel possessing a tower with octagonal spire located at the Lone Moor Road entrance to Londonderry’s cemetery, was constructed in 1868. The cemetery was first laid out in 1853. Canning states that prior to this date the majority of burials in the city were carried out at the graveyards attached to St. Columb’s Cathedral, St. Augustine’s Church and Long Tower Chapel. Due to the increasing population of the city in the mid-Victorian period, Londonderry Corporation sought to create a city cemetery to relieve the overcrowded church cemeteries. The city cemetery was established in 1853 on slightly over 13 acres of land owned by David Watt & Co., a local Distillery based on Abbey Street. The cemetery was laid out by George Milne, a landscape gardener who was also responsible for the construction of the city’s reservoir. The second edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853) records that the Lone Moor Road entrance to the cemetery was originally located to the south-west of the current entrance. The map notes that the cemetery was laid out with paths and had been planted with trees and vegetation and that the original entrance was located across from the Brandywell Road. The first burial took place on 10th December 1853 with burials at the church cemeteries ceasing from 1st Jan 1867 (Hume, p. 64; Canning).

The Mortuary Chapel was erected at the Lone Moor Road entrance to the cemetery in 1868 to designs by Robert Collins, a local architect who was appointed consulting engineer for Derry in 1866. Collins was also the engineer to Londonderry’s Port and Harbour Commissioners and the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railways Company, therefore responsible for the development of the city’s infrastructure during the Victorian period. Collins was responsible for the design of Ferryquay Gate (1866) and for the standard design of nos 3-18 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003C-R) in the 1870s. Londonderry Corporation not only commissioned Collins to design the Mortuary Chapel, but also the accompanying one-and-a-half-storey superintendent’s house which was constructed at the same time. The Natural Stone Database records that Collins utilised locally-quarried Derry schist in the masonry of both buildings with Scottish-imported Giffnock sandstone utilised as a secondary material for dressings (DIA; NSD). The chapel and house were constructed by the local building firm of Hutchinson & Colhoun at a cost of £2,000 (Calley).

The Mortuary Chapel and the superintendent’s house were jointly valued at £40 in the Annual Revisions. The accompanying town plan (c. 1873-1910) depicted both buildings along their current layouts suggesting that few structural changes have been made to them since the mid-19th century. In 1901 the Ulster Town Directory recorded that ‘there is a fine cemetery in the neighbourhood of the city, which has been beautifully planted with shrubs, trees and flowers’ and noted that a Mr. William Lindsay, the Superintendent and Registrar of Burials, resided at the dwelling on the Lone Moor Road. In that year the census building return described the superintendent’s house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms and possessed a cow house, fowl house and coal house as its sole out offices. The city cemetery was increased in size to over 40 acres in 1930. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the Mortuary Chapel was increased to £50. This was further raised to £96 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described the Mortuary Chapel as ‘a simple neo-Gothic chapel constructed in whinstone with sandstone trimmings and Bangor blue slate roof and sandstone spire. A handsome little building.’ In 1997 Dean described the superintendent’s lodge in the following terms: ‘one-and-a-half-storey semi-detached on an irregular plan. In grey slate, dressed with sandstone quoins and hood mouldings to a combination of single, bi-and-tripartite window openings. Plain bargeboards, the chimney stacks in red and yellow polychromatic brickwork’ (UAHS Guide, p. 30; Dean, p. 113). The Mortuary Chapel and its associated gates and lodge were listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the chapel underwent a renovation in 1987 that included the restoration of its stonework, the overhaul of its rainwater goods and the replacement of the finial atop its spire (NIEA HB Records).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/18 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
3. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16E – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/10C-10G – Annual Revisions (1866-97)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/3B-3C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/17 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. First Survey Record – HB01/16/001 (1970)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB01/16/001
Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013 (includes 1899 Valuation Map).
2. Canning, B., ‘Derry City Cemetery: 1853-2003 – 150 years’ Londonderry, 2003.
3. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.
5. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
6. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com//buildings.cfm?bk=1953

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Two-storey multi-gabled Gothic Revival gate lodge in local Schist Stone with Giffnock sandstone dressings; built 1868 on the Lone Moor Road as a Superintendant’s House to designs by Robert Collins, architect responsible for developing most of the city’s Victorian infrastructure. The replacement doors on the principal facade detract somewhat from its character, however it remains a very well articulated building with good proportions and robust detailing, consistent with its time and style. Internally, the original plan form survives together with some historic detailing and although converted to offices, the domestic scale remains intact. This gate lodge and the adjacent Mortuary Chapel (HB01.16.001A) form a unique and prominent architectural group flanking the entrance to the city cemetery, elevated on a sloping site behind the pair, within the North side of the city.

General comments

Record split to create an A & B record.