6 Alexander Memorial Cottages

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Victorian end-of-terrace two-bay single-storey Arts and Crafts-style red brick house with rough-cast rendered single-storey rear return enclosed by a high brick wall with timber fence above to the North West side. Built 1898 to designs of R.E, Buchannan. Rectangular on plan with principal elevation facing South East onto Foyle Park (formerly 'New Street') paired entrances with half-timbered gable having rough-cast rendered finish. Built as part of a terrace row of six houses of similar type and style.

Pitched roof has straight and scalloped red clay tiles (banded) with terracotta clay ridge tiles to main roof and rear return, red brick chimney stack centred on ridge with two circular terracotta clay pots rising from South West gable-end elevation. Alternating tall and short ridge tiles to porch in crenellated rhythm.

South East elevation is of Flemish brick bond on a rendered stepped plinth; windows are square-headed with paired 4/4 timber sliding sashes to the left of the doorway and a single 2/2 timber sliding sash window to the South West elevation of entrance porch, both windows have painted masonry sills; entrance porch has sprocketted eaves to gable (which is shared with No.5 HB01/17/003 E), with half-timber treatment above door infilled with rough-cast (unfinished) render, painted timber fascia board finish and carved timber corbel brackets to timber soffit. Square-headed opening to entrance doorway, two steps up with galvanised metal handrail to either side of step, plain architrave surround to a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door.

South West gable-end elevation is of red brick finish with half-timber treatment to apex with rough-cast render finish and plain wide painted timber fascia board finish and carved stone corbel brackets to timber soffit.

North West elevation to the rear is of rough-cast rendered finish, single timber casement window to rear elevation. Rear yard is enclosed by a high rough-cast rendered wall with a pointed capping stone.

Rear return has a projecting bay to the South West elevation containing a flat roof and two square-headed uPVC casement windows. Rear entrance door to South West wall not visible. North West elevation is of rough-cast render finish, blank with no openings, wide timber fascia board finish with straight and scalloped red clay tiles and terracotta ridge tiles to rear return roof.

North East side is abutted by adjoining property No. 5 New Street (HB01/17/003E).

Cast-iron rainwater goods to South East (F) and North West elevation; half-round uPVC guttering and downpipe to rear return (SW) elevation.

Materials:
Roof Straight and Scalloped Red Clay Ridge Tiles
RWG Cast Iron (Main house) uPVC (Rear Return)
Walling Brick / Rough-cast render
Windows Timber sliding sashes (Main house) uPVC (Rear Return)

Setting:
Located within Foyle Park (formerly 'New Street') an offshoot to the South East side of Bishop's Street Without, with the Nazareth House Convent Chapel (HB01/17/006) directly to the NE. Principal elevation faces South East onto remaining two-storey houses within Foyle Park. Set just outside the Historic Walled Conservation Area.

Historical information

Nos 1-6 Alexander Memorial Cottages, a terrace of six single-storey red-brick Arts-and-Crafts style cottages located off Bishop Street (Without), were constructed in 1898. The cottages, which are now located within the modern housing estate of Foyle Park, were originally built on ‘New Street,’ an offshoot of Carrigan’s Lane a street which dated from pre-1830 and led from Bishop Street to the Foyle Road (Calley, p. 52).

The cottages were built as a memorial to Cecil Francis Alexander, an Irish poet and Hymn writer who is best known for writing some of the best known and loved hymns of the Victorian period. Alexander (nee Humphreys) was born in Eccles Street in Dublin in 1818 but moved to Strabane at the age of fifteen where she began to write poetry. In 1848 she published Hymns for Little Children which included the popular hymns, Once in Royal David’s City, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and There is a Green Hill Far Away. Cecil Francis was dedicated to charitable work and cared especially for the deaf, helping to establish the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. Cecil Francis married the Rev. William Alexander in 1850 and moved to Londonderry in 1867 after her husband was made Bishop of Derry and Raphoe; the family lived at the Bishop’s Palace (HB01/19/006) until the 1890s. Cecil Francis Alexander died on 12th October 1895 and was buried at the City Cemetery (Dictionary of Ulster Biography).

Calley states that Alexander was a great supporter of the home for orphans and the elderly at Nazareth House (HB01/17/002) and that the Alexander Memorial Cottages were constructed to commemorate her philanthropic work. The Building News records that the Alexander Memorial Cottages were constructed in 1898 to designs by Robert Eccles Buchanan (c. 1864-1947), a local architect and civil engineer. Buchanan was best known as a domestic architect and was also responsible for the design of the contemporary turn-of-the-century terrace at Clarence Avenue (HB01/22/006A-K), but he also carried out a number of ecclesiastical and commercial contracts in the city (Building News, p. 413; DIA). Nos 1-6 Alexander Memorial Cottages were depicted on the Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910) which depicted the terrace along its current layout (apart from the single storey rear returns which were added in 2008).

The Alexander Memorial Cottages were initially utilised as charitable dwellings for retired pensioners and as a result were exempt from taxation. The valuer noted that each cottage was worth £7 and had been leased to occupants by the Trustees of Alexander Memorial Cottages. The 1911 Census of Ireland described each cottage as a 3rd class dwelling that consisted of two rooms and one window (to front) and possessed a coal house as its sole outbuilding. The occupants of nos 1-6 Alexander Memorial Cottages were not recorded until the 1930s when the houses were leased out to regular tenants. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) No. 6 Alexander Memorial Cottages was occupied by a Ms. Mary Graham and had been increased in value to £8. Graham continued to reside at the cottage until 1965 when a Mr. Robert Anderson took possession. The value of the cottage was increased to £10 under the Second Revaluation (1956-72) which recorded that ownership of the terrace passed to the Northern Ireland Housing Trust in 1970.

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described the Alexander Memorial Cottages as ‘a terrace of six one-storey cottages in red brick, with red tile roofs, and entrances in pairs with gables. All the gables are treated in timber and plaster style’ (UAHS). The terrace was listed in 1979 and has remained administered by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. The NIEA HB Records note that the windows of each cottage were replaced in 2001. The cottages underwent a £217,000 renovation in 2008 which aimed at modernising the buildings. The renovation included the construction of the single-storey returns to the rear of each cottage (to increase the size of their kitchens), the upgrading of their bathrooms, the installation of modern gas central heating and the carrying out of general repairs and maintenance throughout (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/3A-3C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
3. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/17 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
5. Building News (16 Sept 1898)
6. Ulster Town Directories (1890-1943)
7. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
8. First Survey Record – HB01/17/003 (1970)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/17/003

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. 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.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Dictionary of Ulster Biography website - http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/

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

T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

Late-Victorian mid-terrace two-bay single-storey Arts and Crafts-style red brick house, built 1898 to designs of R.E, Buchanan as a memorial to renowned poet and philanthropist Cecil Francis Alexander. Rectilinear on plan, with principal elevation facing on to Foyle Park, a modern housing estate off Bishop Street Without, west of Nazareth House (HB01.17.002). Built as part of a terrace of six similar houses, it has group value with its neighbours (HB01.17.003B-F inclusive) and whilst each one is of modest appearance, the continuous heavy eaves and repetition of shared gabled entrance porches creates a rhythm and coherence that lifts their quality as a collective row. Largely characterised by its red clay roof with scalloped banding, sprocketted eaves and diagonal half-timbered panelling, it bears a resemblance to Portsunlight. Despite the uPVC windows to the small flat-roofed extension at the rear return, the exterior is well executed with simple proportion and robust detailing making it a very good example of Domestic Revival architecture.