NORTHERN COUNTIES CLUB

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Arts and Crafts-style, five-bay, three-storey with dormers. Former Gentleman’s recreational club, constructed in 1886 and remodelled in 1902. Ground floor openings are deeply recessed and rusticated in render with frieze and cornice over and scrolled pediments over end openings. Upper floors in render with projecting bays to first floor. Natural slate mansard roof with dormers.

The principal elevation faces West onto Bishop Street Within. The first and second floors are divided into five-bays, with round and flat pilasters with pedestals and Corinthian capitals. Pilasters are fluted on second floor level. First floor windows are shallow bays and the end bays are carried through the second floor. The second floor is finished with a deep entablature and dentilled cornice. The end bays have half-columns supporting conical slated roofs. The dormer windows are finished with profound pediments.
Depressed arch entrance opening to South end with square-headed door with plain lights above flanked by bracketed plain pilasters. Square-headed timber sliding sash windows to ground floor level with casement windows to upper floors.

Side elevations abut adjoining properties, No.22 and No.26 Bishop Street. North elevation of painted render with blind window to dormer level; south elevation has smooth-render parapet projecting above roofline.

Red brick to East elevation with three-storey smooth-rendered extension to centre of facade and two-storey smooth-rendered extension to South end facing onto a small rear courtyard with access to London Street and a deep bay stained glass window with triple lead lights of cathedral glass to first floor landing and 8/8 sliding sash window above.

Two large rendered chimney-stacks to North and South elevations and small rendered chimney-stack off-centre behind ridge line.

Setting:
Set on the east side of Bishop Street Within, equidistant from southmost City Wall and The Diamond, flanked by buildings to both sides and to rear jostling with adjacent building returns.

Materials:
Roof : Natural Slate – Terracotta ridge tiles
RWG : Cast Iron
Walling : Render
Windows : Casements & Timber Sliding Sash

Historical information

No. 24 Bishop Street, a three-storey five-bay building also known as the Northern Counties Club, was constructed by 1886. In that year the Annual Revisions noted that two former buildings were demolished (or converted) to make way for the new edifice. The Foyle Civic Trust’s Living City Project includes two images of Bishop Street (an illustration c. 1850, and a photograph of c. 1890) which purportedly depict the appearance of the Northern Counties Club prior to its remodelling in 1902. These images actually depict the two buildings that were demolished to make way for the five-bay structure suggesting that the Victorian photograph was taken in c. 1885 (Foyle Civic Trust). In 1886 the valuer recorded that the newly constructed No. 24 Bishop Street consisted of commercial premises (to the ground floor and cellars) which was first occupied by the City of Derry Meat Supply Co. Ltd. and valued at £25, whilst the upper floors were utilised as rooms and offices for the Northern Counties Club and valued at £50.

By 1890 the City of Derry Meat Supply Co. Ltd. had vacated the ground floor which was then acquired by the Northern Counties Club. As a result the total rateable value of the building was set at £70. The Ulster Town Directories note that the Northern Counties Club was established as club rooms for ‘Gentlemen residing in, or having property in Ulster.’ The Belfast Newsletter described the organisation as ‘one of the leading clubs in the country [serving] the city of Derry, Co. Donegal, North Derry and North Tyrone. Its large membership is comprised of landed gentry and prominent professional men.’ The club is believed to have been formed in c. 1881 by landowning veterans of the Crimean War (1853-56); the club was distinctly unionist in its political ethos. During both the First and Second World Wars the building was requisitioned by the armed services who utilised it as a mess for local and international soldiers and officers (Lacey, p. 33; Londonderry Sentinel).

The current façade of the Northern Counties Club dates from 1902 when the building was remodelled by Alfred Arthur Forman, an Australian architect who travelled to Ireland in 1897 and settled in Londonderry in c. 1899. Forman spent approximately five years in Derry and was also responsible for the design of the Northern Counties Hotel in Waterloo Place (see HB01/21/016) and Carlisle Road Methodist Church (HB01/19/063) during this period before returning to Australia. Williamson suggests that the interior of the Northern Counties Club has remained relatively unaltered since its completion in c. 1886 as ‘all the money was spent on the exterior’ by Forman in 1902 (Williamson, p. 278; Dictionary of Irish Architects). The value of the Northern Counties Club was increased to £200 under the First Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland, and was further increased to £340 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Derry described No. 24 Bishop Street as a ‘three-storey building with dormers’ whilst Rowan noted that the building is ‘now a five-bay three-storey block with a giant order of composite pilasters across the upper floors of the entire front, expanding to half columns on the end bays and supporting conical slate roofs (UAHS, p. 20; Rowan, p. 397). The Northern Counties Club was included in the Walled City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the Northern Counties Club was damaged following the explosion of a bomb outside the Court House in 1989; the repair work included the replacement of the original glazing and the restoration of the damaged façade. The Northern Counties Club continued to be occupied until c. 1998 when the building was left vacant and fell into a state of disrepair. The club was dissolved at that time when ‘demographic trends over recent decades [saw] many of the club’s approximate 100 members move away from the city and the premises central location … in more recent times the club has had more business and commercial aspects’ (Londonderry Sentinel).

In 2013 Calley wrote that ‘this building has a swagger and optimism that has not been borne out over time. It is now empty with a look of abandonment and a shrub growing out of the roof. One of the windows on the top storey has collapsed inward. It makes an interesting comparison to Austin’s department store (see HB01/19/019) which, whilst is may have received some inspiration from here, is not as successful’ (Calley, p. 41). The Inner City Trust recently acquired the building and in 2013 the Heritage Lottery Fund granted £784,000 of funding aimed at converting the former Club House into a luxury hotel (Heritage Lottery Fund website).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/14 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11S-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1884-1897)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929)
5. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/11 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1943)
8. Belfast Newsletter (10 Nov 1929)
9. First Survey Record – HB01/19/008 (1970)
10. First Survey Image – HB01/19/008 (1975)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/008
12. Londonderry Sentinel (12 Feb 2004)
13. The Foyle Civic Trust Living City Project: Bishop Street Photographic Record

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
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.
3. Lacey, B., ‘Discover Derry’ Londonderry: The Guildhall Press, 2011.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
5. Williamson, J., ‘A companion guide to architecture in Ireland: 1837-1921’ Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1994.
6. ‘A design guide for the Historic City Conservation Area Londonderry’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 2012.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Heritage Lottery Fund website -
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/HeritageEnterprise201310.aspx#.UtKsh_RdWvk

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Arts and Crafts-style, five-bay, three-storey with dormers. Former Gentleman’s recreational club, constructed in 1886 and remodelled in 1902 to designs of architect Alfred Forman. Set on the east side of Bishop Street Within, equidistant from southmost City Wall and The Diamond, flanked by buildings to both sides and to rear jostling with adjacent building returns. It occupies a prominent site to the Southern quarter of the Historic Walled City and is an imposing and exuberant feature on Bishop Street. The club is believed to have been formed in c. 1881 by landowning veterans of the Crimean War (1853-56) and during both the First and Second World Wars the building was requisitioned by the armed services who utilised it as a mess for local and international soldiers and officers. Architecturally, its exterior and interior materials and details are consistent with their time incorporating classical elements such as the Corinthian and Ionic columns, pilasters and pediments. The original internal layout has been retained; however, inappropriate extensions to the rear detract from the original character and style of the building. The ornate interior is of significant interest, especially the revolving doors within the entrance lobby. The ornate railings that span between window bays at the front further enhance the character of the building.