23 Bishop Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late Georgian six-bay three-storey over basement stuccoed house, built 1847, with square headed sash windows, slated pitched roof behind parapet with plain cornice.

Principal elevation facing East with ground floor of rusticated render with central tri-partite doorcase featuring console brackets supporting a plain cornice, five steps up to entrance. Modern panelled timber double doors flanked by single light windows. Windows of 6/6 timber sliding sash to both sides with modern door inserted to southern end. First floor treated as "piano nobile" with 6/9 timber sliding sash windows and iron balconies. 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to second floor with string coursing between floors.

North and South elevations abutted by No. 21 and 23A Bishop Street.

East elevation to rear abuts a large single storey modern factory shed and high boundary wall.

Setting:
The property is part of a terrace, set back from the pavement behind iron railings and rendered plinth wall, on the West side of Bishop Street within the City Walls and opposite the Deanery (HB01/19/004). Rear faces towards Palace Street, and to St Augustine's Church (HB 01/19/012) and City Walls beyond to the North West.

Materials:
Roof Replacement Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Render / Stucco
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Historical information

No. 23 Bishop Street, a three-storey six-bay building, was originally constructed as a hotel. The building was erected in c. 1847 as Robert Simpson, in his The Annals of Derry (1847), wrote that ‘a new hotel, the “Imperial,” has been lately opened in Bishop’s Street, by Mr. Greer, of Omagh – it is directly opposite to the Deanery-house’ (Simpson, p. 249). The 1852 Ulster Town Directory note that the proprietor of the Imperial Hotel was a Mr. Benjamin Greer; following his death in c. 1856, a Ms Mary Greer administered the hotel. Griffith’s Valuation set the value of the hotel at £120 in 1856 and noted that the building was constructed for Samuel Smyth Esq, a local flax merchant. Photographs of the former hotel dating from the late-19th century show that the Imperial Hotel originally possessed an elaborated glazed cast-iron entrance porch as well as cast-iron balconies to its first floor windows and vase finials surmounting the parapet, however these ornate features have been removed (Foyle Civic Trust).

No. 23 Bishop Street continued to be utilised as a hotel from c. 1847 until 1918. The building was enlarged in 1860 to the designs of John McCurdy (c. 1824-1885), an early contract for the Dublin-based architect who had been responsible for the enlargement of Kilmainham Jail in 1857-59 and later designed the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire. McCurdy’s extension to the rear of the hotel was demolished in the mid-20th century, but the 1860 extension of the building resulted in an increase in the rateable value of No. 23 Bishop Street to £140 (Dublin Builder, p. 380; DIA). Mary Greer continued to administer the Imperial Hotel until 1867 when a Mr Thomas Wright took possession of the establishment. Wright only briefly operated the hotel and in the 1870s the Imperial Hotel passed to Thomas M. Hegan who managed the hotel until 1910. The census of 1911 described No. 23 Bishop Street as a 1st class hotel that consisted of 30 rooms.

The Imperial Hotel continued to operate from the premises on Bishop Street until 1918 when the building was converted into a factory for R. R. Buck & Co., local shirt, collar and cuff manufacturers (UTD). The conversion of the former hotel into a shirt factory is illustrative of the changing fortunes of the city following the First World War. The value of No. 23 Bishop Street was increased to £160 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) and was further raised to £285 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72). Having been occupied by the shirt manufacturing firm Anderson & Andrews for a period of thirty years, No. 23 Bishop Street was acquired by the current occupant, A. E. McCandless & Co. Ltd., in 1967.

The UAHS guide for Londonderry described McCandless’ factory as a ‘three-storey building with strong Georgian façade five windows wide [sic]; it possesses an austere grace. The symmetrically placed entrance with steps is pleasant and the whole is a good piece of street architecture.’ No. 23 Bishop Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building sustained minor damage following an explosion outside the Court House in 1989. A major renovation was carried out in 1999 which involved the reroofing and structural strengthening of the factory, as well as the construction of the current single-storey modern extensions to the rear of the building (UAHS guide, p. 19; NIEA HB Records). No. 23 Bishop Street is currently utilised as office space.

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/157/1/14 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/5A-5C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847)
10. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
11. Dublin Builder (1 Dec 1860)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
13. Census of Ireland (1911)
14. First Survey Record – HB01/19/009 (1970)
15. First Survey Image – HB01/19/009 (No Date)
16. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/009
17. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (Bishop Street)

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. ‘Londonderry Historic City Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1977.
4. ‘A Design Guide for the Historic City Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Set on the West side of Bishop Street, within the City Walls, a six-bay three-storey building with a strong Georgian facade and handsome doorcase, built originally as a hotel in 1847, and converted to a shirt factory following the 2nd World War, reflecting the economic growth at that time. Despite the loss of the historic interior this building has sufficient exterior character and proportions to mark it as a good example of Georgian architecture.