15 The Diamond

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian three-storey three bay Italianate-style stucco building of c.1850 with rustication to ground floor and ashlar to upper floors. Squared-headed windows to ground floor and segmental-headed windows to upper floors, deep projecting salient cornice supported by decorative corbel brackets with stub columns and wrought-iron railings to low parapet above, slated pitched roof, sill course to first floor windows and head-course to second floor windows. Projecting cornice between first and second floor windows. The property is set to the NW corner of The Diamond.

The front elevation faces East overlooking The Diamond; entrance door opening is square-headed with timber painted door, plain fanlight and curved pediment above flanked by corbel brackets. Two square-headed windows with drip-mould, crocketed finials to either side with flying keystones to ground floor. At first floor are three square-headed windows with wrought iron balcony railings flanked by angle roll columns with crocketed capitals terminating at the chamfer of each window reveal, painted shoulder-course cornicing between window bays. Segmental-headed windows with moulded surrounds and diamond-headed keystones, decorative Guilloche string-course between window bays; chamfered quoins to ground floor, fluted quoins to first floor and moulded pilaster to second floor level.

Side elevations, North and South are abutted by adjoining properties No. 14 and No. 17 the Diamond.

West elevation to the rear cement rendered, simple and undecorated with access to small courtyard.

Setting:
The building sits in the north most internal corner of The Diamond, facing south east, abutted by adjacent buildings, and extended to rear with a small courtyard beyond.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
Rainwater goods: Cast iron with hopper.
Walling; Render
Windows: Ground floor – PVC; Upper floors - timber sliding sash

Historical information

No. 15 The Diamond, a three-storey three-bay Italianate building located at the northern corner of The Diamond, was constructed prior to 1856. Hume states that The Diamond ‘accommodated some of the highest valued buildings in the town and was a major shopping centre. [In the mid-19th century] the rebuilding taking place elsewhere inside the walls during this period was also taking place in The Diamond’ (Hume, p. 4). No. 15 The Diamond, along with the adjoining No. 16 (HB01/19/022B), can first be identified with certainty in Griffith’s Valuation (1856) which valued the building at £55. The valuer noted that No. 15 was utilised as a registry office and dwelling at that time by James E. Nesbitt, a local solicitor.

The Annual Revisions record that Nesbitt vacated No. 15 The Diamond in 1861 when Henry Walker, a seed merchant and proprietor of the adjoining No. 16, took possession of the building. Walker utilised the ground floor for his grain and seed business but leased the upper floors as office space to the Church of England Library Society in 1861, and the Letterkenny Railway Co. in 1867. Walker vacated No. 15 The Diamond in 1870; but continued to occupy the neighbouring No. 16 for another two decades. In 1870 the valuer described No. 15 The Diamond as an ‘old house’ and between 1870 and 1880 the upper floors of the building were occupied by the offices of the Diocesan Synod.

In 1898 Nos 15-16 The Diamond were acquired by John B. Mullin who converted the pair into The Diamond Temperance Hotel. The hotel, which also included a public café and restaurant, occupied all of No. 16 and extended into the upper two floors of No. 15; the ground floor of the three-bay building was utilised as a laundry. The Diamond Temperance Hotel continued to operate from the premises on The Diamond until 1924.

Despite the closure of the Temperance Hotel, the upper floors of No. 15 the Diamond continued to be used by the occupants of the adjoining building until 1970. The ground floor was subsequently converted into offices and was occupied by the London & Lancashire Insurance Co. from 1948. The formerly divided building was returned to a single structure in 1970 when the solicitors firm of D. Wright & Partners, came into possession. The total rateable value of No. 15 The Diamond was increased to £220 by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property (1956-72).

In 1970 the First Survey described Nos 15-16 The Diamond as ‘three-storey buildings with stucco finish to walls’ whilst Rowan, writing in 1979, described No. 15 as ‘a nice Victorian stucco block in an Italianate style’ (Rowan, p. 394). No. 15 The Diamond was listed in 1979. Unlike the adjoining building, No. 15 retains its original entrance door. The exterior of the building was repaired in 1992, following a bomb explosion that shattered the glazing and inflicted minor structural damage to the façade (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnanec Survey Map (1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnanec Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/157/1/11-15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1898)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/5B-C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
10. First Survey Record – HB01/19/022 (1970)
11. First Survey Image – HB01/19/022 (1975)
12. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/022
13. Foyle Civic Trust Living City Project – The Diamond

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. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

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

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

Evaluation

Victorian three-storey three bay Italianate-style stucco building of c.1850, set in the Northmost corner of The Diamond. No.15 is an unusual building within the Historic Walled City and within The Diamond setting. Despite the loss of the historic interior, the front façade is an exuberant display of high Victorian stucco detailing with and impressive cornice and parapet detailing - all in an Italianate style. It has group value with the adjoining No16 (HB01.19.022B) with which it was designed as a single architectural composition. Originally built as commercial premises for a seed merchant with the upper floors used as office space by the Church of England Library Society in 1861, and the Letterkenny Railway Co. in 1867. Between 1898 and 1924 it was used as a Temperance Hotel.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age & S-Authenticity