6 Shipquay Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey, three-bay brick-faced Georgian terrace house with rear return and attic storey, all over a basement which is revealed on the front. Square-headed windows, projecting stone cornice at eaves, slated pitched roof, painted lintels and window sills.

Front elevation faces East to Shipquay Street, Flemish brick bond to ground and upper floors, painted render finish to basement level; principal entrance off centre to left, five bullnose sandstone steps up between dwarf sandstone walls and railings, with square-headed timber panelled door, plain fanlight above with plaster shouldered surround flanked by scroll corbel brackets supporting moulded cornice with curved pediment above; commercial shop front to left side and two windows to right side at ground floor level, steps to basement level with entrance door and railing to segmental arch headed window; 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to ground and upper floors, five conservation roof lights to East side of slated roof; out-and-up angle brackets to cast-aluminium guttering with cast-iron downpipe.

Side elevations are abutted by No. 4 and No. 8 Shipquay Street (HB01/19/024B).

West elevation has painted render finish, irregular fenestration with combination of replacement timber sliding sash and casement windows, overlooks small shared courtyard.

Setting:
Set on the West side of the steeply sloping Shipquay Street, in a terrace running downhill in a north easterly direction from The Diamond.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
Rainwater goods: Cast-iron & aluminium..
Walling; Brick
Windows: Replacement timber sliding sash.
Doors: Timber panel.

Historical information

No. 6 Shipquay Street, a three-storey-over-basement former Georgian house, was constructed in c. 1770. The four-bay redbrick building, along with the adjoining No. 8 (HB01/19/024B), is one of the earliest surviving structures on the street; the former Custom House at Nos 31-33 Shipquay Street (HB01/19/034) predates the pair, having been constructed in the 1740s.

Raven’s 1622 plan of Londonderry shows that the layout of Shipquay Street has not been altered since the laying out of the walled city. The map records that Shipquay Street was originally known as ‘Silver Street,’ but the current name had been adopted by the early-18th century. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) described Shipquay Street’s appearance as ‘imposing but necessarily marred by the broken line of the roofs. This street contains … several respectable private residences’ (OSM, p. 101). Prior to the mid-19th century the character of Shipquay Street was predominantly domestic. However, between 1825 and c. 1850, many of the former merchant and professional residences were converted into commercial premises as new Georgian-style dwellings were constructed in the newly formed suburbs to the north in Edenballymore. In 1849 the Derry Standard recorded that ‘a wonderful transformation has taken place, the houses of private gentlemen having been changed into shops and private businesses’ (Hume).

No. 6 Shipquay Street has retained its domestic character despite being partially utilised as a shop from the mid-19th century. A painting of the street (dated c. 1850) shows that few alterations have been made to the exterior of the building since at least the early-Victorian period. In 1832 the Townland Valuations recorded that No. 6 Shipquay Street was occupied by the Rev. George Hay, minister of First Derry Presbyterian Church (HB01/19/015A-B), who was described by the Ordnance Survey Memoirs as a ‘highly esteemed and respected senior minister of the congregation’ (OSM, pp 72-73). The total rateable value of No. 6 Shipquay Street was set at £98 10s. 7d. in 1832.

Like many of the adjoining properties, No. 6 Shipquay Street was partially converted into commercial premises by the 1850s. Both Griffith’s Valuation (1856) and the c. 1850 painting of Shipquay Street record that the current ground floor retail unit had been installed by the mid-19th century. The building continued to be utilised as a domestic dwelling by Elizabeth Hay following her husband’s death, whilst the ground floor retail unit was used as business premises by the woollen draper, Andrew Colhoun (UTD – 1852). Griffith’s Valuation lowered the value of No. 6 Shipquay Street to £78 in 1856. Elizabeth Hay continued to reside at No. 6 Shipquay Street until 1873 when William Miles, a local carpenter, took possession of both the dwelling and the ground floor retail unit. The contemporary c. 1873 town plan of Londonderry depicted No. 6 Shipquay Street as a rectangular-shaped building possessing two rear returns (these were rebuilt when the building was converted into offices in the 20th century). Miles vacated the shop by 1884 when he leased the ground floor unit to R. G. Huskie who operated his sewing machine business from the site (UTD – 1861-1880).

The value of No. 6 Shipquay Street was decreased to £60 in 1889 when the building was acquired by Margaret Clements, a shopkeeper and haberdasher who operated a toy shop and a ‘knitting wool warehouse’ from the premises (the Census of Ireland also described Clements as an ‘Art Needlework Proprietor’). In 1911 the Census Building Return described No. 6 Shipquay Street as a 1st class dwelling and shop that consisted of 13 rooms but after Margaret Clements vacated the site in 1915 the first and second floors of the building were converted into office space. The upper floors of the building continued to be utilised as offices for almost a century. In 1929 Mary Kate McDonald acquired the ground floor shop and established a clothing store that operated until the 1970s. The total value of the ground floor retail unit, the cellar and the upper offices was increased to £124 under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) and further raised to £219 10s. by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described nos 6 and 8 Shipquay Street as ‘c. 1770: three-storey brick-faced Georgian terrace houses of good character’ that illustrate the original nature of the street which, because of its steepness, once possessed a number of stepped entrances and railings.’ Rowan suggests that No. 6 is the earliest of the pair and described the building as ‘a fine four-bay, three-storey mid-18th century house, brick with a stone eaves cornice and a handsome segmental pediment on console brackets over the door. The interior has robust contemporary detail including lugged door-frames, big solid cornices, and a generous timber stair, set at right angles across the back, with paired Tuscan columns as newel posts and a splendid banister whorl at the ground floor’ (Rowan, p. 394). No. 6 Shipquay Street was listed in 1979. The First Survey image notes that the original ground floor shop front had been replaced with a modern shopfront by the 1970s whilst the former cellar had also been converted into commercial premises. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 6 Shipquay Street received minor damage following the explosion of a bomb on Shipquay Street in 1982 and was extensively refurbished in 2010 when the building was converted into a Health Spa. The current shopfront was installed in 1994 and was designed in a sympathetic Georgian-style. The unit is currently occupied by a bakery whilst the former cellar is utilised as an art gallery (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. Raven’s Plan of Londonderry (1622)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
3. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/157/1/15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/547E – Townland Valuation (1832)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1898)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/5B-C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Londonderry (1837)
12. Derry Standard (5 July 1849)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. First Survey Record – HB01/19/024 (1970)
16. First Survey Image – HB01/19/024 (No Date)
17. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/024
18. Foyle Civic Trust Living City Project – Shipquay 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. 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
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Three-storey, three-bay brick-faced Georgian terrace house with rear return and attic storey over basement, No. 6 Shipquay Street is a substantial late eighteenth-century mid-terrace Georgian house North East of The Diamond. Although the house has been adapted over time and for its modern day commercial use, the historic interior is of considerable interest and it retains many original and early features. No.6 has group value with No. 8 Shipquay Street and together they represent important and rare examples of Georgian terrace houses in the city. They make a significant contribution to the architecture of Shipquay Street, formerly the merchant and traders quadrant within the Historic Walled City.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R - Age, S - Authenticity & T - Historic Importance