8 Shipquay Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Georgian red brick four-bay three storey mid-terraced house, built c. 1770 with tripartite doorway and square headed windows with plain smooth rendered band above second floor windows with tie-bars between windows, slated pitched roof above. Set on the West side of Shipquay Street six-steps up with wrought iron railings, within the Historic City Conservation Area.

Front elevation faces East onto Shipquay Street, walling is of Flemish bond brick; main entrance to South end, up six steps running perpendicular to the building, tripartite Adamesque doorway, painted timber six-panel door flanked by integrated side lights with columns of the Doric order and Tuscan pilasters, semi-circular fanlight above incorporated into elaborate surround decorated with eleven rosettes. Windows, timber sliding sash, vertically hung, 1 over 1, with horns to ground, first and second floors. Squared headed single pane windows to basement level with elliptical headed gated carriage archway to rear courtyard.

North and South elevations abutted by adjoining buildings No.6 (HB01/21/024A) & No.10 Shipquay Street with cement and red brick finish and blind window at attic level to North elevation.

West elevation has cement render finish, facing onto small rear courtyard with two-storey over basement rear return with lean-to slated roof, windows; squared headed vertical timber sliding, 1 over 1. West elevation of rear extension abuts modern housing block, accessed from gated carriage archway at basement level from Shipquay Street.

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
Walling; Brick
Windows: Timber sliding sash.

Historical information

No. 8 Shipquay Street, a three-storey-over-basement four-bay former Georgian townhouse, was constructed in c. 1770. The redbrick building, along with the adjoining No. 6 (HB01/19/024A), is one of the earliest structures to survive 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. 8 Shipquay Street has retained its domestic character despite being partially utilised as office premises from the mid-19th century. A painting of the street (dated c. 1850) shows that almost no major alteration has been made to the exterior of the building since at least the early-Victorian period; the current round headed tripartite door can also be seen on this illustration. The Townland Valuation records that No. 8 Shipquay Street was leased to a Mr Boyd and was valued at £111 13s. 10d. in 1832. By the 1850s the building was occupied by Isaac Colhoun, a solicitor and land agent (the Boyd family retained ownership of the building). Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that No. 8 Shipquay Street was valued at £90 and was utilised by Colhoun as a residence and offices prior to his death in 1869 (PRONI Wills).

Following Isaac’s death, the Colhoun family continued to utilise No. 8 Shipquay Street as office space for the Colhoun & Co. (which was described by the Ulster Town Directories as an Accidents and Insurance Agency). The Annual Revisions note that between 1871 and 1884, No. 8 Shipquay Street was utilised as a Constabulary Barracks; Colhoun & Co. continued to occupy offices on the ground floor of the building throughout this period. The police barracks vacated the site in 1884 when the remainder of the building was converted into office space and let out to a variety of firms and organisations; the total rateable value of No. 8 Shipquay Street was decreased to £83 as a result of this conversion. The valuation sources note that the Colhoun’s occupied offices in the building as late as the 1930s, however the 1901 and 1911 census, as well as the Ulster Town Directories, indicate that their Insurance Agency vacated the site before the turn of the century. The value of the building was increased to £120 10s. Under the First Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) and was further increased to £325 10s. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72). Between the 1950s and 1970s No. 8 Shipquay Street was occupied by the offices of Dickson & McNulty, a solicitor’s firm who were the general solicitors and agents of The Honourable The Irish Society.

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 suggested that No. 8 was more likely later in date than the adjoining building, its most interesting feature being the ‘tripartite Adamesque door [which is] similar to those of Merrion Square, Dublin’ (UAHS guide, p. 22; Rowan). No. 8 Shipquay Street was listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building received minor damage following the explosion of a bomb on Shipquay Street in 1982. The building underwent a restoration which included the included structural repairs to its façade, the replacement of the Georgian sub-divided glazing with one-over-one sash windows and the reslating of its roof with Bangor Blue slates (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/157/1/11-15 – 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. PRONI Wills (6 Oct 1869)
15. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
16. First Survey Record – HB01/19/024 (1970)
17. First Survey Image – HB01/19/024 (No Date)
18. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/024
19. 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
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Late-Georgian red brick four-bay three storey mid-terraced house, built c. 1770, situated on steeply sloping Shipquay Street North East of The Diamond, retaining much of its character, style and proportions. Internally the historic materials and detailing have also been largely retained. However, the difficult junction with the housing block to the rear detracts from the original spatial organisation of the rear courtyard. Between 1871 and 1884, No. 8 Shipquay Street was utilised as a Constabulary Barracks. It has group value with the adjoining property No.6 (HB 01/19/024B), and is an important building within the Historic City Conservation Area.

General comments

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