18 LOWER MAGAZINE ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Early-Victorian mid-terraced three-storey six-bay un-coursed rubble stone former outbuilding, built c.1840. Rectangular on plan with a splayed facade which follows the angle of the street; four-bays to the left and two to the right and a large return, added c.1989, projecting from the rear (E). No. 18 Lower Magazine Street now forms a single property with the adjoining No. 17. Principal elevation faces west onto Lower Magazine Street directly overlooking the City Walls and within the Historic Walled City. Artificial slate to main pitched roof and to half-hipped rear return. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front and rear elevation, uPVC rainwater goods to rear return.

Principal elevation (west) is of un-coursed rubble stone; all openings have contrasting toothed red-brick architrave surrounds; four square-headed bays on ground floor, one of which is a door opening with a timber door having eight glazed panes. Semi-circular carriage arch with painted toothed quoin stone and red brick surround to the left, with a painted metal roller shutter fitted to its reveal. All windows are square-headed on painted masonry sills with a single 6/6 timber sliding sash left of entrance door and two 6/3 timber sliding sashes to the right on ground floor; 6/6 timber sliding sash windows on first floor level and six multi-light casement windows on second floor level. Metal glazing bars and mesh fitted to ground floor window reveals.

North and South sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.17 Magazine Street and No.19 Magazine Street (HB01/19/037B).

East elevation abutted centrally by three-storey projecting rear return with un-coursed rubble stone walling and fibre cement cladding to attic level. To right of return, east elevation of main building is one bay wide and set back slightly from the adjoining No.19, largely glazed with timber panelled spandrels between full-width multi-paned timber casements to first and second floors and a matching timber door to ground floor, with multi-paned side lights and overlight; all painted. No.19 has a splayed corner at ground floor (presumed to be a remnant from when the arch was used for carriages, to avoid damage from wheels).
The fenestration pattern to north face of the return is irregular, with all windows multi-paned timber casements on masonry sills; two segmental arches on ground floor with painted rendered surrounds; that to left contains a modern door with multi-paned sidelights opening onto rear courtyard; that to right contains a window; three windows on first floor with rendered toothed quoins, left two bays are square-headed, right side bay has segmental-arched opening; three windows on second floor.
To right of return, the building is rough-cast rendered with top-hung timber casement windows having metal bars fixed over reveals and mechanical ventilation kit surface-mounted to wall; it overlooks the bin store to the Craft Village.

Materials:
Roof Artificial slate
RWG Cast Iron (W)
Walling Uncoursed rubble stone with red brick dressings / render
Windows Timber Sliding Sash (W) / Timber casement (2nd Fl W & Gnd-2nd E)

Setting:
Located on the east side of Lower Magazine Street, directly overlooking the City Walls, within a row of houses of varying type on a steep incline. Situated within one of the few areas of medieval significance in the Historic City Conservation Areas, on the site of the former 16th century Gaelic Tower House, the 'Magazine', which gave the street the name. No. 18 shares a rear yard with the adjoining No 19 & 20 and also backs on to the Craft Village.

Historical information

No. 18 Lower Magazine Street is a Georgian style three-storey four-bay rubble-stone and brick building constructed c. 1840. Abutts No.19 Lower Magazine Street. No. 18 is located in one of the few areas of medieval significance within the city walls. The building stands on the site of the 16th century Gaelic tower house, the ‘Magazine,’ which gave the street its name.

The medieval settlement of Doire was initially characterised by its ecclesiastical buildings. In the 1500s the major structures were the Dominican Abbey (near to modern William Street), the Dubh Regles Augustinian Church (located on approximately the site of the current St. Augustine’s Church) and the Tempul Mór Cathedral (located near to the site of Long Tower Church). In the 16th century there was a pilgrimage route to the Tempul Mór that ran from the river uphill towards the medieval cathedral. Ó Baoill and Lacey suggest that the route may have survived along Lower and Upper Magazine Street. Whereas the rest of the city walls and streets follow a strict geometric pattern, Lower Magazine Street curves and twists irregularly. Ó Baoill states that ‘the pilgrimage appears to have started from the bottom of modern Magazine Street [and] probably ran uphill close to or along the line which Magazine Street runs today’ (Ó Baoill; Lacey, p. 41).

The only major non-religious structure in medieval Doire was the O’Doherty Tower. Bryson states that the Tower House was built by the Gaelic Lord of Inishowen Ó Dochartaigh for Ó Domhnaill (O’Donnell) in c. 1530. Following the Nine Year’s War and the destruction of most of Doire’s medieval churches, the O’Doherty Tower was requisitioned and refortified by Sir Henry Docwra who then set about establishing the town of Derry. In 1614 Docwra described the fortification in the following terms: ‘at that end where the old Castle stood … I presently resolved to raise a fort to keep our store of munitions and victuals in.’ The former tower house became a Magazine (or storehouse) used to stockpile powder and ammunition. The Magazine was enclosed within the city walls, which were constructed 1613-19, and stood on the future site of nos 18-20 Lower Magazine Street until its demolition in c. 1840. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) states that the Magazine was repaired in c. 1790 and continued to be utilised as for the storage of military ordnance until the 1830s when the government relinquished the land and moved all arms and ammunition to the Barracks on Foyle Street (Ordnance Survey Memoirs, p. 118; Ó Baoill).

The Magazine was last recorded on the 1834 Townland Valuation map (1834) which depicted the building as a rectangular-shaped structure. The contemporary Townland Valuations noted that the Magazine measured 52.9ft in width, 27ft in length and 25ft in height. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that the Magazine and its land was owned by a Mr. Robert Young in 1837. Young had the building demolished between 1837 and 1840 when No.18-20 Lower Magazine Street were constructed. The terrace was one of the last major domestic developments to be carried out within the historic city walls. From the 1830s onwards the development of housing was carried out predominantly outside the walls. Grand Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street were constructed in Edenballymore during this period and became the preferred residences of the city’s professional and merchant classes.

No. 18 Lower Magazine Street was constructed c. 1840 (the lease to the neighbouring No. 20 had been acquired on 1st May 1840 shortly after the demolition of the Magazine). The Londonderry Corporation map (1857) records that No.19-20 were the first dwellings to have been constructed along Lower Magazine Street in the mid-19th century whilst all the other structures along the street (including No. 18) were outbuildings. By Griffith’s Valuation (1856) No.18-19 formed a single property with No. 19 being utilised as a private dwelling and No. 18 being used as its store and coach arch. The first recorded occupant of No.18-19 Lower Magazine Street was William Dysart Porter, a local magistrate and tobacco and snuff manufacturer. The valuer noted that Porter leased No.18-19 from the Young estate and that the total rateable value of the two buildings stood at £95 in 1856.

William D. Porter continued to hold No.18-19 Lower Magazine Street until his death in 1882 (PRONI Wills). Following Porter’s death the buildings were acquired by Alfred C. Jewell who established a cork factory at the site. Jewell continued to reside and operate from No.18-19 Lower Magazine Street until his own death in 1904. At the turn of the 20th century the 1899 Valuation Plan of Londonderry depicted No. 18 Lower Magazine Street as an L-shaped building possessing its coach arch and a large rear return. With Jewell’s death No.18-19 Lower Magazine Street was acquired by James D. McCafferty who continued to operate the cork manufactory from the site. Advertisements in the Derry Almanac described J. D. McCafferty as a ‘cork merchant and importer’ who also produced bottling machines. J. D. McCafferty & Sons continued to occupy nos 18-19 Lower Magazine Street until the 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the combined value of the pair was set at £68 but by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value had been raised to £128.

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Derry described No. 18 Lower Magazine Street as ‘a stone building, with brick-dressed window openings, on the approximate site of the old Magazine’ (UAHS guide, p. 27). No. 18 Lower Magazine Street was incorporated into the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that no 18-20 Lower Magazine Street had been acquired by the Derry Housing Association by 1980. No. 18 was converted into a number of self-contained apartments in 1983 and in c. 1989 the three-storey rear extension was added to the building for the Derry Housing Association. In 1984 nos 18-19 Lower Magazine Street underwent an extensive renovation that included the reslating of their roofs, the addition of cast iron rain water goods, the repointing of the exterior brickwork, the installation of new entrance doors and the renewing of all sliding sash window frames.

No. 18 Lower Magazine Street now forms a single property with the adjoining No. 17. From the mid-19th century the rear yard of No. 28 Shipquay Street (HB01/19/032) was accessed by a one-and-a-half-storey goods entrance and coach arch at No. 17. Following the establishment of the Craft Village (1992) between Shipquay Street and Lower Magazine Street, in c. 1998 a single-bay three-storey extension was added to No. 18 along the site of the former goods entrance. The extension was carried out in a sympathetic style, replicating the rubble-stone masonry and Georgian style character of No. 18 Lower Magazine Street (NIEA HB Records). No-longer housing, the front building is occupied as offices and training facilities for a community enterprise.

References

Primary Sources
1. Thomas Raven’s plans of Londonderry (1622; 1625)
2. Porter’s plan of Londonderry (1799)
3. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
4. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/11 – Annual Revisions Valuation Map (c. 1873-1910)
6. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9A-D – Townland Valuation Town Plan (1834)
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/547A-F – Townland Valuations (1831)
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16D – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2D-2E– Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
11. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
13. Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Londonderry (1837)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
15. Derry Almanac (1889-1953)
16. PRONI Wills Catalogue (14 Sep 1882; 19 Dec 1904)
17. First Survey Record – HB01/19/037 (1970)
18. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/037B
19. Foyle Civic Trust: Living City Project (Lower Magazine Street – including 1899 Valuation Map)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013 – including 1857 Londonderry Corporation Map)
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., A lost Columban turas in Derry in ‘Donegal Annual 49’ Donegal: County Donegal Historical Society, 1997.
4. Ó Baoill, R., ‘Island city: The archaeology of Derry – Londonderry’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 2013.
5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
6. ‘A design guide for the Historic City Conservation Area Londonderry’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 2012.

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

S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

Mid-terrace six-bay three-storey rubble stone building with red brick dressings and slated roof, built c.1840 with substantial rear return, added c.1989. Located just west of Magazine Gate, the building has a splayed facade which follows the angle of the street. The building has group value with nos.19 & 20 (HB01.19.037B & C), and together they form a pleasant, elegantly proportioned terrace, of similar scale and distinctive fenestration, overlooking the City Walls and within the Historic City Conservation Area. A 16th century Gaelic Tower House, the ''Magazine'', once stood on the same site and the slightly curved street layout which gives the terrace its distinctive character is reputed to follow a 16th century pilgrimage route that ran from the river uphill towards the medieval cathedral. Although early Victorian in date, this building is more Georgian in style. Built as offices and outbuildings to the adjoining house at no.19, the building has played an important part in the commercial history of the city, being at times a snuff and tobacco warehouse and a cork factory. No.18 (now encompassing no.17) is now used as offices and training facilities for a social enterprise, and connects internally to nos.19 & 20. The plan form is altered and much historic detailing inside is gone; nonetheless, it remains a very good example of its type.