19 LOWER MAGAZINE ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Early-Victorian mid-terraced five-bay three-storey red brick townhouse, built c.1840. Rectangular on plan with five modern roof lights to slated pitched roof on west side at front elevation and a large dormer window to east side at the rear. Principal elevation faces west onto Lower Magazine Street directly overlooking the City Walls and within the Historic Walled City. Fibre cement slates to main pitched roof, no chimneystack. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipe to the front elevation, uPVC rainwater goods to rear elevation.

Principal elevation is of Flemish brick bond on a rubble stone basement, projecting stone string course between basement and floor above. All window openings are square-headed on stone sills with 6/6 timber sliding sashes set back into painted reveals. First and second floors are symmetrical, three windows on ground floor with modern steel bars; one to left and two to right of the entrance; the two bays to the right are aligned to those above. elliptical arched opening to entrance doorway, slightly off-centre, four-steps up from sloping pavement. Panelled timber entrance door (painted) flanked by fluted Ionic columns supporting moulded dentilled cornice and frieze with large Adam's style fanlight above having arrow-headed glazing bars. Half-pilasters with Ionic capitals to outer edge of doorcase, with painted timber panelling between pilasters and columns. Blind window to semi-basement with red brick infill, terracotta vents and brick surround.

North and South sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.18 Magazine Street and No.20 Magazine Street (HB01/19/037A & HB01/19/037C).

East elevation is of three-storeys over basement with smooth-rendered painted finish, evidence of windows in filled and sections have been re-rendered on left side, fibre cement tile cladding to attic level. The fenestration pattern is irregular, all windows are 6/6 painted timber sliding sashes with the exception of a single 6/6 timber casement window to second floor on left side bay.

Materials:
Roof Fibre Cement
RWG Cast Iron (W) uPVC (E)
Walling Flemish brick bond (W) / Render (E)
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

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. 19 shares a rear yard with the adjoining No 18 & 20 and also with some of the Craft Village units.

Historical information

No. 19 Lower Magazine Street, a three-storey five-bay red brick dwelling abutting the adjoining nos 18 and 20 Lower Magazine Street, was originally constructed in c. 1840. An early-Victorian structure, No. 19 Lower Magazine Street 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 No.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. 19 Lower Magazine Street was constructed in 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 the outbuildings to properties on Shipquay Street. 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 a store and coach arch. The first recorded occupant of nos 18-19 Lower Magazine Street was William Dysart Porter, a local magistrate and tobacco and snuff manufacturer. The valuer noted that Porter leased nos 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. 19 as a rectangular-shaped structure possessing a small rear return (now demolished) whilst the contemporary 1901 census building return described the building as 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms. With Jewell’s death nos 18-19 Lower Magazine Street was acquired by James D. McCafferty who continued to operate 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.

No. 19 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. In 1981 No.19-20 were converted into 12 self-contained apartments with the erection of modern dormer windows to the rear of the buildings. In 1984 the pair underwent an extensive renovation that included the re-slating 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. Further changes were made in c. 1989 when the three-storey office extension was erected to the rear of No. 18-19 Lower Magazine Street for the Derry Housing Association (NIEA HB Records).

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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Mid-terrace five-bay three-storey over basement red brick townhouse, built c.1840 and located just west of Magazine Gate. 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 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, the building reflects the style and detailing of Georgian terraces elsewhere in the city, in particular the elliptical arched doorway with Ionic columns, pilasters and Adams style fanlight. No.19 is connected internally to nos.18 & 20 and despite alterations to the plan form; it retains an original staircase and some historic detailing inside. Overall, it remains a very good example of its type.