GOOD TEMPLARS HALL

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-Victorian local schist and Glasgow sandstone neo-Gothic former church with polychromatic brick dressings, built 1869, to the designs of John Guy Ferguson. Rectangular on plan, principal entrance faces North West onto Horace Street; South West gable-end is topped by a bell-cote; single-storey extension to South East side is stepped back from the SW elevation, slightly splayed spanning the full length of the SE elevation. Situated on a corner site to Horace Street and Hawkin Street just off Carlisle Road with the River Foyle directly to the East. Originally constructed as a Wesleyan Methodist Church, acquired by the Good Templars by 1907 who converted the church into a meeting hall.

Pitched natural slate roof has two rows of fishtailed slates and alternating ventilated ridge tiles each topped with decorative finial. Stone copings to gable skews. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on small stone corbel brackets at eaves level, guttering discharges to circular cast-iron downpipes throughout. Artificial slate to roof of south-east extension.

Principal elevation to the North West side is set back behind a low stone wall with decorative iron railings to the left of a gabled stone entrance porch with moulded coping to a slate pitched roof, entrance gable has a small trefoil opening above a large Gothic pointed arch opening which has polychromatic dressings with hood mould beneath terminating onto label stops over a moulded stone surround to a set of double-leaf timber flush doors, two-steps up from pavement level; the entrance gable is flanked by gabled angle buttresses. Main NW elevation to left of doorway is three bays wide each having double trefoil lancet Gothic-pointed arch stone tracery windows with diamond-paned leaded glazing and polychromatic brick dressings to each bay; each window bay is covered by round-headed mesh screens. There is a moulded sill-course which spans the full width of the elevation. Walling is of local schist, rough-coursed squared with Giffnock ashlar sandstone dressings.

North east elevation is abutted by adjoining property No.2 Horace Street.

South East elevation is abutted by a single-storey extension to the main church, walling is of local schist with Giffnock ashlar sandstone dressings; SE elevation of extension has three sets of paired square-headed openings to the left side, six-steps up from pavement level, doorway has ashlar sandstone dressings to surround and a carved sandstone lintel over having a slightly recessed flush timber door with lead kick plate; SW elevation to extension has a double lancet Gothic-pointed arch window with diamond-paned leaded lights and Giffnock ashlar sandstone surround. Hipped roof has fibre cement tiled finish and black clay ridge tiles; moulded cast-iron guttering resting on sandstone corbel brackets to eaves level. Rear yard is enclosed by a high rendered painted wall with a vertically sheeted timber gate, wall abuts SE elevation to single-storey extension.

South West, kneelered gable-end elevation facing onto Hawkin Street is topped by a stone bell-cote having a natural slate roof with lead detailing; moulded coping to gable skews; stepped ashlar sandstone corner quoins to either end; pair of double trefoil stone tracery lancet windows with a quatrefoil opening between each arch, divided by colonettes with polychromatic brick surround to main elevation; pointed-arch with polychromatic brick surround and hood mould within the apex; continuous stone string course at sill level spans the width of the elevation, stepping down at each side of the gable.

Materials
Roof Natural slate to main hall & artificial slate to SE extension
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Local Schist rough-coursed squared/Giffnock sandstone dressings
Windows Cusped tracery diamond-paned

Setting
Located on a corner site at the junction of Horace Street and Hawkin Street just outside the Historic City Walls with 'New Gate' immediately to the North side. Principal elevation faces NW onto Horace Street directly overlooking the former Welch Margetson & Co shirt factory (HB01/19/062).

Historical information

The Good Templars Hall, a mid-Victorian schist and sandstone hall located at the corner of Hawkin Street and Horace Street, was constructed in 1869. Hawkin Street was one of the earliest streets to have been developed outside Londonderry’s city walls. Calley states that the street was known as Cunningham’s Lane in 1734 and had been renamed Hawkin’s Lane by the 1780s. The street was renamed a number of times over the following century but was renamed Hawkin Street by the 1880s. The opening of New Gate in the city walls in 1787 established a continuous path from the River Foyle that ran up Hawkin Street, through the New Gate and along London and Society Streets to Grand Parade on the west side of the walls. Calley states that Horace Street was laid out in c. 1868 and connected Hawkin Street with Carlisle Road (which had been developed in 1863-64). The Good Templars Hall was constructed at the corner of these two streets but was originally constructed as a Methodist Church (Calley, pp 224-229).

Methodism was founded in Londonderry in the mid-18th century by Thomas Williams who established the first meeting houses in the city (Walker, p. 151). Prior to the 1860s the Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Congregation met on Lower Magazine Street. Their meeting house was constructed in 1763 and had been used by Wesley in 1765 when he first visited Londonderry. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that the building was too large for the congregation (the building could accommodate 200 people) and was also utilised as a storehouse. The building continued to be occupied by the congregation until the 1860s. The chapel at the corner of Hawkin and Horace Street was constructed in 1869 to designs by John Guy Ferguson. One of Londonderry’s most prolific and accomplished architects and civil engineers, Ferguson (c. 1830-1901) was responsible for the design of many of the city’s most important commercial, civic and ecclesiastical buildings in the Victorian period. Ferguson designed the chapel in a Medieval Gothic style that he would develop for his design of St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012) on Grand Parade in 1871-72. The Natural Stone Database records that both buildings were constructed of locally-quarried Derry Schist (with imported Giffnock Sandstone utilised as a secondary material) whilst both possess similar bell cotes and double-arch tracery windows. The Irish Builder notes that the chapel was constructed by Robert Maxwell, abutted a schoolhouse, and was opened in October 1869 (Irish Builder, p. 250; DIA).

Upon its completion, the Primitive Methodist Chapel was valued at £40 under the Annual Revisions. The congregation continued to meet at the chapel at the corner of Hawkin and Horace Street until c. 1900. The construction of Carlisle Road Methodist Church (HB01/19/063) in 1901-03 provided a much larger house of worship for the Methodist population of the city. The Annual Revisions note that the former church continued to be held by the Methodist Church Body in 1904 but by 1907 the building had been acquired by the Good Templars who converted the chapel into a meeting hall. The Independent Order of Good Templars (now the International Organisation of Good Templars) was an international temperance movement which originated in the mid-19th century in the United States of America and was based upon the rituals and regalia of Freemasonry. In 1868 the practises of the Good Templar movement spread to England and within two to three years had been introduced in Ireland (International Organisation of Good Templars website). Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1636-57) the value of the hall was set at £20 but this was increased to £48 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72)

The UAHS guide for Londonderry noted that the Good Templars Hall was utilised as a Nursery School by 1970 and described the building as a ‘simple neo-Gothic style hall-type building on a corner site, with a gabled shallow projecting entrance on the long side and a simple small bell tower’ (UAHS guide, p. 48). The former Good Templars Hall was incorporated in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building had been occupied by St John’s Ambulance Brigade by the 1980s. The building underwent an extensive renovation in 1988 that included the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the installation of cast iron rainwater goods, the repointing of its schist stonework and the restoration of its railings on Horace Street (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/20 – Annual Revision’s Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11E-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1867-1897)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929)
4. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. Irish Builder (1 Nov 1869)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1868-1918)
8. First Survey Record – HB01/19/061 (1970)
9. First Survey Image – HB01/19/061 (No Date)
10. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/061
11. Foyle Civic Trust: Living City Project (Lower Magazine 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. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
4. Walker, S., ‘Historic Ulster Churches’ Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies, 2000.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com/
3. International Organisation of Good Templars website: http://www.iogt.us/iogt.php?p=35

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Mid-Victorian local schist and Glasgow sandstone Gothic Revival style former Wesleyan Methodist church, built in1869 to the designs of John Guy Ferguson. The church was designed in a Medieval Gothic style that he would develop for his design of St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012) on Grand Parade in 1871-72. Occupying a corner site at the junction of Horace Street and Hawkin Street, the church is located just outside the Historic City Walls with 'New Gate' immediately to the North. The church was acquired by the The Independent Order of Good Templars by 1907 who converted it into a meeting hall. Externally the hall retains much historic fabric and detailing such as polychromatic brick pointed-arched heads to stone tracery windows. Some historic fabric remains internally such as the scissor roof trusses. As a former church and hall it has social significance in the community.