FACTORY

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A substantial four-storey brick former shirt factory opened by Alexander Grant and Messrs Welch Margetson, shirt and collar manufacturers, in 1876.
Because of the complexity of the site's configuration, it has been divided into its separate buildings for the purposes of description: (1) main factory, (2) rear returns to the factory, (3) ancillary buildings in the yard, and (4) houses on Hawkin St.

1. Main factory
The main part of the factory runs the full length of Horace St, between Carlisle Rd and Hawkin St, with ancillary buildings extending northwards to Fountain St.
The roof has been replaced with hipped, profiled-metal sheeting (it was probably slate originally). Metal rainwater goods. Walls are of red brick construction throughout, with cream- and purple brick embellishment.

Horace St elevation
The principal elevation faces SE on to Horace St and is 18 openings wide. The base section of the wall is slightly advanced cream brickwork with finely-dressed sandstone quoins and chamfered copings. There are small square ventilation grilles at regular intervals along it, the opes of which are trimmed with sandstone. Because the ground rises from E to W, this course disappears by the time it reaches its Hawkin St end.
All but one of the GF opes is a window. All the window opes are slightly recessed and have semicircular heads embellished with alternating brick and sandstone and purple brick hood moulds over. At the apex of each hood mould to the six left bays is an unobtrusive metal vent. A moulded string course with platband under, both in sandstone, run across the elevation at arch spring level, as does a common angled cill course of plain sandstone. The windows are uPVC double-glazed casement replacements. There are modern metal-mesh security grilles over the left three windows.
Off-centre on this elevation is a vehicle entrance, now converted into a pedestrian entrance to the Housing Executive offices. It has a two-centred arched head with moulded sandstone hood, but is otherwise detailed as the windows. It contains a double-leaf four-panel timber door with glazed and apron side and over-lights consisting of glass blocks to apex. There is a cast-metal cartwheel protector at the base of its jambs (no inscription).
The window opening to the right of this doorway was originally a pedestrian entrance but has been infilled to form a window; its detailing is identical to the original windows on this floor. .
Each of the upper floors is delineated by a finely-dressed sandstone cill course underlined by a dentilated course of cream brick and a two-course cream-brick platband.
The FF and SF window opes are detailed as GF but have segmental brick heads; the purple brickwork over the heads is flush with the wall (i.e. no hood moulds) and there is a sandstone platband but no string course at arch spring level. As with the GF, there are small metal ventilation grilles above each of the window heads to the six left bays of the FF & SF. There is also a row of pattress plates along the spandrels of the SF windows.
The TF windows, which are slightly diminished in height relative to those below, also differ in their detailing: they have corbelled segmental stone heads with plain platband at spring level.
The eaves cornice is of cream brick and comprises four courses of plain brick, two courses of serrated brick, a row of plain brick, and a course of dentilated brick, all of which are surmounted by a finely dressed sandstone gutter course.

Carlisle St gable
The NE elevation fronting Carlisle St is detailed as the façade in every respect. Its GF has five windows, three of which are grouped towards its right-hand end. All the other floors have four windows apiece. A small square brick chimney (with cream-brick platbands) rises from the middle of the eaves.
Immediately right of this gable is a vehicle entrance, now infilled to form a pedestrian entrance to the Pension Service offices. It is detailed as the Horace St entrance. The infill comprises a double-leaf three-panel timber door with overlight and sidelights. Under the latter are sandstone-coped brick aprons with dwarf railings thereon.
Above this entrance is a small brick gable coped with sandstone. It is embellished with a sandstone platband, above which is a small sandstone shield (indecipherable).

Hawkin St gable
The SW gable, fronting Hawkin St, is three openings wide (windows to all floors) and is detailed as the façade. The only difference is that the GF windows are infilled with brick. The street rises from S to N, partly obscuring the left-hand GF window. There are modern metal-mesh security grilles over all the upper floor windows.
The GF and FF of this wall continue left to form a vehicular gateway with square opening into the main yard. There are cast-iron cartwheel protectors to the jambs. This opening is now sheeted over. Decorative sill bands below 1st & 2nd floor windows are carried through to this elevation.

Rear elevation
In contrast the other elevations, the NW side is without any embellishment whatsoever. A boxed metal gutter runs along the eaves, with plastic downpipes.
Because of the sloping ground, only the upper three floors are generally visible. Most of the wall surfaces are abutted by various multi-storey returns (described below). The exposed sections of walling have shallow segmental-headed windows with sandstone cills and replacement uPVC casement windows.

2. Rear returns
All the returns on the NW elevation of the main building appear to be add-ons dating, according to the Valuation books, from the 1880s onwards.

Return 2.1
This return, at the extreme left end of the N elevation, was possibly erected in 1894 (its dimensions match the description in the Valuation). It has a pitched replacement profiled-metal roof and plastic/metal rainwater goods. Walls are of red brick with an advance dentilated cream-brick eaves cornice.
The principal elevation of this return faces NE towards Carlisle Road, albeit set back from it behind a row of shops, and is four storeys high. Its GF was not visible, but its upper floors contain regularly-spaced multiple window openings (with shallow segmental heads) which are paired between shallow brick pilasters. Each pair shares a common cill (possibly concrete) and has replacement 3-paned double-glazed uPVC frames.
The three upper floors of this return's SW elevation are visible because of the sloping ground. This face is rendered with cement and has plain eaves. Its windows are set singly between shallow cement-rendered brick pilasters (shallow segmental heads and concrete cills). There is a wide doorway at the NW end of this elevation and also a column of loading doors towards the middle (all infilled and rendered over).

Return 2.2
This three-storey return runs parallel with the first one with a small return running NE from its NW end. The brickwork suggests that it might have been only one storey originally, then heightened by two and the small return at the NW end added.
It has a hipped profiled-metal roof and brick walls with pilasters between which are pairs of windows (shallow segmental heads, common sandstone cills and replacement 3-pane uPVC windows).
A modern metal-sheeted corridor runs between the SW ends of returns 1 and 2 at TF level. The FF and SF of the main building below has six slit windows (three with 3 pane uPVC frames, and three brick-infilled on each level), with common sandstone cills.

Return 2.3
The space between returns 2 and 4 is occupied by a one-storey infill building which rises to two floors at its SE end. Both sections have flat concrete roofs and brick walls. This section was added sometime between 1920 and 1932.

Return 2.4
This two-storey return abuts the GF and FF of the main building. It is detailed as return 2.2, but it has a hipped artificial slate roof and its FF is rendered with cement. The fact that its FF differs in its finish might possibly reflect its heightening around 1900.

Return 2.5
Judging by its brickwork, might be contemporary with the main building and appears to have been a toilet/stairwell stack. It rises to the eaves of the main building and has a flat roof. There are six window openings to each of its upper floors, all with replacement windows and common sandstone cills.
Its GF is abutted by a 20th century brick extension (5a) with flat concrete roof and red brick walls.

Return 2.6
This four-storey 20th century addition rises above the eaves of the main building. It has a flat concrete roof and wide square-headed window opes to its NW elevation, the lower one of which is sheeted over and the upper two of which are infilled with glass brick. Its SW cheek is clad with corrugated sheeting. Its GF on the NW side is abutted by a continuation of 5a.

Return 2.7
This single-storey 20th century return has a flat concrete roof (with galvanised metal railing around), red brick walls and square-headed openings.

3. Ancillary yard buildings
Towards the NW end of the Hawkin St side of the premises is a wide vehicular gateway into the yard. At right is a two-storey building (3.1) with profiled metal roof (partly damaged), red brick walls with raised gable verges, and square-headed openings. To the left of the entrance is a slightly larger two-storey building (3.2), similarly detailed. Abutting the NE gable of the latter is a long one-storey building (3.3) with flat felted roof, brick walls (rendered to SW), and segmental-headed openings. The NW elevation of this building forms the pilastered boundary to the Fountain St side of the premises.
Buildings 3.1 and 3.2 appear to post-date 1949, but 3.3 seems to date from 1920-32.

4. Houses on Hawkin St (nos 17-19)
A pair of derelict semi-detached 2½-storey, two-bay dwelling houses half-way along the Hawkin St side of the premises. These houses pre-date 1904.
Vestiges of pitched natural slate roofs with red brick chimneys. Walls are of red brick with advanced cream brick eaves. All opes have curved brick and stone heads. Two decorative curved eaves dormers, one of which has collapsed. Windows and doors are now sheeted over and painted to mimic their original fittings.

Materials:
Roof profiled metal sheeting (replacement)
RWGS cast iron
Walling red, blue & cream brick, sandstone detailing
Windows timber casements (main block) & replacement PVC (returns)

Setting
The Carlisle Rd end of the factory has shops to each side and a listed Methodist church on the opposite side of the road (HB/01/19/063).
There is a pair of three-storey brick houses and yards directly opposite the factory on Horace St and a listed former Good Templars' Hall at the far end of this street (HB01/19/061), directly opposite to which is the listed Whitehall Chambers (HB01/19/060).
A relatively modern housing estate occupies the ground on the opposite side of Hawkin St to the factory.
A terrace of two-storey brick houses runs the full length of Fountain St, opposite the factory wall. Just beyond the SW end of Fountain St, on the E side of Hawkin St, is a listed former fire station (HB01/19/080). There is also an (unlisted) former Baptist church at the N apex of the premises, on the S side of Fountain St.

Historical information

This factory opened in 1876 or '77 as a shirt and collar manufactory. It was designed by John Guy Ferguson, a local architect, and built by A. McElwee, a local contractor.
The factory is noted as "in progress" in the 1876 Valuation. Although it is traditionally ascribed solely to the firm of Welch Margetson, the entry for 1877 also notes Alexander Grant as occupying part of it. Indeed, Grant may have occupied the larger part of the premises as the rateable valuation of his portion was £140, compared with Welch Margetson's £1010 valuation.
Welch Margetson were originally established in London in 1832. In 1847, they acquired a property in the Waterside where cloth was cut up and 'put out' to outworkers who hand-sewed the components into shirts and collars. These were then dispatched to the London headquarters for export throughout the world. It was the switch to factory production using in-house employees and sewing machines that led to the move to Carlisle Road.
Ferguson, the factory's architect, was a prolific Derry-based architect who probably also designed Derry's first purpose-built shirt factory for Tillie & Henderson on Foyle Rd in 1856.
It was not until 1888, that Welch Margetson & Co took over the entire factory. Some additions seem to have been made at the same time as the site's overall valuation increases by 40%, from £250 to £350.
In 1894, its valuation increases by a further 20%, from £350 to £420, as a result of the addition of three buildings costing £1260 in total. These additions measured 28ft x 87ft x 3 storeys, 27ft x 72ft x 1 storey, and 27ft x 69ft x 1 storey. The valuation increases yet again in 1896, but only by £15 to £435.
The 1897 Valuation describes the premises as "Shirt factory, Coach house, Stableman's Room, Dining hall and Store".
There is a further increase in valuation to £490 in 1901. These additions were designed by J.G. Ferguson, the factory's original architect, and executed by D McCaffrey of Strabane.
The 1904 OS map captions the premises as "shirt & collar factory". Three large returns, all of which doubtless date from the period 1888-1901, are shown along the back of the original factory which fronted Horace St.. A chimney is also captioned, which implies the probable use of a steam engine to drive the machinery. A terrace of houses is shown along Fountain St, with only a small yard to the rear of the factory.
According to Mullin, the factory was the first in Derry to generate its own electric power and light, before the Corporation's public supply. It is also said to have been the first shirt factory in Derry to employ line production (whereby the manufacture of the shirt is broken down into its sequential processes, each handled by a particular worker). employees.
The 1920 valuation notes only " internal changes" since 1901. Sometime afterwards, the premises were expanded NW to Fountain Street, the previous terrace of houses having been demolished. This expansion is evident on the 1932 OS map, along with several small returns to the factory, and a new range along the Fountain St boundary. A similar configuration is shown on the 1949 map.
Whilst many of Derry's shirt factories closed after the Second World War, Welch Margetson survived until c.1991. The buildings was occupied for a time by N McLoone & Co, liquor merchants but have since been converted to Government offices.

References

Primary Sources:
1. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11H. Valuation revision books 1870-78, p.344.
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11R. Valuation revision books 1884-93, p.131.
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11W. Valuation revision books 1892-97, p.133.
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A. Valuation revision books 1897-1910, p.243.
5. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/1. First edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1904).
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1B. Valuation revision books 1911-20, p.108.
7. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/2. Second edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1932).
8. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/4. Third edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1949).
9. PRONI OS/10/5/14/10/5. Fourth edition OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 14-10 (1953).
10. Londonderry Sentinel, 10 April 1953.

Secondary Sources:
1. T.H. Mullin, Ulster's Historic City: Derry, Londonderry, pp 136-137 (Coleraine: Coleraine Bookshop, 1986).
2. B. Mitchell, The Making of Derry: an Economic History, p.105 (Derry: Genealogy Centre, 1992).
3. D. Calley, City of Derry - An Historical Gazetteer of the Buildings of Londonderry, p.230 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013).
4. W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, Historic Buildings in the City of Derry, p.47 (Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970).

Online Sources:
1. Irish Architectural Archive Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720-1940, .

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A substantial four-storey brick former shirt factory opened by Alexander Grant and Messrs Welch Margetson, shirt and collar manufacturers in 1876. Located on the west side of the River Foyle in Londonderry, the main facade faces onto Horace Street with the building stretching from Carlisle Road on the east side to Hawkin Street on the south west. It was designed by John Guy Ferguson, a prolific architect in the city who also designed Derry’s first purpose-built shirt factory for Tillie & Henderson (HB01/19/057 - now demolished) on Foyle Road in 1856. Externally there is much historic fabric and detailing remaining such as lavish brick and sandstone detailing, and despite much external and internal alterations to accommodate the expansion of the factory and later modern office requirements, it stands as a reminder of the important social and economic history of Londonderry. The shirt factories gave employment to many generations of local women and whilst many of the city’s shirt factories closed after WWII, Welch Margetson survived until c.1991. This is one of a number of shirt factories which made Derry the 'shirt capital of the world' in the late 1800s and early 1900s.