Former St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Primary School

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two terraced buildings; the lower is a three-storey, seven-bay, mid-terrace with a imposing heavily modelled rendered facade, with square-headed and semi-circular arch-headed windows, built 1911, with modern copper clad three storey extension; the upper building is a three-storey, five-bay, mid-terrace with square-headed and semi-circular arch-headed windows, built 1887, with three-storey cement rendered rear return. Located within the Historic Walled City Conservation Area, the former school buildings are linked by a courtyard at North-end to the former Convent on Pump Street (HB01/19/067). Both buildings face South on Artillery Street overlooking the City Walls. Restoration and internal alterations completed 2009.

The front elevation faces South onto Artillery Street, at the East-end of the lower building contains a projecting bay, timber double panelled doors at ground floor through to an inclining passageway of wooden cobbles, with tracery window above with Gibbs surround flanked by Ionic columns supporting a broken segmental pediment above, rustication to ground floor level and square-headed pedimented windows with Gibbs surrounds; semi-circular arch-headed tracery windows to first floor with keystone and Gibbs surround to arch, Ionic pilasters between each window with dentilled cornice above; second floor has square-headed windows with plaster mould surround. The upper building has unique square-headed painted timber 'combined casement and sliding sash' windows to first and second floors and semi-circular arch-headed single glazed windows to ground floor; string-course between first and second floor level with a string-course positioned at the spring of window heads to ground floors windows.

North elevation, cement rendered, overlooks a shared courtyard with rendered three-storey return to upper building and first floor walkway leading to five-storey modern copper-clad extension to the rear of the lower building.

East elevation overlooks adjacent buildings No.3&4 Artillery Street with two square-headed windows with plaster mould surround to second floor and single round-headed tracery window to first floor level.

West elevation abutting No.8 Artillery Street.

Slated pitched roof to both buildings with clay terracotta ridge tiles to lower building. Three copper ventilation roof cowls at mid-ridge. Lead-covered coping stones to all gable ends with kneelered gables to the lower building. Plain stone cornice to eaves.

Stone chimney-stack to west gable and mid-elevation of upper building with five and three clay pots; chimney-stack to east and west gable walls of lower building.

Cast-iron guttering and downpipes.

Setting:
Two terraced buildings set hard on Artillery Street, facing south east onto City Walls, SSE of The Diamond, with yard to rear.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Render
Windows: Timber casements and sliding sash.
Doors Original panelled

Historical information

The Playhouse Theatre located at nos 5-7 Artillery Street, consists of two distinct buildings of different dates: No. 7 Artillery Street, the three-storey five-bay block, was originally constructed in 1887 whilst nos 5-6, the three-storey seven-bay block, was built in 1911.
The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society records that No. 7 Artillery Street was designed by a Mr. William McCormick and constructed at a cost of £2,500. The Annual Revisions first recorded the Victorian building in 1887; in that year the structure was described as a national schoolhouse and was valued at £35 at which it remained by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1929. The national school was administered by the Sisters of Mercy, whose convent was located immediately to the rear on Pump Street (see HB01/19/067); the Ulster Town Directories note that the schoolhouse was known as the ‘convent schools.’

The adjoining seven-bay block was constructed to the north-east side of the earlier schoolhouse in 1911; the new structure abutted the gable of the convent schools and was originally valued at £90. The new building, which was an extension of the convent schools, was designed by Edward J. Toye (1857-1932) a local architect who had set up an independent practice in 1885; the Dictionary of Irish Architects records that Toye predominantly carried out work for the Catholic Church and his other works included extensions to St. Columb’s College (HB01/16/004), the design of the spire for St. Eugene’s Cathedral (HB01/21/001) and the Technical College on the Strand Road (HB01/22/015). The builders contracted to undertake the construction of the extension to the convent schools were the local firm of Michael Sweeney (Irish Architect & Craftsmen; DIA). The 1911 addition to the convent schools was known as St. Joseph’s Primary School; however both schoolhouses continued to be collectively known as ‘the convent schools’ due to their association to the convent on Pump Street.

By the First Revaluation (1935) the convent schools had been combined into a single school that was known as Artillery Street Public Elementary School; the buildings, which were owned by The Honourable The Irish Society, were increased in value to £210 in 1935, and further increased to £350 by the end of the Second Revaluation in 1972. Nos 5-7 Artillery Street continued to be utilised as a school by the First Survey in 1970, however the school had vacated the site by the 1980s. In 1970 the UAHS described nos 5-6 as ‘a three-storey smooth-rendered heavily modelled imposing structure with square-headed, pedimented and heavily rusticated ground floor windows’ remarking that it was ‘interesting to note the heavily modelled rendered facades produced by so many Derry architects’ (UAHS, p. 26). The former convent schoolhouses were listed in 1979.

The buildings lay vacant in 1986 when they were threatened with a demolition order. The former schools were acquired in the early-1990s by the Department of the Environment. Nos 5-7 Artillery Street were subsequently converted into the Playhouse Theatre; the conversion of the former schools into an auditorium was apt as one of Londonderry’s first theatres (the Talbot Theatre) was located on Artillery Street (see HB01/19/065). The Playhouse Theatre, which occupies both blocks of the former convent schools, was reopened in 2009 after a £4.6 million renovation project undertaken by Andrzej Blonski Architects. Perspective Magazine wrote that ‘the overall impression of the completed project is of craftsmanship, light, warmth and openness. Strikingly, the existing historic buildings feel revived and renewed, keeping a patina of age while clearly updated for present requirements … such a project could so easily have juxtaposed a jarringly stark contrast between old and new, but there is nothing clinical or cold about the new build and the transition is a successful one: each complements the other’ (Perspective Magazine).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/E/57/1/15 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11V-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1885-1897)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929)
4. VAL/3/B/6/11 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
5. VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1943)
7. Irish Architect & Craftsmen (28 Jan 1911)
8. First Survey Record – HB01/19/064 (1970)
9. First Survey Image – HB01/19/064 (No Date)
10. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/064
11. Playhouse Case Study (Perspective Magazine article on Playhouse website – 2009)

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Buildings at Risk: Vol. 6’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999.
2. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
3. 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.
4. Lacey, B., ‘Discover Derry’ Londonderry: The Guildhall Press, 2011.
5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
2. Playhouse website - http://www.derryplayhouse.co.uk/content/refurbishment/12

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H+. Alterations enhancing the building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Two terraced former school buildings, located within the core of the Historic Walled City, with the principal facades overlooking the City Walls; no. 7, a rendered three-storey, five-bay, built 1887 as a National School, designed by William McCormick, and nos.5-6, rendered three-storey, seven-bay, built 1911 to designs of Edward J Toye, as an extension to the Convent School at adjacent Pump Street; the latter enhances the 1887 building. Combined and collectively known as Artillery Street Public Elementary School by 1935, and converted to become the Playhouse Theatre in the 1990’s, the buildings are valuable owing to their social and cultural importance to the community. The exteriors retain much of their original robust municipal character and proportions with a modern rear extension (2009). The interior layout has been largely retained with modern alterations. Both buildings in their setting overlooking the City Walls make a significant contribution to the Historic City Conservation Area.