2-4 Pump Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terraced three-storey four-bay and two-bay buildings. No.2 Pump Street was likely remodelled from two former dwellings into a single dwelling c.1864. No.4 Pump Street was built at a later date.

No.2 Pump Street
Mid-terraced four-bay three-storey smooth-rendered and painted former townhouse with two blind window openings and a decorative door case on ground floor level, heavily moulded window surrounds with keystones to upper floors. Rectangular on plan with a replacement pitched slate roof with four roof lights to the front and one to the rear and a projecting dormer window to the north end of rear elevation. Principal elevation faces north-west onto Pump Street and abuts the pavement.

Principal (north-west) elevation is of smooth-rendered painted finish. Entrance door to far right with two large blind shop front windows on ground floor to left (that to far left is surmounted by two ventilation grills). Door case has a shallow pitched lean-to canopy above a plain cornice and frieze with scrolled decorative console brackets on moulded pilasters to either side of a raised-and-fielded four-panel painted timber door with a single pane overlight. Painted sting-course between ground floor and first floor level. Window openings on upper floors are paired with two to the left side and two to the right side, not aligned with door case or windows on ground floor below. Upper floor windows have moulded surrounds and keystones painted in contrasting colour with 2/2 timber sliding sashes.

North-east and south-west sides are abutted by neighbouring properties No. 17 Ferryquay Street & No. 4 Pump Street respectively.

Rear (south-east) elevation is of three-storeys smooth-rendered painted finish with a projecting dormer on second floor level and small roof light to slate pitched roof. Full access to the rear was not possible at time of survey.

Replacement pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles, four roof lights to the front and one to the rear with a projecting rear dormer window with pitched slate roof; no chimney stacks. Cast-iron half-round guttering terminating to a circular cast-iron downpipe to front elevation.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Render
Windows Timber

No.4 Pump Street
Mid-terrace two-bay three-storey smooth-rendered and painted building with a large modern glazed shop front window on ground floor level and decorative modern plaster band to window heads on upper floors with a low solid parapet wall above. Principal elevation faces north-west onto Pump Street and abuts the pavement.

Principal (north-west) elevation is of smooth-rendered painted finish with a large modern glazed shop front with a modern glazed door opening on ground floor level. Projecting, stepped plaster band course between ground and first floor levels. Window openings on upper floors (two per floor) have a wedged-shaped plaster decorative band and keystone to window heads, all windows are 1/1 timber sliding sashes.

North-east and south-west sides are abutted by neighbouring properties No. 2 Pump Street & No.6 Pump Street (HB01/19/068B) respectively.

Rear (south-east) elevation is of three-storeys, full access to the rear was not possible at time of survey.

Flat roof with roof felt finish behind a low solid parapet wall with no chimney stacks. uPVC circular downpipe to front elevation.

Materials:
Roof Roofing felt
RWG uPVC
Walling Render
Windows Timber

Setting:
Located to the lower end of Pump Street within a terrace row of residential or commercial use former townhouses of varying styles, most are generously scaled and well proportioned. Pump Street is set within the 'Cathedral Quarter' of the Historic City Conservation Area with St. Columb's Cathedral and Churchyard to the South end.

Historical information

Pump Street, extending from Ferryquay Street towards St. Columb’s Cathedral, is predominantly characterised by its late-Georgian buildings but the street itself likely dates from the laying out of the walled city in the early-17th century. Both Nicholas Pynnar’s plan (1618-19) and Thomas Raven’s maps of Londonderry (1622; 1625) depicted a street in the southeast quadrant of the new city extending off from Gracious Street (Ferryquay Street) that occupied the exact current layout of Pump Street. These early maps were intended as proposals with many of the buildings depicted on them not being constructed until later. However the plans did accurately reproduce the current geometric pattern of the city, suggesting that side streets such as London Street, Castle Street and Pump Street were also laid out in the early-17th century. Pump Street was first named on Francis Nevill’s 1690 plan of the siege of Derry (but Calley states that the street was named after the town’s pump in c. 1630). The map, which is very accurate in its depiction of Londonderry’s streets and buildings (such as the Cathedral, Magazine and Market House) shows that buildings had been constructed on both sides of Pump Street by the late-17th century.

No traces of Plantation houses have been found within the city walls. The earliest building on Pump Street is the Convent of Mercy (HB01/19/067A) which was built in 1780 as the King’s Arms Hotel (OSM, p. 118). Pump Street was largely redeveloped in the late-Georgian period with many of its current buildings dating from c. 1800. Until recent decades Pump Street was predominantly domestic in character and during the 19th century many merchants operated their businesses from their homes leading one commentator to describe Pump Street as ‘a fine street [that] was the haunt of doctors, dentists, nuns, newspapers, lady tailors and others’ (Calley, p. 311). Even after the city’s merchant and professional characters began to move out of the walled city towards the new terraced streets in Edenballymore in the mid-19th century, Pump Street retained its residential character and ‘by 1856 therefore it was still a street in which the nobility and gentry resided’ (Hume, pp 9-10).

No. 2 Pump Street, a three-storey four-bay mid-terrace building located near the corner of Pump Street and Ferryquay Street, was constructed in c. 1864. The Londonderry Corporation map (1857) shows that the current site was occupied by two buildings in the 1850s. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that the buildings were two dwellings that leased by John Hamilton, a hardware merchant with business premises on Waterloo Place (UTD). The Annual Revisions suggest that No. 2 Pump Street was either newly constructed in 1864, or was the result of a remodelling of the previous dwellings. The latter option is more likely as one of the occupants of the pre-1864 houses, a Mr. William Evans, continued to reside at No. 2 Pump Street for over a decade following the change. The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of No. 2 Pump Street at £33 in 1864.

William Evans was employed as a plumber, gas fitter and brass founder and operated his business from his premises on Pump Street (UTD). Evans continued to reside at No. 2 Pump Street until c. 1870 when John McMillan, a local grocer briefly took possession before his death in 1875. Following McMillan’s death his widow Margaret McMillan continued to live at No. 2 Pump Street until the early-20th century. The 1899 Valuation Map of Londonderry records that McMillan continued to operate her late husband’s grocery business from the premises and that she also occupied the adjoining four-storey stores and coach arch at No. 4 Pump Street. The contemporary 1901 census described No. 2 Pump Street as a 1st class dwelling and shop that consisted of 10 rooms. The Derry Almanac records that the property was occupied by the Household Bazaar Co. in 1918. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) No. 2 Pump Street was no longer utilised as a private dwelling but was combined with the commercial property at No. 17 Ferryquay Street. The valuer noted that No. 2 Pump Street and No. 17 Ferryquay Street had been converted into a tailors shop (known as Prince’s Tailors Ltd.) and were jointly valued at £165. Prince’s Tailors continued to operate from the site until 1957 when the buildings were acquired by John Collier Ltd. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the joint value of No. 2 Pump Street and No. 17 Ferryquay Street had been increased to £248.

No. 2 Pump Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 2 Pump Street was converted from commercial use into a number of self-contained apartments in 2006. Despite the change in use nos 2-4 Pump Street had fallen into a poor state of repair by 2010. In that year both buildings underwent an extensive renovation that resulted in the restoration of their facades and the conversion of No. 4 Pump Street into a retail shop (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. Pynnar’s plan of the Walled City (1618-19)
2. Thomas Raven’s plans of Londonderry (1622; 1625)
3. Franic Nevill’s plan of the Siege of Derry (1690)
4. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
5. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
6. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/14 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/547E – Townland Valuations (1832)
8. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9B – Townland Valuation Town Plan (1834)
9. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16D – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
11. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
12. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
13. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
14. Ordnance Survey Memoir of Parish of Templemore (1837)
15. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
16. Derry Almanac (1876-1953)
17. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
18. First Survey Record – HB01/19/068 (1970)
19. First Survey Image – HB01/19/068 (No Date)
20. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/068A
21. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (Pump Street – including 1899 Valuation Map of Londonderry)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
3. Lacey, B., ‘Siege city: The story of Derry and Londonderry’ Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 1990.
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. ‘Londonderry Historic City Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1977.
7. ‘A Design Guide for the Historic City Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Online Resources
1. Digital Atlas of Derry - http://www.ria.ie/digitalatlasderry
2. http://www.thesaddlershouse.com/Pages/pump%20st1.html - accessed 26th Feb 2016

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Mid-terraced three-storey four-bay and two-bay buildings located to the lower end of Pump Street within a terrace row of residential or commercial use former townhouses of varying styles. No.2 Pump Street was likely remodelled from two former dwellings into a single dwelling c.1864. No.4 Pump Street was built at a later date and has had the front facade altered to form a modern shopfront. Nos. 2 and 4 are also now separate properties. Although no. 2 retains a fine door case, the interest of Nos 2 & 4 has been compromised by extensive alterations and extensions and they are not the best examples of the type. No. 2 Pump Street is an interesting feature in the conservation area and this is a more appropriate level of protection.