6-8 PUMP ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terraced four-bay three-storey over basement smooth-rendered and painted former commercial building, with moulded window surrounds, toothed quoins and low parapet wall to hipped slate roofs behind. Built 1878. Rectangular on plan with principal elevation facing north-west onto Pump Street, set within a terraced row comprised of a mix of residential and commercial buildings, varying in style and all located within the Historic City Walls.

NORTHWEST ELEVATION
Principal elevation (NW) is of smooth-rendered painted finish; four round-arched windows with a plain glazed single pane to three bays nearest to left side; painted pilasters between each bay under a deep projecting dentilled cornice supported by a series of decorative scroll console brackets and half-brackets to the centre of each moulded archway, right-side bay contains entrance doorway with replacement six-panel painted timber double doors and plain glazed fanlight above; first floor bays are square-headed on a high flat sill-course, resting on cornice below, window openings have moulded surrounds surmounted by segmental pediments supported by console brackets to either side; second floor windows have plain architrave surrounds with segmental heads and keystone to the centre, window bays rest on a continuous plain sill-course on small square brackets below; plain signage panel with moulded surround and painted infill spanning across heads of second floor window bays; windows are 1/1 timber sliding sashes; corner quoins to either end of elevation rising from painted plinth on ground floor level.

NORTHEAST & SOUTHWEST ELEVATIONS
North-east and south-west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No. 4 & 10 Pump Street (HB01/19/068A & HB01/19/067A/B/C).

SOUTHEAST ELEVATION
South-east elevation to the rear abuts that of No.21 Ferryquay Street, which are also linked internally as one shop laid out on an L-shaped plan form.

ROOF
Hipped and double pile slate roof has black clay ridge tiles; low parapet wall to front elevation has lead flashing; no chimney stacks. Rainwater terminates to a shared uPVC circular downpipe to elevation of adjoining property.

MATERIALS:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Smooth render, painted
Windows Timber Sliding Sash (W)

SETTING:
Located on the lower end of Pump Street set on the edge of the pavement within a terrace row of residential or commercial buildings of varying styles; it is adjoined by the former Convent of Mercy (HB01.19.067A) to the southwest. Pump Street is situated 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).

Nos 6-8 Pump Street, a three-storey four-bay mid-Victorian building, was constructed in 1878. The Londonderry Corporation map (1857) shows that two structures formerly occupied the site of the current building in the mid-19th century. The Annual Revisions note that these buildings were private dwellings that were leased by Samuel Gilliland, a local flour merchant and landowner. In 1878 the two houses were demolished to make way for the current building which was purpose built to accommodate the offices and printing works of the Derry Standard Newspaper. Mitchell states that the Derry Standard (originally known as the Londonderry Standard) was established on 30th November 1836 and became ‘the principal public organ of the Derry’s Presbyterian community … [but] in 1932 the Derry Standard made the news itself, when its employees took over its ownership and ran it as a workers’ co-operative, the first of its kind in Ireland’ (Mitchell, pp 179-180). The newspaper moved to No. 28 Shipquay Street in c. 1902 (HB01/19/032) and was closed in 1964. The 1899 Valuation map of Derry records that the rear yard of the printing works was accessed by a coach arch located at the adjoining No. 4 Pump Street.

The Derry Almanac records that, following the Derry Standard’s move to Shipquay Street, the building was acquired by the Derry Weekly News (published between 1892 and 1956) which continued to utilise the building as a print works. By 1918 the building was acquired by Alexander McCay & Co., general merchants who held business premises on No. 21 Ferryquay Street (immediately to the rear of nos 6-8 Pump Street) since the 1880s. McCay extended his store into the newly acquired building on Pump Street (the two properties have remained joined since the early-20th century). The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that No. 21 and nos 6-8 Pump Street were jointly valued at £210 and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the buildings had risen to £360.

Nos 6-8 Pump Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that nos 6-8 Pump Street underwent an extensive renovation in 1984 that included the restoration of its roof, the replacement of its rainwater goods in cast iron and the treatment of the interior for dry rot. The building was extensively damaged by fire in 1987 and remedial works, carried out in 1988, resulted in the reconstruction of its roof, the installation of new sliding sash windows and the construction of a new internal floor. In c. 2005 No. 21 Ferryquay Street was demolished and a modern retail unit built for a local clothing store. The rebuilding of the structure on Ferryquay Street also included the interior renovation of the building on Pump Street for retail use. During the Second Survey nos 6-8 Pump Street and No. 21 Ferryquay Street continued to be utilised as retail premises for Kular Clothing Store (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. First Survey Record – HB01/19/068 (1970)
18. First Survey Image – HB01/19/068 (No Date)
19. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/068B
20. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (Pump Street – including 1899 Valuation Map of Londonderry)
21. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (Ferryquay Street)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013 – including the Londonderry Corporation Map (1857).
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. Mitchell, B., ‘The making of Derry: An economic history’ Derr: Inner City Trust, 1992.
5. Ó Baoill, R., ‘Island city: The archaeology of Derry – Londonderry’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 2013.
6. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
7. ‘Londonderry Historic City Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1977.
8. ‘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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid-terraced four-bay three-storey over basement building, purpose built as the offices and printing works for the Derry Standard Newspaper in 1878, No.6-8 Pump Street is set amongst a range of former townhouses and commercial buildings of similar scale within the 'Cathedral Quarter' of the Historic City Conservation Area. The building was adjoined to No.21 Shipquay Street and converted to a general merchant's store in 1918 and it has remained in retail use since that time. It remains well proportioned, with a good amount of ornate detailing to the front facade retained in addition to the double pile roof. Despite loss of the original plan form thought to have resulted from extensive fire damage in 1987, its cast iron structure survives to the upper floors. Of interest to the local community from a social perspective, due to the historical event of 1932 when Derry Standard's employees took over its ownership and ran it as a workers’ co-operative, the first of its kind in Ireland.