20 PUMP ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Georgian mid-terraced two-bay four-storey over basement red brick townhouse. Built c.1820. Rectangular on plan with a low brick parapet wall concealing a half hipped slate roof, stepping down to a two-storey flat roof extension to the rear. Principal elevation faces north-west set behind a low rendered plinth wall with painted decorative cast-iron railings above, entrance doorway three steps up from the pavement level, access steps on the left to basement level.

Principal elevation (NW) is built in Flemish bond brick; window openings are cut brick flat arches set within painted cement reveals on painted masonry sills with 6/6 timber sliding sashes (with horns) to first and second floors, 3/3 timber sliding sashes to third floor and a coupled 6/6 timber sliding sash window on ground floor level. Painted rendered finish to basement level below with two 6/3 timber sliding sash windows. Semicircular arched headed opening to entrance doorway with moulded architrave surround terminating on stepped plinth blocks to either side of a recessed five-panel timber door with moulded cornice and plain glazed fanlight above. No remaining chimney stacks to roof.

South-east elevation to the rear has gable-end on upper floors abutted by a two-storey cement rendered unpainted modern extension with modern finishes including modern timber doors, casement windows and uPVC rainwater goods. Full access to the rear and rear yard was not possible at time of survey.

North-east and south-west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.18 and No.22 Pump Street.

Materials:
Roof : Slate
RWG : uPVC to rear extension
Walling: Brick
Windows : Timber Sliding Sash

Setting: Set within a terrace row of interesting and modest houses of varying types lining the west side of Pump Street.

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. 20 Pump Street, a four-storey two-bay red brick building, was originally constructed prior to 1830. The Townland Valuations (1832) record that the building was occupied by a Mr. D. McLoughlin and was a class 1b- building (that is a slated building of medium age that was deteriorated and not in perfect repair at that time). The valuer set the dimensions of the dwelling at 17 feet in width, 36 feet in depth and 39 feet in height and noted that the building also possessed a cellar and a stable to rear. In 1832 the total rateable value of No. 20 Pump Street stood at just over £34 and 17 shillings. Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that No. 20 Pump Street was occupied by David Gillis, a dentist with premises on Shipquay Street, in the mid-19th century (UTD). Gillis leased the house, which had been decreased in value to £26, from a Mr. James Glenn who also owned the adjoining No. 22 Pump Street.

Over the next three decades a number of occupants came into possession of No. 20 Pump Street. The most important occupant of the site was the architect John Guy Ferguson who occupied the house from 1889 until 1901. Ferguson (c. 1829-1901) was an architect, civil engineer and surveyor who was the local architect to the Church of Ireland and was responsible for the design of many of Londonderry’s most important civil, ecclesiastical and commercial buildings in the late-19th century. The 1899 valuation map for Derry records that No. 20 Pump Street continued to be utilised as a dwelling but with the ground floor converted into offices. Ferguson operated from his house on Pump Street until his death in 1901. The 1895 Derry Almanac advertised J. G. Ferguson & Son as ‘architects and surveyors … the principal is the oldest professionally educated architect practising in Londonderry, and has designed and carried out the most important buildings in the city – public and private – erected during the past thirty years.’ During his time at the address Ferguson designed the Derry Cathedral Primary School (DIA; Derry Almanac).

Upon Ferguson’s death in 1901, No. 20 Pump Street passed to a Mr. Daniel Fletcher, a sanitary officer. The 1911 Census described his house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of nine rooms. Fletcher had vacated the property by the 1930s when the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) recorded a Mr. William J. Williams as occupant and increased the value of the building to £31. Williams continued to occupy the shop and dwelling at No. 20 Pump Street until at least the 1970s. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the property stood at £45.

No. 20 Pump Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building underwent a renovation in 1993-94 that included the repointing of its red brick front elevation, the installation of a new sliding sash window to its third floor and the replacement of its front door. In 1999 the building was fully converted into office premises with the installation of a two-storey extension to rear (NIEA HB Records). In 2013 Calley praised the quaint design of the building, describing No. 20 Pump Street as an example of ‘everything which is simple and honest about Georgian architecture’ (Calley, p. 322).

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)
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 (1895)
17. Census of Ireland (1911)
18. First Survey Record – HB01/19/068 (1970)
19. First Survey Image – HB01/19/068 (No Date)
20. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/068C
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.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Late-Georgian mid-terrace two-bay four-storey over basement red brick townhouse, built c.1830 and located on the east side of Pump Street. John Guy Ferguson (c.1829-1901), who designed many of the city’s most important civil, ecclesiastical and commercial buildings in the late-19th century, occupied the house from 1889 -1901. Despite the uPVC windows and later return to the rear, it retains significant character, style and proportion at the front and this is shared by the adjoining terrace at No.22 – 28 inclusive (HB01.19.068 D, E, F & G) with which it has group value, making it a good example of its period. The latter townhouses are rendered but the terrace reads as a coherent row and it is one of the most significant buildings within the Historic City Conservation Area. The survival of the low masonry wall and railings to No.20 Pump Street further add to the quality of the setting to this particular house.