16 ORCHARD ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Pair of three-storey over-basement mid-nineteenth century smooth-rendered former houses with canted corner to Newmarket Street and Orchard Street and public bar shop-front on ground floor level. Built between 1853-1856 to designs known to be by M. McClelland; occupying a corner site with two bays to Newmarket Street and six bays to Orchard Street. Rectangular plan form with two small dormer windows to pitched slate roof to Orchard Street elevation at South-West end; large rendered painted rectangular chimney stacks rises from lower section of pitched slate roof to Newmarket Street North-East elevation. Principal elevation faces North-East with principal entrance on canted corner elevation facing East containing an entrance doorway with a plain glazed transom light over a pair of half-leaf timber doors and the letters spelling 'Badgers' laid vertically to upper floors above.

North-East elevation is two bays wide with public house shop-front on ground floor level containing a tripartite timber sliding sash window (with horns) with decorative rendered surround to left and a square-headed door opening to right (leading to keg store) with moulded cornice above doorway supported by decorative scroll console brackets on rendered pilasters to either side of doorway; painted plinth to ground floor level in contrasting colour; public house signage to projecting and angled fascia; windows on upper floors are square headed having 6/6 timber sliding sashes on first floor and diminutive 6/3 timber sliding sashes on second floor level, all on painted masonry sills.

South-East elevation facing onto Orchard Street is six bays wide, stepping up the hill towards Ferryquay Gate; lower section to right contains a tripartite timber sliding sash window with decorative rendered surround and a 6/6 timber sliding sash window (with horns) to left; upper section to left is three bays wide containing two 6/6 timber sliding sashes (with horns) to the right of a (disused) doorway which has a three-centered arch over a moulded cornice with panelled frieze and decorative console brackets on moulded pilasters to either side of a pair of half-leaf panelled timber doors; fascia signage to upper section steps up from fascia signage on lower section. Three windows wide to first floor level windows (6/6 timber sliding sashes with horns); second floor diminutive 6/3 timber sliding sashes on lower section, all on painted masonry sills; upper section has two wall-head dormers (not aligned with bays below) with 6/3 timber sliding sash windows on painted masonry sills; uPVC half-round guttering spans across both dormer windows.

South-West side elevation is blank, smooth-rendered painted finish with gable-end to right side with a small metal ventilation grill at high level within apex to right of centre; SW face of return is blank.

North-West gable-end elevation immediately overlooks the historic city walls, walling is of smooth-rendered painted finish with two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows on painted masonry sills to first floor level; NW elevation to the lower house is abutted adjoining neighbouring property No's 10-14 Newmarket Street having company logo signage mounted to gable-end and is topped by a small rectangular red-brick chimney stack with a stepped cornice and two circular terracotta clay pots.

Materials:
Roof Natural / Artificial Slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Smooth-rendered (with line markings)
Windows Timber sliding sash

Setting:
Located at the corner of Newmarket Street and Orchard Street on an elevated site directly overlooking the historic city walls to the North-West side. No's 16-18 are the sole survivors of an original terrace row of six rendered houses situated outside the City Walls and within the Historic City Conservation Area.

Historical information

Nos 16-18 Orchard Street, a pair of three-storey over-basement mid-19th century houses located at the corner of Newmarket Street, were constructed between 1853 and 1856. Calley states that Orchard Street was named after the pear orchard that occupied the slope (extending from Ferryquay Gate to Foyle Street) since the 17th century. The orchard was owned by a Colonel Campsie during the Siege of Derry and tradition suggests that it was through this orchard that Governor Robert Lundy made his escape from the city to join the Jacobites. The upper portion of Orchard Street was first recorded on maps dating from 1705. The orchard was owned by a Mr. Patterson in 1799 whilst the street was named Orchard Lane in 1831. The undeveloped land that constituted the orchard continued to be depicted on the Townland Valuation map of 1834, however the orchard was built over in 1849 when Orchard Street was extended down the hill to Foyle Street. Hume wrote that ‘the opening of the Foyle Road in 1842 and Orchard Street in 1849 provided new and more accessible routes to the market and to the port, routes which, of course, had to pass through Foyle Street’ (Calley, pp 299-300; Hume, p. 20).

The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848-49 records that only a small number of buildings had been constructed at the top of Orchard Street by the mid-19th century. The terrace of six buildings (of which nos 16-18 are the sole survivors) was not depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan or the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853. The terrace was first recorded in Griffith’s Valuation (1856). In that year the valuer noted that six dwellings had been constructed for Matthew McClelland, a local architect and builder who resided in one of the houses. McClelland was responsible for designing the mid-19th century breaches of the city walls, which included Magazine Gate (1865) Ferryquay Gate (1866) and New Gate (1866), and very likely designed the terrace on Orchard Street (although this is not known with certainty). The valuer notes that the houses along the terrace were leased by McClelland to tenants (NIEA Derry City Walls Gazetteer).

Nos 16-18 Orchard Street originally comprised two separate houses, each of which were initially valued at £16. The first recorded occupant of No. 16 Orchard Street was a Ms. Jane Forrest whilst the adjoining No. 18 was occupied by a Mr. William McCarter. The latter building found itself on a corner site following the breaching of the city walls in 1861 by the creation of Newmarket Street which facilitated access to the Edward Reid Market (NIEA). Although No. 16 Orchard Street remained in use as a private dwelling until at least the 1970s, No. 18 Orchard Street was converted into commercial premises in c. 1868 by a Mr. William Kitson. The 1873 Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Londonderry records that No. 16 Orchard Street possessed a small rear return (now replaced) whilst the adjoining No. 18 was depicted along its current layout. The neighbouring three-storey two-bay building on Newmarket Street had been constructed during the conversion of No. 18 in c. 1868 and was utilised as Butter and Egg Stores. The conversion of the corner building into a shop, and the construction of the stores on Newmarket Street, resulting in an increase in the total value of No. 18 Orchard Street to £34.

The tenants of No. 16 Orchard Street changed with frequency over the following century. In 1901 the Census of Ireland recorded that the house was occupied by William Ferguson, a local architect. In that year the census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms. No. 18 Orchard Street was converted into a public house in c. 1885 and has continued to be utilised as licenced premises since that time. In 1901 the public house was operated by Michael Cassidy who lived in rooms on the upper floor of the building with his family. In that year the census building return described his property as a 1st class public house that consisted of seven rooms and possessed the adjoining storehouse as its sole outbuilding. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) record that nos 16-18 Orchard Street were purchased outright by John McLaughlin in 1954. McLaughlin converted the upper floors of No. 18 Orchard Street into additional bar space and resided at the adjoining No. 16 Orchard Street. The valuer notes that No. 16 was continued to be valued at £16 whilst the value of No. 18 was altered to £29. The McLaughlin family continued to hold both properties until 1969 when the public house was acquired by Peter Owens. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of No. 16 Orchard Street stood at £22 whilst No. 18 had been greatly increased in value to £152.

Nos 8-16 Orchard Street were listed in 1979. The adjoining nos 8-14 were demolished between the 1970s and 1990s. The NIEA HB Records note that nos 16-18 Orchard Street were converted into a single licenced premises in c. 1995 when the interior was refurbished, an additional entrance door opened at the corner of No. 18, and the three-storey extension added to the rear of No. 16 (NIEA HB Records). Field inspection of the site, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that the buildings continue to be joined, and used as a public house known as Badgers Restaurant

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/14 – Annual Revisions Map (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/1/B/547A-F – Townland Valuations (1831)
5. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9B – Townland Valuation Town Plan (1834)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16F – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1897-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/19/072E (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/072E

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Derry City Walls Gazetteer’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 2011 – including Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1873)
2. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
3. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

Online Resources
1. Digital Atlas of Derry - http://www.ria.ie/digitalatlasderry - includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1848 49)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A pair of three-storey mid-nineteenth century smooth-rendered former residences with canted corner to Newmarket Street and Orchard Street, with a public bar shop-front at ground floor level. Built between 1853-1856 to designs by Matthew McClelland, a local architect and builder who resided in one of the houses. McClelland was responsible for designing the mid-19th century breaches of the City walls, which included Magazine Gate (1865), Ferryquay Gate (1866), and New Gate (1866). No.s 16-18 are survivors of an original terrace of six townhouses. The exterior retains much historic character including timber sliding sash windows. No.18 was converted to commercial premises c. 1868 and then a public house in 1885; No.16 remained in use as a private dwelling until it was more recently converted to additional bar space. The pair of buildings are located just outside the historic city walls, which contribute to the buildings' historic setting.