23 A Bishop Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Georgian style, end-of-terrace two-bay three-storey-over-basement with attic red brick former townhouse. Built 1873 with a three-storey variegated red brick and rendered gabled rear return, both with duo-pitched roofs. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces southeast on to Bishop Street Within, and both gable end and return fronts on to Palace Street.

Pitched natural slate roof has black clay ridge tiles and two small slated duo-pitched dormers to the front and one to the rear; large red brick chimney stack, centred on ridge with nine octagonal buff clay pots rising from the south-west gable end and a small red brick chimney stack, rising from the north-east side has two octagonal buff clay pots; half-round uPVC guttering to projecting brick eaves discharging to a cast aluminium circular downpipe on front elevation. Apart from the attic dormers, which have uPVC casements, windows throughout are timber sliding sashes (with horns), fitted with slim double glazed units.

Principal elevation is of hand-made red brick laid in Flemish bond; all window openings are square-headed on masonry sills with 4/4 timber sliding sashes (with horns); windows on ground floor are not aligned with those on floors above. Elliptical arched entrance doorway to right hand side on ground floor, set within a painted rendered reveal with decorative scrolled console brackets on plain pilasters to either side of a raised-and-fielded four-panel painted timber door with fixed board over having two panels and painted to match door; projecting moulded cornice and a modest plain glazed fanlight over; door opens onto threshold level with the pavement. Two blind (half-height) bays to basement and attic level (recessed to attic); left side bay at basement level has a metal ventilation grill.

Southwest gable-end elevation is of red brick laid in Flemish bond; two 4/4 timber sliding sash windows on all levels, one to either side of elevation and clipped eaves. Galvanised metal full-height vertical bars to ground floor windows. Southwest elevation of rear return is of variegated red brick with square-headed windows and a single door to the left side opening out onto Palace Street. Ground floor windows have galvanised metal vertical bars, all windows are timber sliding sashes with horns having 4/4 panes; square headed door opening has a pair of panelled timber doors, now fixed shut, cut short and with a timber ventilation grill inserted at the base spanning the full width of opening; a large four pane glazed transom light above; uPVC half-round guttering discharges to a cast-iron circular downpipe.

Northwest elevation to the rear is of three-storeys plus attic abutted by a three-storey gabled return to the right side. Smooth plain rendered walls to main building, unpainted, with windows set at each half-landing– 2/2 to second floor and 4/4 to both first and ground floor levels and a single duo-pitched slate dormer to rear slate (main) roof. Northwest elevation to return is smooth rendered, unpainted, with toothed red brick quoins and clipped eaves abutted on ground and first floor level by neighbouring property at Palace Street. Single storey lean-to artificial slate roof forms enclosure for boiler house across narrow width of rear yard, with varnish stained timber door having horizontal ventilation slats and a stainless steel flue terminating above eaves level to the main roof.

Adjoining property, No. 23 Bishops Street (HB01.19.009), set back from the pavement, abuts northeast side of main building. Northeast elevation of rear return has smooth rendered walling, unpainted, natural slate roof and half-round uPVC guttering supported on painted timber eaves board. Square headed window openings, informally arranged and each having 2/2 sliding sash windows (some of which are regency style) and a flush painted timber door that opens onto concrete steps within the rear yard.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG uPVC & cast aluminium
Walling Red & variegated brick / unpainted render
Windows Timber sliding sash, double glazed & uPVC casements (dormers)

Setting:
Located at the end of a terrace on the north west side of Bishop Street Within at the corner of Palace Street, directly opposite the Deanery (HB01.19.004) with St Columb's Cathedral (HB01.19.001) and the Court House (HB01.19.002) to the southeast and St. Augustine's Church (HB01.19.012) to the rear (northwest); all set within the Cathedral Quarter Conservation Area and inside the City Walls.

Historical information

No. 23a Bishop Street, a three-storey-over-basement Georgian style red-brick house located at the corner of Palace Street, constructed in 1873, replacing an earlier building that had stood on the site since at least the early-19th century. The original building on the site was first recorded on the Townland Valuation map (1834) which depicted a building (possessing a long return) that occupied the current position of No. 23a Bishop Street and nos 2-4 Palace Street. The contemporary Townland Valuations (c. 1834) described the building as a 1d class structure (that is an old building that was out of repair) that measured 22.9ft in width by 27ft in height and possessed a cellar, a stable and a smithy amongst its outbuildings (the 1873 Ordnance Survey map suggests that No. 4 Palace Street was originally utilised as a smithy). The building (including its long return) was valued at £44 and 14 shillings and was occupied by a Mr David Hamilton in the 1830s. The New Directory of the City of Londonderry (1839) records that David Hamilton was a wholesale grocer who operated his business from his premises on Bishop Street.

Hamilton had vacated the property by the mid-19th century when Griffith’s Valuation (1856) noted that William Hannigan, a local butter merchant, had taken possession of the building. The valuer recorded that Hannigan leased the house, which had been decreased in value to £26, from a Mr Alfred A. Julius. In 1864, a Bernard Hannigan had the original building demolished and raised the current three-storey-over-basement redbrick building in its place. The construction of the new house was completed in 1873 when the Annual Revisions set its value at £42. The house was depicted along its current layout on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1873 but further changes were made to the rear of the building in the late-19th century. In 1884 Bernard Hannigan purchased the house, and the houses to the rear of his property, from Alfred A. Julius. In that year Hannigan carried out a restructuring of the dwellings on Palace Street resulting in the conversion of four previous houses into the two current properties (Nos 2 and 4 Palace Street). The Annual Revisions note that Hannigan operated his pawn business from the three-storey return to the rear of No. 23a Bishop Street (Derry Almanac).

The 1901 census noted that Bernard Hannigan was a local magistrate and described his property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a stable, coach house and a store amongst its outbuildings. Bernard Hannigan continued to reside at No. 23a Bishop Street until his death in 1914. The house remained with the Hannigan family until c. 1929 when it was acquired by Edward Tinney, a local grocer. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 23a Bishop Street remained at £42. Tinney remained at the address until his death in 1942 at which time ownership of the property passed to his representatives. The building continued to be utilised as a private dwelling until 1959 when it was occupied by the Royal Air Force Association and converted into clubrooms. The building remained in use as a clubhouse until at least the 1970s and its value stood at £160 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72). No. 23a Bishop Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977 and is currently utilised as office premises (Calley, p. 49).

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 Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9A-D – Townland Valuation Map (1834)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/547E – Townland Valuations (c. 1834)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16C – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/5A-5C – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
9. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
10. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
11. New Directory of the City of Londonderry (1839)
12. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
13. Derry Almanac (1876-1949)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. PRONI Wills Catalogue (21 Jan 1914; 2 Apr 1942)
16. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (Bishop Street – includes 1873 Ordnance Survey Map)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. ‘Londonderry Historic City Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1977.
3. ‘A Design Guide for the Historic City Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Georgian style, two-bay, three-storey-over-basement red brick end-of-terrace former house, with attic and three-storey brick return that fronts on to Palace Street, built 1873, located on the northwest side of Bishop Street Within in the city of Derry. Much of the interior has been modernised with little interior historic detailing remaining apart from the staircase and with alterations to the original plan form. The simple Georgian-style fenestration and the ornate door case on the front facade are more appropriately protected by the Historic City Conservation Area.