No. 10 London Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Georgian mid-terrace three-bay three-storey smooth-rendered townhouse, built c.1800. Rectangular on plan with large projecting three-storey rear return. Principal elevation faces south overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Churchyard to the south side of London Street, built as part of a terrace row of three similar houses of this type lining the north side of London Street, set on the edge of the pavement, within the Cathedral Quarter of the Historic Walled City. Slated pitched roof to main house and rear return.

Principal elevation (SW) is of smooth-rendered painted finish, all windows are square-headed with painted exposed box-frames on painted sill course to first and second floors, two 6/6 timber sliding sashes on ground floor, left of the entrance door, three 6/6 sliding sashes on first and second floor levels (diminished); slightly recessed semicircular-arch headed entrance doorway, two-steps up with a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door with cornice and plain fanlight above; large wall mounted lantern on decorative bracket to right side of first floor window above entrance door. Stepped cornice detail to eaves with cast-iron half-round guttering on out-and-up support brackets and circular cast-iron downpipe.

South East and North West sides are abutted by adjoining properties No.8 and No.12 London Street (HB01/19/087A & HB01/19/87C).

No access could be obtained to the rear of building at time of survey.

Pitched slate roof has black clay ridge tiles to main roof and rear return. Red brick chimney stack with three circular buff clay pots rising from west side, centred on ridge.

Materials:
Roof Slated
RWG Cast Iron (S)
Walling Render
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Setting:
Located on the north east side of London Street just off Bishop Street Within, overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Churchyard to the south side, situated along a terrace row and built around the same time as two other similar house types alongside Darcus and Cathedral Cottages, all within the Cathedral Quarter of the Historic Walled City.

Historical information

The buildings on London Street, extending from Bishop Street to New Gate, predominantly date from the late-Georgian and Victorian periods 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 Queen’s Street (Bishop Street) that occupied the exact current layout of London Street. These early maps were intended as proposals with many of the buildings depicted on them not being constructed until later. The plans did accurately reproduce the current geometric pattern of the city, suggesting that side streets such as Pump Street, Castle Street and London Street were also laid out in the early-17th century. London Street is divided by Pump Street into two sections (a west end and east end). From the 18th to mid-19th centuries the east end was known as Widow’s Lane and then Widow’s Row. The west end (originally unnamed) was known as Cross Lane in 1734, Church Lane in c. 1780 and Post Office Lane in 1799. The west end of the street was renamed London Street in 1811 in honour of the City of London companies who had founded the city as part of the Plantation of Ulster (Calley, p. 247).

Hume states that London Street ‘had originally a residential air similar to neighbouring Pump Street and Ferryquay Street [noting that] three doctors resided in it in 1832 and the buildings were generally substantial. The red brick here … points to a great deal of rebuilding in the nineteenth century.’ 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 (Hume, p. 13).

No. 10 London Street, a three-storey three-bay Georgian house, was constructed in the late-Georgian period in c. 1800. The Townland Valuations suggest that nos 8-12 London Street were most likely constructed at the same time. The valuer designated the buildings class 1b- (a slate roofed building of medium age that was slightly decayed, but still in good repair) and noted that all three buildings were 18 feet in width, 26 feet in depth and 32 feet in height. In 1832 No. 10 London Street was valued at £24 0s. 9d., possessed a cellar and was occupied by a Mr or Miss Montgomery. The contemporary Townland Valuation map for Londonderry (1834) depicted No. 10 London Street as a rectangular-shaped structure possessing a three-storey rear return (that it shares with the adjoining No. 12).

Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that nos 8-12 London Street was leased by Sir. Robert A. Ferguson (1796-1860), who was M.P. for Londonderry from 1831 and Lord Lieutenant of Co. Londonderry from 1840, both of which posts he held until his death in 1860. The valuer noted that No. 10 London Street had been lowered in value to £15 and was unoccupied in the 1850s. Between 1860 and 1864 the house was occupied by Ellen Cochrane who was Matron at the Union Workhouse on the Waterside (UTD). Between 1864 and 1881 No. 10 London Street was occupied by a number of tenants who only lived at the address briefly. The Annual Revisions did not record an occupant between 1881 and 1929 but the 1901 Census records that the building was occupied by John Stewart, a local hairdresser who operated his barber shop from the premises. In that year the census building return described No. 10 London Street as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of seven rooms. By 1911 the house had passed to the Cooper family who continued to reside there until 1960. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that ownership of nos 8-12 London Street had passed to Captain F. J. Montgomery and that the value of No. 10 was increased to £19 by the 1930s. In 1968 the private dwelling was acquired by E. M. Hegarty who converted the building into a number of self-contained compartments. The total value of No. 10 London Street stood at £49 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

London Street had fallen into a state of poor repair and dilapidation by the 1970s but Calley states that ‘it was from here that moves towards historic preservation within the city was partially inspired and launched; in 1975 the street featured in the European Architectural Heritage Year celebrations’ (Calley, p. 247). No. 10 London Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977.

References

Primary Sources
1. Pynnar’s plan of the Walled City (1618-19)
2. Thomas Raven’s plans of Londonderry (1622; 1625)
3. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
4. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
5. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/14 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
6. PRONI VAL/1/B/547E – Townland Valuations (1832)
7. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9B- Townland Valuation Map (1834)
8. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16D – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
9. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-11ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
10. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/1A-1B – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
11. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
12. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
13. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
14. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
15. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (London 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. Ó Baoill, R., ‘Island city: The archaeology of Derry – Londonderry’ Belfast: Northern Ireland Environment Agency, 2013.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
5. ‘Londonderry Historic City Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1977.
6. ‘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

Late-Georgian mid-terrace three-bay three-storey rendered townhouse, set on the north east side of London Street overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Church yard to the south side. Built c.1800, as part of a terrace row similar houses of this type. Rectangular on plan with large projecting rear return to the north side. While the front facade retains its original proportions and style, there is little internal historic detailing remaining and it is therefore not the best example of its type and does not meet the criteria for listing. It has group value with its neighbours on London Street and the adjacent Pump Street, and is located within the Historic Walled City Conservation Area which provides the appropriate level of protection.