No. 18 London Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Georgian mid-terrace three-bay three-storey smooth-rendered townhouse, built c.1840s. Rectangular on plan with large flat roof three-storey rear extension. Principal elevation faces south west directly overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Churchyard to the south side of London Street, situated within a terrace row of similar houses of this type lining the north side of London Street, on the edge of the pavement, within the Cathedral Quarter of the Historic Walled City. Slated pitched roof to main house with red brick chimney stack rising from the west side elevation.

Principal elevation (SW) is of smooth-rendered unpainted finish, all windows are square-headed on painted masonry sills, two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows on ground floor, left of the entrance door, three 6/6 sliding sashes on first floor and three 6/3 diminished sliding sashes on second floor level; slightly recessed entrance doorwway with elliptical arched opening, dentilled moulded cornice and frieze above, supported on columns of the Doric order to either side of a raised-and-fielded six-panel painted timber door and Adam-style fanlight above. Large wall mounted lantern on decorative bracket to left 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.

North west and south east sides are abutted by adjoining properties No.16 (Cathedral Cottage HB01/19/088B) & No.20 London Street (HB01/19/090C).

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. Red brick chimeny stack with three circular terracotta 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, directly overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Churchyard to the south side, situated along a terrace row of 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. 18 London Street, a three-storey three-bay dwelling, was constructed between 1832 and 1849. The Townland Valuations (1832) record that a smaller building occupied the same site in the early-1830s. The valuer noted that the building was a 1d class structure (that is an old slated building that was dilapidated and scarcely habitable) that measured 31.5ft in width, 21.6ft in depth and only 20.6ft in height. No. 18 London Street is approximately 28ft in height (around the same height as the neighbouring nos 6-12 London Street) making it clear that the building had not been built by 1832. No. 18 London Street was constructed by 1849 as a building was depicted on the 1848-49 Ordnance Survey map along the layout of the current building.

Griffith’s Valuation (1856) records that No. 18 London Street was owned by George Franks, a local solicitor who also held the adjoining nos 14-16 London Street and nos 19-21 Pump Street. The valuer set the total rateable value of No. 18 London Street at £24 and noted that Franks originally lived at the house before vacating it in c. 1860 when Patrick Friel, a local tailor, occupied it. The Londonderry Corporation Map (1857). The Annual Revisions plan (c. 1873-1910) and a later detailed valuation map of 1899 show that the general layout of No. 18 London Street has remained unchanged since the mid-19th century. By 1901 the house was occupied by Bernard Doherty, a local tobacconist and city magistrate. In that year the census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms and possessed no out offices. The Derry Almanac records that in the 1920s No. 18 London Street was occupied by Matthew Kerr who partially converted the building into a printing works (known as the Newgate Printing Works) which continued to operate from the property until the 1960s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the building was adjusted to £28. In 1964 the building was acquired by A. E. A. Frazer who converted the printing works into a number of self-contained apartments that were valued at £53 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. 18 London Street was included in the Historic City Conservation Area in 1977. Contemporary photographs of the building (c. 1975) record that the building originally possessed a red brick façade and railing to its ground floor windows, however the facade has now been rendered over and the railings removed. The original entrance door has also been replaced since the 1970s (Calley, pp 247-252).

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. 1873-1910)
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. Derry Almanac (1870-1953)
15. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
16. Foyle Civic Trust – Living City Project (London Street – included 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 – includes 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. 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.

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

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 directly overlooking St. Columb's Cathedral and Church yard to the south side. Built c.1840s, situated within a terraced row of similar houses of this type. Contemporary photographs of the building (c. 1975) record that the building originally possessed a red brick façade and railing to its ground floor windows, however the facade has now been rendered over and the railings removed, and the original entrance door has also been replaced since the 1970s; the result is that insufficient architectural details remain for the building to be of special interest. The building is located within the Historic Walled City Conservation Area which provides the appropriate level of protection.