1 WEST END PARK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Victorian end-of-terrace two-bay three-storey over basement brick and stone Arts and Crafts style townhouse. Built 1896. Rectangular on plan with a large projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north accessed via a flight of steps from the east side on West End Park set behind low rendered unpainted boundary wall with decorative metal railings above. Built as part of a terrace row of twenty-two similar houses of this type lining the west side of West End Park. Nos 1-7 were built first.

Pitched natural slate roof continuous with a large red brick chimney stack with eleven pots shared with No.2 West End Park. Timber fascia and soffit with exposed rafter tails; half round uPVC guttering discharging to circular uPVC downpipes.

East elevation is of red brick 'English Garden Wall Bond'; rock-faced 'block and sneck' sandstone to basement level, accessed via a short flight of steps from street level; windows are square-headed with a three storey canted bay window rising from basement level through to first floor level. The second floor has a slight cantilevered box pedimented window resting on the canted bay below, supported by large timber brackets to either side. Pediment has half-timber treatment with plain wide painted timber fascia board finish and a coupled 6/2 timber sliding sash window. Second floor level has half-timber treatment supported on small carved timber corbel brackets continuous returning the corner to north elevation; timber painted casement windows to canted bay at basement level, 1/2 timber sliding sashes to canted bay on ground and first floors and the same type to first floor level above a blind red brick window on ground floor, left of canted bay, 1/1 'horizontally hung' timber sliding sash on second floor level. Painted rendered band to basement, ground, first and second floor window heads and painted rendered surrounds to canted bay window, painted sill-course to ground and first floor windows.

South side is adjoined to neighbouring property No. 2 West End Park (HB01/20/002B).

North elevation is of red brick, three storeys over basement overlooking a small urban green area with allocated vegetable allotments; sandstone finish to basement level with entrance door accessed via a short flight of steps, red brick to floors above, second floor has half-timber treatment supported on small carved timber corbel brackets, three 6/2 timber sliding sash pedimented windows to second floor to right side, pediment has half-timber treatment with plain wide painted timber fascia board finish; bays on basement and ground floor are slightly projected with a shallow lean-to roof with interlocking profiled concrete tiles; large projecting Edwardian-style 'enclosed' timber frame entrance porch with glazed and timber double doors, glazed lights and shouldered fanlights to each side, frieze and dentilled cornice above with a felt roof finish, centred on elevation on ground floor level, positioned above entrance doorway on basement level, accessed via a flight of steps approached from the east side; all windows are square-headed, paired casement windows to each side of entrance porch to basement level, paired 1/2 timber sliding sash windows no ground floor level either side of entrance porch, paired 1/2 timber sliding sash windows to left and right of a single timber casement window centred on elevation to first floor level.

West elevation to the rear is of three-storeys, gable-end smooth-rendered unpainted, timber casement windows to ground and first floor level, and two timber casement windows at half-landing height, step in gable wall, left of windows contains fire brace with flue and clay pot above to slate roof, off-centred from ridge. Small garden to the rear steps up extending to block work high boundary wall.

Pitched natural slate roof with black clay ridge tiles to the main roof and rear return, rear return has a small modern roof light on south side of double pitch. Large red brick shared chimney stack rising from the South side, centred on ridge with eleven terracotta clay pots. uPVC rainwater goods throughout.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Brick
Windows Timber Sliding Sash (E & N) and timber casements (N, E & W)

Setting:
Located on the west side of West End Park on an elevated site, end-of-terrace house along a row of twenty-two townhouses of similar type set back from the pavement behind low rendered painted boundary walls with small gardens, principal entrance accessed via a flight of steps approached from the east side from West end Park.

Historical information

West End Park, a terrace of 22 three-storey red brick dwellings was laid out between 1896 and 1905. The terrace is located above the Lone Moor Road (which was in existence from at least the late-17th century) and was part of the development of housing in the area at the end of the 19th century that also saw the laying out of red brick terraces at Stanley’s Walk, Laburnum Terrace and Elmwood Terrace. The Annual Revisions note that the terrace was erected in phases with the Tudor-style nos 1-7 being the first to be completed whilst the remaining nos 8-22 were constructed in a simpler Victorian manner between 1896 and 1905. The terrace was home to many of the city’s professional and mercantile elite.

No. 1 West End Park was constructed in 1896 and was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1898. The valuer noted that nos 1-7 West End Park were owned by Joseph Ballantine, a local architect and builder who was active in the late-19th century and possessed business premises on the Strand Road. Although the architect of nos 1-22 West End Park is not known with certainty it is likely that the row was designed by Ballantine who had also designed the similar Arts-and-Crafts red brick terrace at St. Columb’s Court which shares a Tudor character with the terrace at West End Park (UTD; DIA). The terrace was first depicted on the c. 1873-1910 Annual Revisions map for the city on which was marked a proposed plan for the terrace along its current layout.

The Annual Revisions set the rateable value of No. 1 West End Park at £25 and noted that the first occupant of the house was Patrick O’Kane, a local wine merchant and publican who held business premises on Foyle Street. The 1901 census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a coal house as its sole outbuilding. By the 1911 census the house had passed to Robert John Skinner who was a gas engineer and manager of the local gas works. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the house was increased to £37. The occupants of the house changed with great frequency between 1911 and the 1950s but by 1956 a Mr. G. Glover had taken possession of the dwelling and continued to reside there until at least 1972. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of No. 1 West End Park had been further raised to £40.

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Derry described nos 1-7 West End Park as ‘rather massive in appearance, having strong modelled gables over the projecting bays finished in half-timbered work’ (UAHS guide, p. 51). Only nos 1-7 West End Park were listed in 1979. Calley stated that nos 1-7 ‘have particularly wide and bold canted bays which are emphasised with wide smooth-rendered bands and surrounds … the attic storey is a massive conglomeration of half-timberwork giving the charming appearance of an Elizabethan village perched on an Edwardian terrace’ (Calley, p. 453). As the end terrace building, No. 1 West End Park’s entrance does not face onto the street but is accessed by a porch on its north gable. During the Second Survey the building continued to be utilised as a private office.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/13 – Annual Revisions Map (c. 1873-1910)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2B-2E – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
3. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/17 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
5. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1943)
6. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
7. First Survey Record – HB01/20/002 (1970)
8. First Survey Image – HB01/20/002 (No Date)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/20/002A

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Ferguson, W. S; Rowan, A. J; Tracey, J. J., ‘List of historic buildings, groups of buildings, areas of architectural importance in and near the city of Derry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1970.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

End-of-terrace two-bay three-storey over basement, Tudor-style redbrick with half-timberwork townhouse built in 1896 likely to designs by Joseph Ballantine, a local architect and builder who owned nos. 1-7. No.1 was the first to be built of the terraced row of twenty-two houses lining the west side of West End Park, a street aligned north-south and located on the west side of the River Foyle at the southern end of Lone Moor Road. Despite the loss of some historic fabric such as some original sash windows, no.1 is a fine example of its type, retaining much internal and external historic detailing. It is situated within a group of seven similar townhouses which are distinctive in style in contrast to the less detailed Victorian style of nos. 8-22 which were built up until 1905. Nos. 1-7 have group value and the local area is enhanced by their historic detailing, character and style.