5 CLARENDON ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-Victorian end-of-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built c.1861. Rectangular on plan with extended rear return. Principal elevation faces north set behind a low rendered wall. Built as part of a row of similar houses of this type which line the south side of Clarendon Street.

Pitched natural slate roof, black clay ridge tiles and large cement rendered chimney stack rising from the east gable, centred on ridge with seven clay pots. uPVC guttering to front and rear elevations.

Principal front (north) elevation is of Flemish brick bond with painted chamfered corner quoin stones to left. Three-centred-arch opening to entrance doorway with moulded cornice supported by columns of the Doric order to either side of a painted timber four-panelled door with plain fanlight above. All window openings are square-headed with painted cement rendered reveals and painted sills. Paired diminished 1/1 timber sliding sash windows (top sashs diminished) with shared sill to left of door with two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to first and second floors (those to upper floors are not aligned with ground floor openings).

East (gable) elevation facing onto North Edward Street is of roughcast render with painted chamfered corner quoin stones to right. Gable comprises a diminutive uPVC casement window to ground floor far left with a 6/6 timber sliding sash window off centre to left. 2/2 timber sliding sash window to first floor far left with a uPVC casement window directly above to second floor. Diminutive window to attic level far right.

West elevation is abutted by adjoining building No. 7 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005B).

South (rear) elevation is three-storey with attic and comprises a brick left bay with a small single storey lean-to extension and a painted smooth-render right bay abutted by a large pitched roof three-storey return at half landing height.
Left bay comprises a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first floor and a single diminutive 1/1 timber sliding sash window to second floor (ground floor not visible at time of survey). Exposed section of right bay blank.

Rear return east face comprises flush door to far right, a square-headed opening with modern steel gate to far left with three irregularly spaced casement windows (with grills) between. Five evenly spaced uPVC casement windows to first and second floors. West face comprises five evenly spaced uPVC casement windows to first and second floors (ground floor not visible at time of survey). South gable has remnants of a two-storey extension now mostly demolished. Blocked-up door opening to first floor left of centre with a blocked-up and rendered opening to third floor left.

Setting:
Built as part of a row of twelve early to mid-Victorian townhouses which line the south side of Clarendon Street. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area at the junction of Clarendon Street/North Edward Street, the front of the property faces north and is set behind a low rendered wall enclosing a small hard surfaced area.

Materials:
Roof: Natural Slate
RWG uPVC
Walling Brick/Roughcast render
Windows: Timber (N) / uPVC (E)

Historical information

Clarendon Street, characterised by its long terraces of Georgian-style townhouses, was laid out in the early-Victorian period with the construction of the first dwellings commencing in c. 1853. The laying out of similar terraced dwellings on Great James Street and Queen Street was necessitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the mid-19th century. John Hume notes that during the period 1825-1850 ‘reconstruction of the city’s buildings [within the walls] took place alongside the development, for the first time, of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore’ (Hume, p. 147).

The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the Clarendon Street area was originally rural hinterland with few significant structures. In 1830 the development of the city’s streets had extended no further than Waterloo Place, Abbey Street and William Street. In the first decades of the 19th century the only major construction north of the walls had been isolated buildings such as the Londonderry Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum and Foyle College (HB01/22/016) with little or no domestic architecture being erected in the same period. The only building in the area that predates the early-Victorian development is Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006), a Regency house constructed c. 1815 and which, according to Calley, is ‘a pleasing composition which offers a gentle rebuke to some of the exuberance of later nearby buildings … one of it’s pleasant features is that it opens a gap in the long terraces’ (Calley, p. 116).

In The Annals of Derry, a survey of the city compiled by Robert Simpson and published in 1847, Simpson recorded that ‘all the district now covered by Great James’s Street, William Street, Little James Street … and the numerous lanes in that vicinity [originally comprised] meadow ground without a house’ (Simpson, p. 213). The initial development of housing in this area began in the late-Georgian period and continued into the Victorian era. With the construction of uniform rows of neat and charming three-storey townhouses, a new affluent area was established that swiftly became the preferred residence of the city’s merchant and professional classes. The laying out of Clarendon Street, Great James Street and Queen Street followed a geometric street pattern which was characteristic of Georgian street development; the development signified the most ambitious project of town planning carried out in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city in the years 1613-19.

The contemporary 1847 plan of Londonderry, which depicted the proposed layout of Clarendon Street at least a decade before it was actually completed, recorded that the street was originally known as Ponsonby Street. The street was named after the Rt. Rev. Richard Ponsonby (1772-1853), Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, however by the 1850s the street had been renamed Clarendon Street in honour of the Fourth Earl of Clarendon, George Villiers (1800-1870), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1847 and 1852. The second edition of the Ordnance Survey map records that Ponsonby Street had been renamed Clarendon Street by at least 1853. Although the 1847 plan of Londonderry depicted that Clarendon Street extended from the quay up to Francis Street, only the bottom section of Clarendon Street (between the Strand Road and Queen Street) had been laid out by 1853.

The development of Clarendon Street progressed slowly throughout the 1850s. Mullin records that development of the remainder of the street did not recommence until the mid-1850s. In 1851 Skipton & Miller had advertised building ground on Clarendon Street, Queen Street and Patrick Street to be let in perpetuity. Griffith’s Valuation recorded that only nine dwellings had been constructed along the entire length of the street by 1856. In that year additional leases were advertised for building ground on the northern side of Clarendon Street (Mullin, p. 117).

Nos 5-15 Clarendon Street were constructed in 1861 as part of the second phase in the laying out of Clarendon Street. Nos 5-9 were constructed for James McClure a coach builder who owned a factory on Foyle Street in 1852 (Ulster Town Directory); McClure died in 1860 before the terrace had been completed, but ownership of the terrace remained with his family after his death. In 1861 No. 5 Clarendon Street was valued at £35, a value that was significantly higher than the adjoining buildings; this was due to the greater size of No. 5 which possessed a larger rear return and possessed more floor space (the side elevation of the end terrace building follows the line of North Edward Street which is at an angle).Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. In 1901 No. 5 Clarendon Street was occupied by Robert Spiers, a local shirt factory manager. The census building return described the residence as a 2nd class dwelling that only consisted of six rooms. Ownership of No. 5 remained with the McClure family until a Mr. Edward Tinney purchased the building in 1920 (Tinney also acquired nos 7-9 Clarendon Street by 1935). The First Revaluation recorded that No. 5 Clarendon Street had been increased in value to £31 by 1935. Between 1935 and 1956 the former dwelling was partially converted into a surgery for Dr. J. Mitchell and Dr. H. Lindsay who also resided at the site and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the total value of No. 5 Clarendon Street had been increased to £47.

In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated Clarendon Street (and the surrounding streets) a Conservation Area ‘being an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’ (Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet). No. 5 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 5 Clarendon Street suffered light damage as a result of a bomb that exploded in 1992. The blast shattered the glazing and destroyed the original sliding sash frames and glazing bars. The building was repaired in that year when the current Georgian-style windows were installed (NIEA HB Records).

In 2013 Calley described nos 5-9 as a ‘terrace of three-and-half-storeys (although no dormers here) … nos 7-9 has a single ground floor window bay while No. 5 has two smaller bays’ (Calley, p. 118). Few of the mid-Victorian townhouses along Clarendon Street are now occupied as residential dwellings. The majority of the three-storey buildings were converted into offices for local dentists, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. No. 5 Clarendon Street is currently utilised as office premises.

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/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland (1935)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847)
9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
10. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
12. PRONI Wills Catalogue (20 May 1860)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/21/005 (1970)
14. First Survey Image – HB01/21/005 (No Date)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB01/21/005A

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.
3. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Mullin, T. H., Ulster’s Historic City: Derry – Londonderry’ Coleraine: Coleraine Bookshop, 1986.
5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
6. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978.
7. ‘Design Guide for Clarendon Street Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

An end-of-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1861 along with Nos. 7-15 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005B-F). It has group value with Nos. 7-73 (excluding No.53) which were built over a twenty-one year period and line the south side of the street. Although a number of the windows are replacements, its original character and much of its external detailing survives. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the well preserved setting adds to its interest. The terrace represents the mid 19th century development of the city of Derry and the house is a noteworthy example of the type of property built during this period of growth in the economy and population of the city.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age & S-Authenticity