7 CLARENDON ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-Victorian mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built c.1861. Rectangular on plan with modern projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north set behind low rendered wall surmounted by painted non-original black metal railings. 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. Large rendered chimney stack rising from the West side, centred on ridge with seven clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front.

Principal front (north) elevation is of Flemish brick bond. All windows are 6/6 timber sliding sash with square-headed openings set within painted cement rendered reveals and painted sills. 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 Adam-style fanlight above.
Single window to right of door with two windows to first and second floors (those to upper floors are not aligned with ground floor openings).

East and west elevations abutted by adjoining buildings No. 5 & 9 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005A & HB01/21/005C respectively).

South (rear) elevation is rendered three-storey with attic abutted to right by a modern three-storey pitched roof return built at half landing height. The return is further abutted by a modern three-storey pitched roof block which is positioned to the rear of the site and runs parallel to the main building. Modern return and three-storey block to rear have casement windows and are of no interest.

Left bay of main block comprises a single multi-pane replacement timber casement window to ground floor surmounted by a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first and second floors. Right bay is abutted by the modern rear return; exposed section is blank.

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, the front of the property faces north and is bounded by Clarendon Street set behind low rendered wall surmounted by painted non-original black metal railings. Modern return and three-storey block to rear of site enclose a small yard.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron (N) / Upvc (S)
Walling Brick / Render
Windows Timber

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 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. Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. In 1861 No. 7 Clarendon Street was originally valued at £21 and was occupied by a Miss Campbell. By 1901 the house was occupied by John Charles Orr, editor of the Londonderry Sentinel (one of the city’s three main newspapers). The census building return described the residence as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms. Ownership of No. 7 remained with the McClure family until a Mr. Edward Tinney purchased the building in 1920 (Tinney had also acquired nos 5-9 Clarendon Street by 1935). The First Revaluation recorded that No. 7 Clarendon Street had been increased in value to £33 by 1935, but by the Second Revaluation (1956-72) this had been reduced to £22. In 1956 the valuer noted that the former house had been partially converted into a private medical surgery for a Dr. D. Doherty.

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. 7 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 7 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 frames and glazing bars. The current three-storey office extension to the rear of No. 7 Clarendon Street was added in 1997. In that year the building also underwent an extensive renovation that included the reslating of the roof, the installation of the current Georgian-style casement windows and the installation of the current gates and railings to the front of the building (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. 7 Clarendon Street is currently utilised as office premises for a local solicitor’s firm.

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 – HB01/21/005B

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
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
U. Historic Associations
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1861 along with Nos. 5 and 9-15 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005 A & C-F). It has group value with Nos. 5 and 9-73 (excluding No.53) which were built over a twenty-one year period and line the south side of the street. The house was occupied for a period by John Charles Orr, editor of the Londonderry Sentinel (one of the city’s three main newspapers). The conversion to office use has resulted in some modernisation of the interior and an a modern extension to the rear. Despite this, its original character and much of its 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 & U-Historic Associations