19 CLARENDON ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-Victorian mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic townhouse, built c.1874. Rectangular on plan with projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north set behind a low level painted rendered boundary wall surmounted by replacement metal railings. No's 17, 19 and 21 Clarendon Street are distinctive in character and were the last properties to have been built in this terrace of twelve predominately brick faced townhouses.

Natural slate roof with a dormer to front and rear.

Principal front (north) elevation is painted render to ground floor and red Flemish bond brick to upper floors with a rendered band to eaves. All windows are 6/6 timber sliding sash (square-headed to ground floor, segmental-arched to upper floors) unless otherwise noted. Continuous sill course to first floor windows.
Square-headed opening to entrance doorway to right surmounted by a projecting moulded cornice supported by a pair of pilasters painted in contrasting colour and console brackets with acanthus leaf detail to either side of a paired half leaf two-panelled painted timber doors with square-headed three-pane overlight. Entrance door is surmounted by a window to each floor within a painted moulded surround (that to first floor has a keystone detail). Upper floor windows are not aligned with door opening.
Two-storey rendered canted bay window to left with a window to each facet at each floor. Moulded string course to first floor level and moulded panels to each facet below a continuous sill course to first floor windows; projecting moulded cornice above first floor windows. Two-storey bay window is surmounted by a paired window to second floor with continuous sill course and painted moulded surrounds. Segmental-arched 6/6 timber sliding sash window to pitched roof dormer to left.

East and West elevations are abutted by adjoining buildings No.17 & 21 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005G & HB01/21/005I respectively).

South (rear) elevation is cement rendered three-storey with attic. Cement rendered pitched roof four-storey rear return to left built at half landing height. The fenestration pattern is irregular with 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to ground, first and second floors and a 6/3 timber sliding sash window attic level. Rear elevation not fully visible at time of survey.
Rear return south gable fenestration pattern is irregular and comprises a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first floor right with a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to second and third floor left; ground floor level not visible at time of survey. West face is abutted by the return of No.21 Clarendon Street; east face not visible at time of survey.

Setting:
No's 17, 19 and 21 Clarendon Street are distinctive in character and were the last properties to have been built in this terrace of twelve predominately brick faced townhouses. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the front of the property faces north and is bounded by Clarendon Street set behind a low rendered wall enclosing a small hard surfaced area.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron/uPVC
Walling Render/Brick
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 17-21 Clarendon Street were constructed in 1874, approximately two decades after the initial development of the street; as a result the three buildings display a Victorian character in contrast to the neighbouring Georgian-style terraces (No. 19 expresses this clearer than the adjoining buildings due to the inclusion of canted bay windows in its design). Nos 17-21 Clarendon Street were constructed for Forrest Reid, a local solicitor who held business offices on Richmond Street (Ulster Town Directories). The Annual Revisions note that No. 19 was originally valued at £38 in 1874. Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. The first occupant of No. 19 Clarendon Street was a prestigious figure in the history of Londonderry, a relative of the owner, Sir Edward Reid. Reid was a local magistrate who was also secretary to Gwyn’s Charitable Institution and held the position of Mayor of Londonderry in 1868-69 and 1880 (Ulster Town Directories). By 1901 Sir Edward Reid had vacated the house. In that year No. 19 Clarendon Street was described as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms. Ownership of the house remained with the Reid family until the 1930s when nos 19-21 Clarendon Street were purchased by a Mr. Joseph A. L. Johnston (who then occupied No. 19 as his personal dwelling). In 1935 the house was increased in value to £67 under the First Revaluation. Johnston had converted the former dwelling into a private medical surgery by the 1950s but the building was returned to domestic use in 1968. The value of No. 19 Clarendon Street stood at £60 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

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. 19 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the house underwent an extensive renovation in 1991 which included the reslating of its roof, the repointing of its brickwork and chimney, and the renewing of its rain water goods. In 2006 the original two-storey outbuilding to the rear of the house was demolished (NIEA HB Records).

In 2013 Calley described nos 17-21 Clarendon Street as ‘terrace houses, being a variation on the other houses on the street … the fenestration somewhat irregular [whilst] the outer buildings have tripartite ground floor windows and the ground of each is rendered’ (Calley, p. 117). 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, accountants and solicitors firms in the late-20th century. No. 19 Clarendon Street is currently utilised as office space for a local accountancy 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 (24 Feb 1888)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/21/005 (1970)
14. First Survey Image – HB01/21/005 (No Date)
15. NIEA HB Record – HB01/21/005H

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

X. Local Interest
R. Age
S. Authenticity

Evaluation

A Victorian mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic render and brick townhouse, built in 1874 along with Nos. 17 & 21 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005 G & I). It has group value with Nos. 5-17 and 21-73 (excluding No.53) which were built over a twenty-one year period and line the south side of the street. No's 17, 19 and 21 Clarendon Street are distinctive in character and were the last properties to have been built in this terrace of twelve predominately brick faced townhouses. The conversion to office use has resulted in some modernisation of the interior. 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