35 CLARENDON ST.

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1862 along with Nos. 29-33 & 37-51 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005M-O & Q-X). Rectangular on plan with projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north onto Clarendon Street set behind low rendered wall surmounted by black painted replacement 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 with black clay ridge tiles and a pitched roof dormer to the front. Large brick chimney stack rising from the east side, centred on ridge with seven clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front and rear.

Principal front (north) elevation is of Flemish brick bond with rendered plinth. Three-centred-arch opening to entrance doorway with moulded surround to right; recessed moulded cornice supported by columns of the Doric order to either side of a painted timber four-panelled door surmounted by an Adam-style fanlight. All window openings are square-headed with painted cement rendered reveals and painted sills. All windows are 6/6 timber sliding sash unless otherwise stated.
Single 8/8 timber sliding sash window to left of door with two windows to first and second floors (those to upper floors are not aligned with ground floor openings). Narrow pitched roof dormer centred on elevation with a 6/3 timber sliding sash window.

East and west elevations abutted by adjoining buildings No. 33 & No. 37 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005O & HB01/21/005Q respectively).

South (rear) elevation is brick three-storey with attic. Small rendered pitched-roof three-storey rear return to left abutted by a larger pitched-roof three-storey return which is further abutted by a rendered pitched-roof single-storey return. The single-storey return abuts a rendered pitched-roof two-storey mews building which runs parallel to the main building.
Right bay of main block comprises a projecting timber 'box' bay to ground floor with a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to first and second floors. 'Box' bay comprises three pane fixed lights to east and west faces; south face has a pair of three pane 1/2 fixed lights surmounted by single pane casements.
Left bay is abutted by rear return; exposed section has a 6/3 timber sliding sash window.

Small three-storey rear return south gable is fully abutted by the larger three-storey return. East face comprises a modern vertically sheeted timber door with narrow single pane square-headed overlight to ground floor with a single diminutive 2/2 timber sliding sash window to first and second floors aligned over right reveal of door. West face has a window opening to first floor level (west face not fully viewed at time of survey).

Large three-storey rear return north gable is abutted by the small three-storey return; exposed section is blank. South gable is abutted by the single-storey return; exposed section is blank. East face has a chamfered corner to right extending to first floor level and a window to each floor (east face not fully viewed at time of survey). West face is blank.

Single-storey rear return north and south gables are fully abutted by the large three-storey return and the two-storey mews building respectively. East face has two 6/6 timber sliding sash windows. West face is blank.

Two-storey mews building to rear of site is rendered with slate roof and clipped eaves.
North face left bay has a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to ground and first floor; right bay is abutted by the single-storey return, exposed section is blank.
East face is abutted by the mews building of no. 33 Clarendon Street; exposed section is blank.
West face is abutted by the altered remains of the mews building of no. 37 Clarendon Street; exposed section is blank.
South face has a door opening to far right and a window opening to far left; two blind former window openings to first floor aligned over ground floor openings (south face not fully viewed at time of survey).

Setting:
Built as part of a row of twelve 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 set behind a low rendered wall surmounted by black painted replacement metal railings. Small enclosed yard to rear bounded by a two-storey mews building to the south.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron (N & 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 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 29-51 Clarendon Street were constructed in 1862 as part of the second phase in the laying out of Clarendon Street. No. 35 was constructed for Smyth Osbourne, an agent with Imperial Fire Insurance who held business offices on Foyle Street (Ulster Town Directories); the house was originally valued at £29 in 1862. Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. In 1901 the house was occupied by James Glendinning, a local chemist who held business premises on the Strand Road; the census building return of that year described their house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of ten rooms. Ownership of No. 35 Clarendon Street remained with the Osbourne family by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931, however in 1935 the First Revaluation recorded that the value of the building had been increased to £39 and ownership had passed to a Mr. J. B. Smith. The Second Revaluation (1956-72) records that ownership of the building had passed to Dr. Thomas McCabe by 1956; in 1963 McCabe converted the building into a private medical surgery for Dr. M. O’Sullivan; the building, which was no longer utilised as a private dwelling, was subsequently increased in value to £52.

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. 35 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 35 underwent renovation in 1987 that included the reslating of its roof, the restoration of its sliding sash windows and the repair of its original chimney stack. The current two-storey rear return was added to the building in c. 1992 (NIEA HB Records).
In 2013 Calley described nos 29-39 Clarendon Street as ‘terrace houses with Doric doorway columns’ (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, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. No. 35 Clarendon Street is currently utilised as office premises for Sammon Surveyors.

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. First Survey Record – HB01/21/005 (1970)
13. First Survey Image – HB01/21/005 (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Record – HB01/21/005P

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

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

Evaluation

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1862 along with Nos. 29-33 and 35-51 Clarendon Street (HB01/21/005M-N & Q-X). It has group value with Nos. 5-31 and 35-73 (excluding No.53) which were built over a twenty-one year period and line the south side of the street. It has been sympathetically converted to office use with much of its internal detailing remaining intact. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the well preserved setting the survival of its rear mews building 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.