22 Waterloo Place

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A symmetrical red-brick four-storey with dormer attic former hotel. Built 1899 in an exuberant High Victorian style. Refurbished 2009.

Principal elevation of red-brick and render, facing south with two projecting high gable ends and an extravagant two-storey, five-bay colonnaded façade with a carriage porch arcade with balustraded balcony above flanked by gable ends.

Located on the corner of Custom House Street looking onto Shipquay Place within the civic
setting of Waterloo Place with the historic city walls as a back-drop.

South elevation gable ends have two-storey pedimented canted bay windows with five pedimented dormer windows projecting above the roof line. Traditional remodelled shopfronts to ground floor with a central doorway set in a round-headed archway and projecting ironwork canopy.

A smaller return wing fronts onto Custom House Street with a single bay arcade between the high end gables to east elevation.

North elevation overlooking shared courtyard leading to Custom House Street with modern extension. Square-headed timber panelled side door with fanlight above; round-headed modern window to left of door; coupled 1/1 sliding sash timber window to first floor and single 1/1 timber sliding sash window to second and third floors.

Pie-ended platform-roof on a hipped roof with flat roof extension to north-east end with 6 red-brick chimneystacks.

Cast-iron rainwater goods throughout.

Refurbishment included: repair and re-pointing of brickwork, external render repairs, reinstatement and repair of architectural detail including shopfronts, re-roofing to include renewal of slate and leadwork along with repairs to timber structure, and repair and replacement of windows.

Setting:
Located on the corner of Custom House Street between Waterloo Place to the north west and Shipquay Place to the south east in a pedestrianised portion of the city, close to the city walls.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Brick & Render
Windows Replacement Timber Sliding Sash
Doors Replacement Timber

Historical information

The former Northern Counties Hotel, a four-and-a-half-storey redbrick building with ground floor shop units, was constructed in 1898-99 on Waterloo Place. The public space was originally laid out in the early-19th century and first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1830. No. 22 Waterloo Place, which was utilised as a hotel until the 1970s, was designed by Alfred Forman, an Australian architect who travelled to Ireland in 1897 and settled in Londonderry in c. 1899. Forman spent approximately five years in Derry and was also responsible for the design of the Northern Counties Club on Bishop Street (see HB01/19/008) and Carlisle Road Methodist Church (HB01/19/063) during this period before returning to Australia (Building News; DIA). The Northern Counties Hotel was constructed for Mrs Mary Gibson who had been the proprietor of the neighbouring Northern Hotel on Magazine Street; the earlier hotel was demolished in c. 1901 (Ulster Town Directories).

In 1901 the Northern Counties Hotel was valued at £414. The valuer noted that the four ground floor retail units possessed cellars and that one of the units was occupied by the offices of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Co; the value of the building was increased to £464 by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931. Following the death of Mary Gibson in 1926 ownership of the Northern Counties Hotel passed to George Maxwell; the First Revaluation noted that total value of the building (including the ground floor retail units) was increased to £629 in 1935. The upper floors of No. 22 Waterloo Place continued to be utilised as a hotel until the 1970s; by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the total value of the building had been further increased in value to £1,072.

In 1970 the First Survey described the Northern Counties Hotel as ‘a four-storey building with attic, the ground floor is shopped. The first and second floors to Waterloo Place are arcaded, pedestalled columns rise to support five semi-circular arches flanked on either end by pedimented bays;’ the former hotel was subsequently listed in 1979. During the Northern Ireland Troubles Waterloo was the site of frequent protests, riots and explosions and the Northern Counties Hotel suffered from a number of bomb blasts which damaged its external details and the iron porte-cochere; as a result of constant acts of violence, the hotel was closed and was converted into office space.

The former hotel fell into an advanced state of disrepair over the following three decades until the Townscape Heritage Initiative approached the current owner in 2002 with plans to restore the building. The restoration of the building included the retention of the historic facades facing Waterloo Place and Custom House Street, the construction of a modern three-storey rear return, the reinstallation of the iron porte-cochere, the restoration of the ground floor retail units and the reroofing of the entire building. The restoration was completed in 2009, under Tracey Architects of Derry, and Calley (writing in 2013) wrote that the building is now in ‘very good condition having been restored and brought back from near destruction … the owner, and all those who encouraged its preservation, are to be greatly congratulated’ (Derry Journal; Calley, p. 447).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2D-2E – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
3. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
5. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1943)
6. PRONI Wills (3 Jul 1926)
7. First Survey Record – HB01/21/016 (1970)
8. First Survey Image – HB01/19/016 (No Date)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/19/016
10. Derry Journal (1 May 2009)

Secondary Sources
1. Byrne, A; McMahon, S., ‘Derry in old photographs’ Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2003.
2. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
3. 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.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

A symmetrical, red-brick, four-storey with dormer attic former hotel. Built 1899 in an exuberant High Victorian style, to designs by Australian architect Alfred Forman, who was responsible also for the design of the Northern Counties Club on Bishop Street (see HB01/19/008) and Carlisle Road Methodist Church (HB01/19/063). An animated design, much of the exterior ornamental detail and porte–cochere was lost in the 1970’s due to bomb damage, but latterly the existing facades were restored with the porte–cochere reinstated. Conservation of the building and new extension, was completed in 2009, and reuse of the building has secured its long term survival as an important historic building within the city centre.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity & T-Historic Importance