Columba House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian mid-terrace three-storey with attic three-bay red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built c.1847 with projecting rear return of the same height, abutted by a two-storey later addition. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces east, built as one of a terrace of four similar street-fronted townhouses lining the west side of Queen Street. Pitched natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and a red brick chimney stack with clay pots rising from the south side. Cast iron half round guttering on rise and fall brackets terminating into cast iron hopper and circular downpipe to front elevation; black uPVC rainwater goods to side and rear.

Principal elevation of red brick walling laid in 'Flemish' bond with cement pointing, set behind a low level rendered plinth wall with metal railings and handrails to concrete disabled access ramp. All window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills, bays on ground floor are aligned with bays on floors above. Windows on ground floor right of entrance doorway 1/1 timber sliding sash; elliptical arch headed entrance doorway, slightly recessed, has engaged fluted columns of the Doric order either side and a raised-and-fielded four panel painted timber door with dentilled entablature and fanlight above. 1/1 timber sliding sashes on first and second floor levels. Large slate clad central dormer with slate pitched roof, decorative barge board, timber finial, and replacement 1/1 sliding sash window.

North and south sides are abutted by Nos. 10 and 12 Queen Street (HB01/21/020B & HB01/21/020D).

West elevation to the rear is of three storeys with attic, smooth unpainted render finish to rear and rear return of same height, with a slated duo-pitched roof. Rear return has zinc clad flat roofed dormer and its gable end is abutted by further two storey gabled addition, that steps back in plan and extends across the full width of the main building, enclosing the original yard. Square-headed window openings on unpainted masonry sills. The fenestration pattern is irregular, with replacement timber sliding sashes to the rear, including the wall-head dormer and gable end of the return, and top-hung casement windows to north face of return and ground floor of two-storey addition; the latter also has a glazed timber framed door with plain overlight and fixed light to first floor above having sloped window head to align with roof.

Materials
Roof Natural slate (where seen)
RWG Cast Iron (E) PVC (W)
Walling Red brick (E) / Render (W)
Windows Timber sliding sash (E) / Replacement timber sliding sash & casement (W)

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of four similar houses lining the west side of Queen Street, set within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Front entrance accessed via four concrete steps from pavement level and switch-back concrete ramp to right of door bound by painted metal handrails with decorative metal railings (replacement) to front. Small rear yard enclosed by rendered wall with replacement single storey outbuilding - now a community youth centre (of little interest).

Historical information

Queen Street, characterised by its mid-nineteenth century terraced houses, was originally laid out in c. 1840, with the first buildings constructed along the street by at least 1847. The laying out of Queen Street, as well as the adjoining Great James Street and Clarendon Street, was neccesitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the mid-nineteenth century. John Hume notes that during the period 1825-1850 ‘reconstruction of the city’s buildings [within the city walls] took place alongside the development for the first time of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore’ (Hume, p. 147).

Queen Street was the second major new street in the area (Great James Street had been laid out in c. 1833). The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the Queen 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 that was constructed c. 1815.

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 1613-19.

O’Hagan’s contemporary plan of Londonderry recorded that Queen Street was originally known as Queen’s Street (the name of the street continued to switch back and forth throughout its history) and noted that at least 12 houses had been constructed along the row by 1847. The map shows that nos 1-8 Queen Street (HB01/21/024A-H) and nos 9-12 Queen Street (HB01/21/020A-D) are amongst the earliest terraced dwellings within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, having been built by at least 1847.

No. 11 Queen Street, now also known as ‘Columba House,’ was first recorded on O’Hagan’s 1847 plan which depicted the building with a rear return and outbuilding (now demolished and replaced with a modern return). The layout of nos 9-12 Queen Street had not changed by the second edition Ordnance Survey map (1853) and no further buildings had been constructed along the street in the intervening period. The contemporary Griffith’s Valuation (1856) recorded that No. 11 Queen Street was owned by John W. Johnston (a local property owner who owned much of the land on nearby Clarendon Street), was originally valued at £50 and was leased out to a Mr. James Corscaden in 1856.

Throughout its history the occupants of the dwellings in Queen Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. In 1911 No. 11 was occupied by David Craig, a Dental Surgeon. In that year the census building return described the building as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 11 rooms. Ownership of No. 11 Queen Street had passed to the McCorkell family (who also owned the adjoining No. 12) by the 1930s. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) increased the value of No. 11 Queen Street to £80 and recorded that ownership of nos 11-12 Queen Street had passed to a Mr. J. B. Smith as owner of nos 11 and 12 Queen Street by the 1930s. The Second Revaluation (1956-72) noted that the house included a store (to the rear) used by the local firm of J. Thompson & Sons.

In 1970 the UAHS guide stated that nos 9-12 Queen Street were ‘not as well handled’ as the similar nos 13-16 Queen Street (HB01/22/018A-D) which they deemed the most impressive Georgian-style terrace within area. In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated the mid-nineteenth century streets and terraces of Queen Street, Great James Street and Clarendon Street as 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). Nos 9-12 Queen Street were subsequently listed in 1979.

In 2013 Calley described nos 9-12 Queen Street as a ‘setback terrace of four big brick three-and-a-half-storey, three-bay houses with rendered reveals and wide round-headed doorways. Nos 9-11 have inset Doric doorcases under spiderweb fan-lights … the windows are one-over-one timber sash and demonstrate the weakness of this type on such large plain surfaces … nos 9-11 have wall-head dormers which look a little out of place on the traditional Georgan facades’ No. 11 Queen Street possesses replacement columns to it’s doorcase which are larger and less ornate than its neighbours and which Calley states could only ‘kindly be referred to as Tuscan’(Calley, p. 328).

Few of the mid-nineteenth century townhouses along Queen Street continue to be occupied as residential dwellings. The majority of the three-storey buildings were converted into offices for local dentist, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. No. 11 Queen Street is currently utilised by The Columba Community, a Roman Catholic prayer and outreach association founded in 1979. The building, which was renamed ‘Columba House’ by the organisation, is also used as a rehabilitation centre for those suffering from substance abuse. The NIEA HB Records note that the former dwelling was converted into offices for The Columba Community in 1982. The building was damaged by fire in 1984 and extensively renovated (along with the adjoining No. 10) in 1993. The current four-storey rear return was added to No. 11 Queen Street in 2007.

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 Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13-14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-1972)
8. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847)
9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
11. Census of Ireland (1911)
12. First Survey Record – HB01/21/020 (1970)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB01/21/020C

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: Coleriane 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

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

Evaluation

Mid-terrace three-storey with attic three-bay red brick former townhouse, built c.1847 as one of four similar buildings, No.11 has group value with No 9, 10 & 12 Queen Street (HB01.21.020 A, B&D). Although Victorian, it adopts the scale and proportions of earlier Georgian terraces within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Now converted to offices and despite loss of the original plan form and some interior detailing following extensive fire damage in 1984, sufficient architectural and historic character remain, including timber sliding sash windows to front and a good quality door case to the entrance. The terrace signifies a confidence that followed Londonderry's industrial success in the mid 19th century and it is amongst the earlier buildings in this part of the city.