35 GREAT JAMES ST

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three-storey three-bay over-basement early-Victorian end of terrace former manse, to the adjacent Third Presbyterian Church, situated within the Clarendon Conservation Area. Set behind boundary wall with sandstone plinth and wrought iron railings above. Access through pedestrian side gate offset from main Church entrance. Hipped fibre-cement slate roof with clay ridge tiles, with large cement rendered chimney-stack centred on west elevation with nine clay pots; cast-iron rain water goods with half-round gutter supported on cast-iron rise and fall brackets projecting from eaves. Walls are redbrick rendered.

Principal elevation faces east onto Church yard, rendered and painted, with projecting rusticated single storey entrance porch, eight steps up to the entrance door at north elevation facing Great James Street. Front entrance doorcase with painted four-panelled timber double doors, flanked by Ionic columns supporting an entablature below three-centred arched fanlight. Windows are 6/6 painted timber sliding sash to ground floor and first floors with moulded plaster surrounds and diminished 6/3 timber sliding sash to second floor. Continuous sill course to each storey with stepped raised corner quoins.

South (rear elevation) unpainted smooth render with uPVC rainwater goods. 2/2 timber sliding sash to second floor, and 6/6 timber sliding sash to raised ground. Metal casement 3 top lights over 3 long lights also to ground floor and render absent where possible lean to structure has been removed.

West elevation abuts Cultúrlann (no. 37).

North elevation, rendered and painted, set behind railings onto Great James Street. Two bays wide with windows as principle elevation.

Setting:
One of two houses flanking Great James Street Presbyterian (HB01/21/009), set back from pavement behind dwarf wall and railings, facing North on the lower (eastmost) portion of Great James Street at the junction with Queen Street, adjoining the Cultúrlann.

Materials:
Roof : Natural Slate (Spanish) - replaced Mar / Apr 2015
RWG: Cast Iron/uPVC rear
Walling : Render / Painted Stone
Windows : Timber Sliding Sash, multi-paned

Historical information

No. 35 Great James Street, a three-storey-over-basement house and the former manse to the adjacent Londonderry Third Presbyterian Church, was constructed between c. 1837 and 1847. The manse is contemporary to the church and was most likely constructed soon after 1837 as the architect of the neo-classical church, Stewart Gordon (d. 1860), is also reputed to have designed the dwelling for the minister. The manse was first recorded on O’Hagan’s 1847 plan of Londonderry which depicted the building along its current layout; the attached entrance porch was an original feature and was also depicted on the valuation town plan in c. 1873.

Londonderry’s Third Presbyterian Church and its contemporary manse were amongst the first buildings to be constructed in Great James Street; the early-Victorian development of the area, which also resulted in the laying out of Queen Street and Clarendon Street, was necessitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the early-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.’ The laying out of Clarendon Street, Great James Street and Queen Street (following a geometric street pattern) was the most ambitious project of town planning carried out in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city in the 1613-19. Furthermore, by the 1830s the construction of an additional Presbyterian church was made necessary as Presbyterians were the largest denomination within the city walls; Hume notes that ‘their birth rate was probably higher than that of other groups and half the population in the rural districts adjacent to the town was Presbyterian’ (Hume, pp 35; 147).

No. 35 Great James Street was valued at £36 in Griffith’s Valuation (1856) which recorded that the manse was occupied by the Rev. James Denham and administered by the church trustees; the Rev. Denham continued to minister to the congregation of Londonderry Third Presbyterian until his death in 1871 (PRONI Wills). By 1873 the manse was taken over by the new minister, the Rev. James M. Rodgers who resided at the site until 1892; in that year the church trustees decided to lease the former manse out to tenants as a private dwelling. The 1901 Census described No. 35 Great James Street as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of eight rooms and possessed a stable and coal house as its sole out buildings; in that year the dwelling was occupied by Henry E. Sides, a supervisor at the Inland Revenue. By 1911 the former manse had been converted into a boarding house operated by John Maxwell (an oil merchant), and his wife Rebecca; however by 1912 the property returned to private occupation when a Mr. Frazer Evans occupied the house. Despite the change in occupants over the decades, the Trustees of Londonderry Third Presbyterian continued to own No. 35 Great James Street by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931, by which time the value of the former manse had fallen to £22. No. 35 Great James Street was increased in value to £42 under the First Revaluation of 1935, and was subsequently further increased to £48 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72); throughout this period the building remained in use as a private dwelling owned by the Trustees of Londonderry Third Presbyterian.

In 1978 the Department of the Environment included No. 35 Great James Street in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, ‘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). Two of the earliest buildings to be constructed as part of the early-Victorian development of the area, both Great James Street Presbyterian Church and its former manse were subsequently listed in 1979.

The NIEA HB Records note that the former manse was occupied by the N.S.P.C.C. in 1983, however it was subsequently refurbished as a dentist’s surgery in 1989. No. 35 Great James Street has lain vacant until very recently. In January 2014 the adjoining Irish Language and Cultural Centre (Cultúrlann) acquired the former Presbyterian Church and its manse for £1.2 million; Cultúrlann plans to convert both buildings into additional accommodation for its classes and performances.

In 2013 Calley described the former manse in the following terms: ‘three-storey over basement with two-bays to street and three-bays to the church yard which is its principal elevation. Here there is an enclosed rusticated porch with a handsome doorcase one side with Ionic columns supporting an entablature below a segmented fan-light. The windows are timber sash with six-over-six lights on ground and first floors and six-over-three in second floor. There are cill courses on each floor and stepped quoins’ (Calley, p. 217).

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/12/E/157/1/7-8 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
7. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4/ - First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/16 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
11. PRONI Wills (18 Dec 1871)
12. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
13. First Survey Record – HB01/21/021 (No Date)
14. First Survey Image – HB01/21/021 (No Date)
15. NIEA HB Records – HB01/21/021

Secondary Sources
1. ‘Buildings at Risk Northern Ireland: Vol. 7’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1995.
2. Byrne, A; McMahon, S., ‘Derry in old photographs’ Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2003.
3. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
4. 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.
5. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
6. 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
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

A three-storey over basement, three-bay early-Victorian rendered manse in the domain of its church, built between 1837-47, to the designs of County Surveyor Stewart Gordon, also architect to the adjacent church. The original plan form remains intact as well as some internal detailing of historic interest and the exterior largely retains its Georgian style and proportion, even though it was constructed in the Victorian period. Together with Great James Street Presbyterian (HB01/21/009), the adjacent neo-classical church, it is one of the earliest buildings to be constructed as part of the early development of the area before the laying out of Queen Street and Clarendon Street. The elegant stone steps, ornate railings and sandstone walling to the front further augment the character and quality of its setting within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.