Fosters

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Four-storey three-bay red-brick Edwardian commercial building with rendered dressings to upper floors and shop-front on ground floor level; built in 1903-04 to designs by W.E. Pinkerton. The current building replaced an earlier structure which was demolished in 1903. Low balustrated parapet separated by rendered piers concealing flat roof behind; three-sided canted bay on first floor set within a semicircular arch headed opening with mirrored glazing, protrudes into second floor level; remaining bays have segmental arch headed openings with keystones; small pediments to pilasters on shop-front at ground floor level. No.5 is one of the few buildings in Waterloo Place to survive the civil unrest throughout Northern Ireland during the late twentieth century. Originally constructed as a cafe and restaurant for John H. Foster, No.5 Strand Road is currently utilised as a ladies clothes shop known as 'Fosters'.

Principal elevation (SW) faces onto Waterloo Place/Strand Road; shop-front on ground floor level is divided by timber painted pilasters with carved timber paired brackets below fascia signage - signage lettering 'FOSTERS', timber panelled stall riser with a large glazed shop window above, to the left there is a square headed doorway, both openings contain metal roller shutters. Moulded and dentilled cornice between ground and first floor level has three small rendered open-pediments; upper floors walling is of red-brick laid in 'Flemish Bond', divided by brick pilasters with moulded string-courses; first floor level has a plain glazed timber casement window to the left of a three-sided canted bay with a moulded cornice and balustraded parapet above; canted bay is set within a semicircular arch opening with moulded rendered dressings to surround and keystone to centre of arch, arch contains mirrored glass divided by metal window bars; first and second floor brick pilasters have decorative capitals with carved heads, capitals are topped by a continuous moulded salient dentilled cornice spanning the width of the elevation with a moulded dentilled cornice immediately above to second floor window sills; third floor bays diminish in scale having keystones to segmental arch openings, red-brick pilasters capitals are topped by a plainer moulded salient cornice which spans the width of the elevation; moulded cornice to balustraded parapet above.

West and East sides are abutted by adjoining neighbouring properties No's 4 & 6 Strand Road. North West side elevation rises above No.6, walling is of cement rendered, unpainted finish with concrete capping.

North East elevation to the rear is splayed - full access not possible; rear elevation has partial corrugated cladding and corrugated Perspex with a large partially open amenity area on ground floor level.

Materials:
Roof Bitumen
RWG None (Internal)
Walling Brick with rendered dressings
Windows Timber Casements.

Setting:
Located on the West side of the Strand Road, overlooking Waterloo Place to the East side and the Historic City Walls to the South side. Situated within a terrace row of commercial buildings of varying scale, type and style, immediately outside the Historic City Conservation Area.

Historical information

No. 5 Strand Road, a four-storey three-bay red-brick Edwardian commercial building, was constructed in 1903 04. The current building was originally constructed as a cafe and restaurant for John H. Foster, a local magistrate and baker who had occupied the site since the 1890s. The Annual Revisions note that John H. Foster and a Mr. William J. Foster (most likely his father or brother) also occupied the previous building on the site, a house, shop and bakery which was valued at £35. This earlier building was demolished in 1903 to make way for the current building which was designed by William Edward Pinkerton (b. 1858). A local architect, Pinkerton set up an independent practise in Londonderry in c. 1890 and was responsible for the First Derry Primary School on the City Walls (HB01/19/079) and for the installation of the portico to First Derry Presbyterian Church (HB01/19/015A). The Irish Builder records that Pinkerton designed a building on the Strand Road for John H. Foster in 1903 (Irish Builder, p. 2002; DIA).

No. 5 Strand Road was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1904 when the building was described as a cafe with a dwelling located in the upper floors. The valuer noted that Foster leased the site from the Honourable The Irish Society and that the new building was valued at £85. The 1911 census described Foster as a purveyor and confectioner with the accompanying census building return describing No. 5 Strand Road as a 1st class tea room and dwelling that consisted of 15 rooms. The contemporary Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05) depicted the new building as a simple rectangular-shaped structure which extended back to Prince Arthur Street (the valuer noted that Foster’s bake house was located in Prince Arthur Street). The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that No. 5 Strand Road was renamed the Capital Ballroom in 1937. In that year the value of the building, which was described as a restaurant, was increased to £220. In 1956 the valuer recorded the occupant of the building as M. A. Foster Ltd., although under the Second Revaluation (1956-72) ownership of No. 5 Strand Road passed to a Mr. W. F. Stewart. In 1957 the building lay vacant and in a dilapidated condition. According to the valuer the former restaurant remained vacant until at least the early 1970s. By the end of the Second Revaluation the value of the building stood at £440.

No. 5 Strand Road is one of the few buildings in Waterloo Place to survive the Northern Ireland Troubles when the majority of the original Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the square were demolished. Calley describes No. 5 Strand Road in the following terms: ‘red brick with rendered dressings … the ground floor shop window is modern plate-glass with timber surround and fascia. The three broad pilasters are surmounted by small pediments. The upper floors are full of classical motifs but deployed in an almost Art Nouveau manner.’ Field inspection of the site, carried out as part of the Second Survey, has found that No. 5 Strand Road is currently utilised as a clothes shop fittingly known as Fosters (Calley, p. 404).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2D-E – Annual Revisions (1898-1929)
2. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/12 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
3. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/17 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
4. Irish Builder (24 Sept 1903)
5. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
6. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Thomas, A., ‘Irish Historic Town Atlas, No. 15: Derry – Londonderry’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2005 - includes Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05).

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Comparatively narrow, four-storey Edwardian freestyle mid-terraced commercial building of 1903-04 by W.E. Pinkerton, in red brick with rendered Classical style dressings, courses, capitals and parapet, and a large feature bay window to the first floor directly surmounted by an expansive second-floor window set within an elliptical recess. Although the façade retains much of original detailing, the modern shop-fit out on ground floor level has resulted in the loss of the original plan form and historic fabric.