10 Princes Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian mid-terrace three-storey with basement two-bay red-brick townhouse, built 1863 with a three-storey projecting rear return built at half-landing height. Rectangular on plan, principal elevation faces west, built as one of a terrace of eight similar street-fronted townhouses lining the east side of Princes Street gently stepping from two to three storeys from south to north. Pitched natural slate with terracotta clay ridge tiles and red brick chimney stack (rebuilt) with clay pots rising from the south side. Cast-iron guttering on iron rise-and-fall brackets.

Principal elevation (west) is three storeys high, of hand-made red brick walling laid in 'English Garden Wall' bond with cement pointing; all window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills with painted plaster band to reveals, bays on ground floor are not aligned with window bays on floors above, single window bay on ground floor right of entrance doorway with 6/6 timber sliding sash; elliptical arch headed entrance doorway, slightly recessed, has engaged fluted columns of the Doric order either side of a raised-and-fielded four panel painted timber door with entablature and a modest glazed fanlight with timber glazing bars above, door opens onto threshold up two concrete steps from the pavement; 6/6 timber sliding sashes on first floor and 6/3 timber sliding sashes on second floor level. Two grates on footpath under ground floor window giving light to basement level.

North and south sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.8 & No.12 Princes Street (HB01/21/037). Small section of south elevation protruding above adjacent property with smooth rendered unpainted finish.

East elevation to the rear is of four-storeys, with smooth plain rendered unpainted finish, as is the rear return, 3 storey in height, with a slated pitched roof built at half-landing height. Square-headed window openings on painted masonry sills. The fenestration pattern is irregular with original 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to rear elevation at first, second and landing levels with 6/3 timber sliding sash to third floor level; rear return with replacement timber casement windows.

Pitched slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles and red brick chimney stack with seven terracotta clay pots rising from the south side. Cast-iron half-round guttering on iron rise-and-fall brackets terminating at a circular downpipe to front elevation, replacement uPVC rainwater goods to rear.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron (W) uPVC (E)
Walling Red brick/ unpainted render
Windows Timber sliding sash / Timber casement

Setting:
Forming part of a terrace of eight similar houses lining the east side of Princes Street fronting directly onto the pavement. Long narrow rear yard enclosed by rendered wall with a three-storey rear return. Set within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area

Historical information

Princes Street, a narrow street extending between Great James Street and Asylum Road, was developed between the 1840s and 1860s. The street was originally part of the Lower Road and was recorded on maps dating from as early as 1689. In the 18th century the Lower Road extended from the Walled City to Pennyburn Mills. The road was first recorded as ‘Lower Road’ from 1847 but was renamed ‘Prince’s Street’ in 1862 following the death of Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, on 14th December 1861 (Calley, p. 308).

The laying out of Great James Street, as well as the adjoining Queen 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). Lower Road predated the laying out of these streets but the construction of housing in the area was slow to develop. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the 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 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).

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 Clarendon Street Conservation Area that predates the early-Victorian development is Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006), a Regency-style house that was constructed c. 1815. 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 three-storey townhouses, a new affluent area was established that swiftly became the preferred residence of the city’s merchant and professional classes.

No. 10 Princes Street, a three-storey two-bay red brick Georgian-style dwelling, was constructed in 1863 along with the adjoining No. 12 (HB01/21/037). The pair of houses were constructed on land owned by William Scott, the occupant of the neighbouring Foyle Cottage and founder of Londonderry’s shirt industry. The Annual Revisions note that Scott leased No. 10 Princes Street, which was initially valued at £16 and 10 shillings, to Charles McAnulty, a local grocer and spirit dealer who had business premises on Rossville Street (UTD). McAnulty remained at Princes Street until 1867 when the house was occupied by a Mr. William Morton. The house was depicted on the c. 1873-1910 Annual Revisions Town Plan which shows that the current layout of the building has not been altered since the late-19th century (the two-storey rear return is original). In 1881-82 Thomas McCready, a local pawn broker and piano dealer, took over ownership of nos 10-12 Princes Street and built No. 14 as his private dwelling (HB01/21/038). In 1879 No. 10 Princes Street was occupied by William Little who was descibed in the 1901 Census as a ‘Master Mariner.’ The 1911 census building return described No. 10 Princes Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six rooms. By the 1930s ownership of nos 10-14 Prince’s Street had passed to a Mr. John J. Madden, a merchant who resided in the adjoining No. 16 Princes Street. Over the following four decades the occupants of the private dwelling changed a number of times with the Madden family retaining ownership until at least the 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of No. 10 was increased to £24 at which it remained by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1978 Princes Street was included in the Clarendon Street 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).

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 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
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/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57))
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
10. 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 (including 17th and 18th century maps of Lower Road).
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.

Online Sources
1. www.agoda.com
2. www.tripadvisor.co.uk

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

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

Evaluation

Victorian mid-terrace three-storey with basement redbrick townhouse, built 1863 in Georgian-style. No. 10 was constructed as one of eight houses of similar style lining the east side of Princes Street which links Clarendon Street and Great James Street on the west side of the River Foyle. Externally No.10 retains much historic fabric and detailing such as a fine doorcase with engaged fluted Doric columns with entablature and glazed fanlight above. No.10 was built as one of a pair with No.12 (HB01/21/037) and the pair is situated between the lower two storey houses to the south and the taller three storey No.14 (HB01/21/038) to the north, Nos 10 & 12 creating a distinct group. The Clarendon Street Conservation Area is enhanced by the historic authenticity of this house within the terrace and it stands as a reminder of the development of this part of the city as the preferred residence of the city’s merchant and professional classes.