12 Princes Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian mid-terrace three-storey two-bay red-brick townhouse with semi-basement, built 1863 with a three-storey projecting rear return. 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 artificial slate roof 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 3 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. All windows to front elevation appear to be replacement as trickle vents evident. Two grates on footpath under ground floor window giving light to basement level.

North and south sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No.10 Princes Street (HB01/21/036) & No.14 Princes Street (HB01/21/038).

East elevation to the rear is of four-storeys and of smooth plain rendered unpainted finish. Three storey rear return built at half-landing height with a slated pitched roof and smooth plain rendered unpainted finish. Square-headed window openings on painted masonry sills. The fenestration pattern is irregular with replacement 6/6 timber casement windows to rear elevation; rear return also has replacement timber casement windows. Modern single storey flat roof rear extension with double doors opening into rear garden, located between the rear returns of Nos 10 & 12.

Pitched artificial slate roof to rear with terracotta clay ridge tiles and rebuilt 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 both front and rear elevations.

Roof Artificial slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Red brick/ unpainted render
Windows Timber sliding sash (replacement) / Timber casement (replacement)

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. 12 Princes Street, a three-storey two-bay red brick Georgian-style dwelling, was constructed in 1863 along with the adjoining No. 10 (HB01/21/036). The pair of houses were constructed on land owned by William Scott, the occupant of the neighbouring Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006) and founder of Londonderry’s shirt industry. The Annual Revisions note that Scott leased No. 12 Princes Street, which was initially valued at £16 and 10 shillings, to a Mr. William Andrews (in 1861 the Ulster Town Directories noted that there were two prominent William Andrews in the city – one of whom was a shirt manufacturer and the other a jeweller). 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). By 1911 the house was occupied by John Crossan (who the census described as a ‘car owner’). The census building return described No. 12 Princes Street as a 2nd class dwelling that consisted of six and possessed a stable as its sole out office. By the 1930s ownership of nos 10-14 Princes Street had passed to a Mr. John J. Madden, a merchant who resided in the adjoining No. 16. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the value of the house was increased to £21 and the Crossan family were recorded as occupants (remaining there until at least the 1970s). By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the value of the house stood at £22.

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).

No 12 Princes Street currently operates as a travellers' hostel.

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
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. 12 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.12 retains much historic fabric and detailing such as a fine doorcase with engaged fluted Doric columns with entablature above. No.12 was built as one of a pair with No.10 (HB01/21/036) 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.