8 CRAWFORD SQUARE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey two bay rendered Italianate style terraced house built in 1871 to designs by Robert Collins. Rectangular plan form facing northeast with a three storey rendered return to rear with attached single storey kitchen and two storey outbuilding accessed from rear yard. Part of a terrace of sixteen buildings on a sloping site to the south west side of the tree lined Crawford Square, it is paired with, and symmetrical to, the adjacent No. 7 Crawford Square (HB01.22.003G).

Pitched natural slate roof continuous with No. 7 Crawford Square and large rendered chimney with buff clay pots shared with No. 9 (HB01.22.003I). Timber fascia boards and moulded soffit with paired block modillions; half round cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipe on No. 7.

The front elevation has a two storey three sided canted bay with parapet, recessed panels between the first and second storey and moulded cills and strings. Window openings have segmental arched heads and 1/1 double hung timber sash windows with moulded horns. The first floor window over the main entrance door has a moulded architrave with stop blocks and moulded cill shared with No. 7 Crawford Square. The recessed arched doorcase has a moulded soffit, tiled step and contains an original four panelled door with glazed upper panels and plain semi-circular fanlight over. The doorcase has a hood mould with keystone and decorative console brackets.

The rear elevation is rendered with square headed window openings having 6/6 double hung sliding sashes and cast iron rainwater goods. The three storey return has a hipped natural slate roof with blue-black hip and ridge tiles and rendered chimney, shared with the return of No. 7 Crawford Square. The return is also rendered with square-headed window openings and 6/6 timber sashes to the upper floors. An attached single storey rendered outshot has a gabled monopitch natural slate roof, timber fascia and cast iron rainwater goods, replacement timber sash windows and timber door to northwest side.

From the rear yard of the building concrete steps lead to a stone built outbuilding with a pitched natural slate roof and rendered to northeast elevation. This building forms part of the stepped row of outbuildings associated with the houses on Crawford Square which front onto Academy Road.

Setting:
Facing north east over tree lined Crawford Square green, to the front, the main building is set back from the footpath and slightly elevated. It is approached by a path and a short flight of stone steps shared with the adjacent property and is separated from the adjacent No. 7 by a dwarf wall and painted metal railings.

Roof: Natural Slate
RWGs : Cast Iron
Walling: Painted Render
Windows: Timber Sash

Historical information

Crawford Square, a mid-Victorian square located off the Northland Road on a hill overlooking the River Foyle, was originally laid out in 1861. The Dublin Builder records that the square was named after Samuel Law Crawford, a local solicitor who owned the land. Crawford Square was laid out by Fitzgibbon Louch (1826-1911), a civil engineer and architect, during his early career. Louch established an independent practise in Londonderry in 1859, was active in the city until the late-1860s and was responsible for the entrance to the City Cemetery and the design of the Magazine Gate entrance to the city walls (Dublin Builder, p. 505; DIA).

Following the establishment of the Georgian-style terraces along Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street in the 1830s-1860s, the city continued its northern expansion with the construction of a number of additional terraces designed for Londonderry’s professional classes. According to Mullin, the Northland Road was still a country road leading from the city to Donegal when the first tenders for the erection of new dwellings on Crawford Square were invited in the 1860s (Mullin, p. 119).

Calley states that Crawford Square, ‘along with Templemore and Victoria Parks, can be seen as the city’s delayed response to Dublin’s garden squares [which] created, near to the city centre, a green oasis for its wealthy residents. It has an enclosed central garden bounded on three sides by the square.’ Nos 1-2 Crawford Square were the first houses to be constructed (see HB01/22/003A-B). The pair were erected in 1865 for Samuel Knox, a building contractor, whilst the majority of the adjoining terrace were built for John McAdoo, a local seed merchant and landowner (UTD; Calley, p. 128; 420).

No. 8 Crawford Square, a three-storey two-bay Italianate dwelling, was constructed along with the adjoining nos 3-7 & 9-10 (HB01/22/003C-G and I-J) in 1871. The Irish Builder records that these eight dwellings were designed by Robert Collins, Londonderry’s Consulting Engineer from 1866 to 1874, and constructed by the building firm of G. & R. Ferguson (Irish Builder, p. 85; p. 238; DIA). Upon its completion the total rateable value of No. 8 Crawford Square was set at £36 by the Annual Revisions. The majority of the occupants of the square were of the city’s professional and merchant classes. In 1911 No. 8 Crawford Square was occupied by Wallace Edmiston, a local Ironmonger. The 1911 Census Building Return described No. 8 Crawford Square as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a coach house as its sole out building. The value of the house was decreased to £34 by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72).

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described nos 1-19 Crawford Square as ‘a fine terrace of three-storey rendered buildings on a sloping surface overlooking a tree-lined grassy square. The houses are well modelled, with two-storey height bay windows’ (UAHS guide, p. 50). In 1978 Crawford Square 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). Nos 1-23 Crawford Square were subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 8 Crawford Square was converted from a domestic dwelling to offices for the Probabtion Board for Northern Ireland in 1992. The building underwent a renovation in 1992 when the current front door was installed and the second-storey windows were replaced (NIEA HB Records).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/7 – Annual Revisions Town Plan c. 1873
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
5. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1926-57)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Dublin Builder (1 May 1861)
8. Irish Builder (1 Apr; 15 Sept 1871)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
11. First Survey Record – HB01/22/003 (1970)
12. First Survey Image – HB01/22/003 (No Date)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/003H

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. Mullin, T. H., Ulster’s Historic City: Derry – Londonderry’ Coleraine: Coleraine Bookshop, 1986.
4. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978.
5. ‘Design Guide for Clarendon Street Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

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
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

Three storey two bay rendered terraced house built in 1871 to designs by architect Robert Collins. The exterior has retained its character, style and proportions; the internal layout is substantially unchanged although some original detailing has been lost. The house forms part of an impressive terrace of sixteen buildings on a sloping site overlooking Crawford Square, a grassed and tree-lined park. It was converted to offices in 1992 but retains group value with the other listed buildings in the terrace.

General comments

Additional listing criteria apply - R-Age, S-Authenticity, T-Historic Importance