15 CRAWFORD SQUARE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey two bay rendered Italianate style terraced house built in 1875, most likely to designs by Robert Collins. Rectangular plan form facing north east with a three storey rendered return to rear with attached single storey kitchen and two storey outbuilding accessed from rear. 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. 16 Crawford Square (HB01.22.003P).

Pitched natural slate roof continuous with No. 16 Crawford Square and large buff brick chimney with moulded corbel and buff clay pots, shared with No.14 (HB01.22.003N). Timber fascia boards and moulded soffit with paired block modillions; half round cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipe to front; replacement uPVC guttering to rear elevation.

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. 16 Crawford Square. The semi-circular arched doorcase has a hood mould with keystone, decorative console brackets and is recessed with a moulded soffit, glazed fanlight, tiled step and a pair of replacement timber panelled outer doors. A glazed inner door has slender timber columns with decorative capitals to each side, a rectangular fanlight and an original timber door with glazed top panel and single moulded bottom panel. The space between the doors has a flat ceiling with cornice.

The rear elevation is rendered with square headed window openings having replacement uPVC windows to all floors. The three storey return has a hipped natural slate roof with blue-black hip and ridge tiles and buff brick chimney with moulded corbel, shared with the return of No. 16 Crawford Square. The return is also rendered with square-headed window openings, replacement uPVC windows and a glazed door leading to the rear yard.

An attached single storey rendered outshot does not extend the full width of the return and has a gabled monopitch natural slate roof with high level window opening in the gable; replacement uPVC windows and uPVC rainwater goods.

From the rear yard of the building stone steps lead to a stone built outbuilding, now rendered, with painted timber windows and door and a pitched roof with natural slate roof covering. This building forms part of the stepped row of outbuildings associated with the houses on Crawford Square which front onto Academy Road. The Academy Road elevation is stone with brick surrounds to openings and has an original four part timber sliding door which opens on a curved track within the building and sheeted timber doors to a high level opening.

Setting:
Facing north east over tree lined Crawford Square green, to the front, the main house is set back from the footpath and slightly elevated. It is approached by a path and a short flight of concrete steps shared with the adjacent property and has a modest front garden enclosed by a dwarf wall.

Roof Natural Slate
RWGs Cast Iron to front elevation, uPVC to rear.
Walling Painted Render
Windows Timber Sash to front elevation, uPVC to rear.

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).

According to the Annual Revisions, No. 15 Crawford Square, a three-storey two-bay Italianate dwelling, was constructed along with the adjoining nos 13-16 (HB01/22/003M-P) in 1874-75. The Irish Builder recorded that nos 3-10 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003C-J) 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). It is not known if Collins was personally involved in the construction of the remaining terrace from 1874, but it is clear that his original design was adhered to for the erection of nos 11-16 Crawford Square which are almost identical to the earlier terrace.

Upon its completion the total rateable value of No. 15 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. No. 15 was utilised as the private residence of John McAdoo who owned the majority of the terrace. In 1911 the building was occupied by McAdoo’s widow and was described by the Census Building Return as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a stable as its sole out building. The value of the house remained at £36 by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956 72). The McAdoo family had vacated No. 15 Crawford Square in 1955 when the house was purchased outright by Violet Bigger who resided there until at least the 1970s.

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. 15 Crawford Square underwent a renovation in 1997 which included the reslating of the roof and the rerendering of the the external walls of the building. This was followed by a further restoration in 2003 when the rainwater goods were replaced and the sliding sash windows at the front of the house were repaired (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

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

Evaluation

Three storey two bay rendered terraced house built in 1874-75, possibly to designs by architect Robert Collins although this is unconfirmed. Robust in design, and largely intact, the house forms part of an impressive terrace of sixteen buildings on a sloping site overlooking Crawford Square within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, a grassed and tree-lined park set out by Fitzgibbon Louch and has group value as such with No.3-14 & 16-18 (HB01.22.003C,D, F-N & P-R inclusive). The quality of its setting is further enhanced by a stone outbuilding which encloses the rear of the site and fronts on to Academy Road.