17 CRAWFORD SQUARE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Three storey two bay rendered Italianate style terraced house built in 1888, most likely to designs by Robert Collins. Rectangular plan form facing northeast with a three storey extended return 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 (except for the modern dormers) the adjacent No. 18 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003R).

Pitched natural slate roof continuous with No. 18 Crawford Square and large buff brick chimney with moulded corbel and buff clay pots shared with No.16 (HB01/22/003P). Timber fascia boards and moulded soffit with paired block modillions; half round cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipe. Modern single-bay flat roof dormer with timber framed windows.

The front elevation has a two storey three sided canted bay with parapet, moulded panels between the ground and first floor 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. 18 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 three panelled outer doors. An inner doorcase has slender timber columns with decorative capitals to each side, a rectangular fanlight and an original timber door with glazed top panel and two moulded bottom panels. The space between the doors has a flat ceiling with cornice.

The rear elevation and rear return are rendered with square headed window openings having replacement uPVC windows (where seen) and wall headed dormer with pitched roof, containing round arched replacement uPVC window. The three storey return has a pitched natural slate roof and buff brick chimney with moulded corbel and buff clay pots, shared with the return of No. 18 Crawford Square. A three storey rendered return has been added having similar windows and half hipped natural slate roof with blue-black angled hip and ridge tiles. A similar extension has been added to the adjacent property at No. 18.

To the rear of the site is a stone built outbuilding. 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 rendered in rough cast with blocked up openings at ground floor level and timber sheeting to high level opening; natural slate roof and uPVC rainwater goods.

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. The modest front garden has a concrete finish and is enclosed by a dwarf wall with painted metal railings adjacent to the steps.

Materials:
Roof :- Natural Slate
RWGs :- Cast Iron
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. 17 Crawford Square, a three-storey two-bay Italianate dwelling, was constructed along with the adjoining no 18 (HB01/22/003R) in 1888 making the pair the last buildings to be completed along the row. The Irish Builder recorded that nos 3-10 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003C-J) had been 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). Despite being constructed over a decade after the remainder of the terrace it is likely that Collins’ original design was adhered to for the erection of nos 17-18 Crawford Square which are almost identical to the rest of the terrace (the pair have a higher upper storey than the adjoining buildings). Nos 17-18 were constructed for Robert Hastings, a local flour merchant who held business premises at the Commercial Buildings on Foyle Street (UTD).

The total rateable value of No. 17 Crawford Square was set at £40 by the Annual Revisions. The majority of the occupants of the square were of the city’s professional and merchant classes. The first occupants of No. 17 Crawford Square were the family of Major S. Hervey Bruce, the governor of H. M. Prison on Bishop Street (HB01/19/070). Major Bruce had died by 1911 when the census noted his widow occupied the house. The census building return described No. 17 as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 12 rooms and possessed a stable as its sole outbuilding. In 1929 the house was acquired by the Trustees of Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church (HB01/19/059A-B) and was utilised as its manse by the Rev. S. A. McVicker for over thirty years. The manse was converted into a number of flats in 1961, the total rateable value of the building stood at £83 10s. by the end of the Second 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.

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. London Gazette (1 Jan 1967)
12. First Survey Record – HB01/22/003 (1970)
13. First Survey Image – HB01/22/003 (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/003Q

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
H-. Alterations detracting from building
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, front elevation 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.3-16 & 18 (HB01.22.003C,D, F-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, and by a cast iron railings to the front elevation that also survive.