2 CLARENCE AVENUE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Victorian end-of-terrace two-bay three-storey brick Arts and Crafts style townhouse, built 1900 to designs by R. E. Buchanan. Rectangular on plan with projecting rear return at half-landing level. Principal elevation faces South onto Clarence Avenue, set behind low red-brick wall with painted capping stone. Part of a terraced row of eleven similar houses of this type, lining the north side of Clarence Avenue.

Principle (S) elevation is of Flemish brick bond; two bays wide with a two-storey canted bay to right surmounted by a rectangular gabled bay to the second floor that is cantilevered on large timber brackets with carved timber corbels to either side. Vertical Half-timber panelling to gable with plain wide painted timber fascia board above window head to pair of 1/1 sliding sashes. All openings are square-headed, including the entrance doorway, with moulded cornice supported on console brackets on moulded pilasters to either side of the four-panel fielded timber door with stained glass fanlight above.

Casement windows with stained leaded glass upper lights to canted bay and a single casement window above door opening at first floor level. 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to second floor level. Painted rendered band to ground and first floor window heads, continuous sill course to first and second floor windows painted in contrasting colour.

Brick gable end to West elevation abutted by plain rendered return. Single ground floor 1/1 sliding sash, centred on gable and repeated at first and second floor level (both having coloured margin panes); additional casement window to left side at first floor, with stained glass upper light. Sill course to windows on all three levels with continuous painted rendered band to window heads on ground and first floor levels. Unfinished render to upper section of gable with plain wide painted timber fascia board on corbel brackets. West side of 3 storey rear return is lower, with a pair of timber sliding sash windows to first floor and a single sliding sash window to second floor.

East side is abutted by adjoining building No. 4 Clarence Avenue (HB01/22/006B).

North elevation, three-storey with two-storey rear return at half-landing level, painted render finish with door opening onto rear yard. The fenestration pattern is irregular with both 2/2 timber sliding sash and casement windows. uPVC gutter and downpipe to return.

Pitched natural slate roof, black clay ridge tiles. Large red-brick chimney stack rising from the East side, centred on ridge with clay pots. Aritficial slates and smaller red-brick chimney centred on gable end to rear return. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron (N)
Walling Red Brick (S), Red Brick and unfinished render (W) / Smooth render (N)
Windows Timber Sliding Sash & Casement.

Setting:
Built as one of a terrace of eleven similar houses lining the north side of Clarence Avenue on a steep gradient, within the Magee Conservation Area, set back from the pavement with a small front garden. Rear yard bound to north and west by rubble schist stone walling, with sheeted timber gate within squared-headed opening to west, backing on to shared alley with the University campus beyond.

Historical information

According to Calley, Clarence Avenue was originally laid out in 1897. The Annual Revisions note that the terrace on the southern side of the street (nos 1-17) was constructed in 1899-1900 whilst the northern terrace comprising nos 2-22 (HB01/22/006A-K) was erected in 1900. The Irish Builder states that the northern terrace was designed by Robert Eccles Buchanan, a local architect and civil engineer who was active between 1887 and the 1920s. Buchanan carried out a number of domestic contracts within the city throughout this period but was also responsible for many church alterations including the repair of St Columb’s Cathedral in 1911 (HB01/19/001; Irish Builder, p. 243; DIA).

The northern expansion of Londonderry had been initiated in the mid-19th century by the construction of Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street. Mullin states that Edenballymore and the Northland Road was still rural in character when the Victorian terrace of Crawford Square (HB01/22/003; 004) was constructed in the 1860s-1870s. The expansion of the city was facilitated by a period of economic growth and prosperity that endured from the 1860s until the end of the 19th century. The expansion of the city continued with the development of the Magee College campus. From the 1880s, new redbrick dwellings at College Terrace (HB01/22/026) and Clarence Avenue were erected to provide accommodation for students and employees of the college (Mullin, p. 119; Rowan, p. 371). Clarence Avenue was named after the last Duke of Clarence, Prince Albert Victor, son of King Edward VII. Clarence Avenue was named in memory of the Duke following his untimely death in 1892 at the age of 28.

Calley describes Nos 2-22 Clarence Street as a ‘generously proportioned …terrace of eleven three-storey red brick houses [that possess] canted bay windows running through the ground and first floors. The second floors have oversized cantilevered box-like pedimented square bay windows resting on the bay window below and supported by robust timber brackets.’ The UAHS guide praised Buchanan’s ‘fine terrace’ as ‘excellently modelled’ (Calley, pp 109-110; UAHS guide, p. 50).

No. 2 Clarence Avenue was built in 1900 and was initially valued at £24. The Annual revisions note that the house was originally owned by Martha Hamilton, a National School Teacher. Hamilton also resided at her property until the 1920s. The 1901 Census described Hamilton’s house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 10 rooms. No. 2 Clarence Avenue continued to be owned by the Hamilton family following Martha’s death in 1924. The occupants of the house changed with frequency over the next half century and by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72) the value of the house had risen to £38 (the Hamilton family were still recorded as owners in 1972).

Nos 2-22 Clarence Avenue were listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 2 Clarence Avenue underwent conservation work in 1985-86 that included the reslating of its roof in natural slate, the restoration of its red brick chimney stack and the overhaul of its rainwater good (NIEA HB Records). The terrace was incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. The Conservation Guide stated that the dwellings along the Northland Road, Lawrence Hill, Springham Street and Clarence Avenue ‘represent some of the city’s architecturally finest and grandest townhouses.’ Clarence Avenue in particular was noted as a terrace that ‘is very unified architecturally and is virtually intact’ (Magee Conservation Guides).

References

Primary Sources
1.PRONI OS/8/8/18/2/1-7 - Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Londonderry (1908)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
3. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
4. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
5. Irish Builder (15 Jan 1900)
6. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1901-1918)
8. PRONI Wills Catalogue (7 Feb 1924)
9. First Survey Record – HB01/22/006 (1970)
10. First Survey Image – HB01/22/006 (No Date)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/006A

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: Coleriane Bookshop, 1986.
4. ‘Design Guide for Magee Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2010.

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
S. Authenticity
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

End-of-terrace two-storey with attic, turn of the century red-brick house to designs by R. E. Buchanan on Clarence Avenue, named after the Duke of Clarence. Although some of the original sash windows to the front have been replaced, the original style and character remain and the leaded glass upper lights and half-timber work signify an Arts & Crafts influence, adding further quality and interest. No. 2 is part of a group of eleven similar houses stepping down the hill towards the river, Nos. 4-22 Clarence Avenue, (HB01/22/006 B-K), each one retaining its ornate doorcase and canted bay with alternating diagonal and straight half-timbered gables to cantilevered square bays above. Built in tandem with the college campus, this intact row of townhouses is well-articulated and it is one of the most distinctive buildings within the Magee Conservation Area. The local schist stone walling to the rear yard adds further character.