4 CLARENCE AVENUE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Late-Victorian mid-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 built at half-landing level. Principal elevation faces South onto Clarence Avenue, set behind low red-brick wall with concrete capping stone and metal railings. 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. Diagonal half-timber panelling to gable with plain wide painted timber fascia board above window head to pair of 1/1 sliding sashes. Terracotta finial to apex. 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.

All windows to front elevation are 1/1 timber sliding sash windows. Painted rendered band to ground and first floor window heads, sill course to first and second floor windows painted in contrasting colour.

East and West sides are abutted by adjoining buildings No. 2 & 6 Clarence Avenue (HB01/22/006A & HB01/22/006C).

North elevation is of three-storeys with four-storey rear return built at half-landing level, painted render finish with double door opening onto rear yard. The return to this house is higher than those to the remainder of the terrace, with asymmetrical openings and a chimney to the west face. The fenestration pattern is irregular with both 1/1 sliding sashes and casement windows.

Pitched natural slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles to the main roof and rear return. Large red-brick chimney stack with dog-toothed corbel rising from the East side, centred on ridge with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes to the front elevation.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast Iron
Walling Brick (S) Render (N)
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

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 by rubble schist stone walling, with metal sheeted gate within squared-headed opening, and vertical boarded timber fencing above, on galvanised steel uprights. The yard backs on to a 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. 4 Clarence Avenue was built in 1900 and was initially valued at £27. The Annual revisions note that the house was originally owned by a Mr F. J. Simmons. The 1901 census records that the first occupant of the house was Samuel Lee, a local shirt manufacturer. The census building return described Lee’s house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 11 rooms. No. 4 Clarence Avenue continued to be owned by the Simmons family until at least the 1970s. The McClean family occupied the house by the 1930s and were still recorded as occupants by the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72). By 1972 the value of the house had risen to £40.

Nos 2-22 Clarence Avenue was listed in 1979. 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). The NIEA HB Records note that No. 4 Clarence Avenue underwent conservation work in 2009 that included the reslating of its roof and the restoration of its rainwater goods. As part of the renovation a new window screen and entrance door was installed to the rear of the house (NIEA HB Records).

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. First Survey Record – HB01/22/006 (1970)
9. First Survey Image – HB01/22/006 (No Date)
10. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/006B

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

Mid-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 the proportion of the sash windows at the front have been altered and the rear return is enlarged, the overall style and character remain and the half-timber work signifies an Arts & Crafts influence, adding further quality and interest. No. 4 is part of a group of eleven similar houses stepping down the hill towards the river, Nos. 2 & 6-22 Clarence Avenue, (HB01/22/006 A & C-K inclusive), 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.