MC Block, University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Northland Road, Londonderry

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical multi-bay two-storey with attic red brick University building, built c.1895, to the designs of William Barker with three full-height canted bay windows and three rear projections. Irregular on plan facing east on an elevated site to the west of Magee University Campus adjacent to the Main Building (HB01/22/009A).

Hipped natural slate roofs with terracotta ridge tiles, lead valleys and several profiled redbrick chimneystacks with terracotta pots and corbelled out capstones. Several timber sheeted gabled dormers with paired 2/1 timber sash windows and timber bargeboards. Moulded cast-iron guttering to projecting sandstone eaves supported on two courses angled (cogging) brick and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with red sandstone trim to projecting plinth course and sandstone and angled (cogging) brick string course between floors. Rubble-stone footing evident to the base of front (E) elevation. Square-headed windows with flush red sandstone basket-arched lintels, sandstone sills and 4/1 timber sash windows with slender ogee horns and some historic glass.

Symmetrical front (E) elevation is six bays wide with three full-height three-sided canted bay windows, one to either end and one to middle, each having Dutch-style wall-head dormer window with curvilinear coping and ball finial. Two recessed entrance bays comprise; four-centred arched door opening set within red sandstone doorcase. Original flat-panelled timber doors with bolection mouldings and leaded coloured glazed fanlight flanked by Tuscan pilasters with foliate carving to capitals on raised plinths. Pilasters are surmounted by scrolled and fluted console brackets, also having foliate carving with swags in turn supporting a hood cornice; diamond fielded spandrel panels. Doors open onto concrete paved platform and three flights of concrete steps enclosed by steel railings through the terraced front lawn.

Asymmetrical south side elevation comprises a series of projections including an angled rectangular bay to the centre with lead-lined flat roof and a full-height three-sided canted bay to the left, detailed as per front elevation. The recessed section to the right has a tall red brick chimney stack with an angled vertical course above first floor level; to right is a red sandstone blank cartouche set in a red sandstone panel.

The rear (W) elevation has a series of rendered gable-ended returns and projections including a redbrick lift tower. To the right is a section (three bays wide) detailed as per front elevation having a central doorcase, detailed as above and opening onto a concrete universal access ramp. The less formal rear elevation has a variety of timber sash windows including 2/2, 6/2 and 4/2, some having leaded stained glass including those to the north staircase that have elliptical-headed openings with 2/2 and 2/1 timber sash windows with margin lights.

Asymmetrical north side elevation has a full-height three-sided canted bay window, as per front elevation. A chimney stack and sandstone plaque adorns the left hand side of the elevation, as per south side elevation. A lower two-storey hipped lean-to abutting the west gable having two square-headed openings; to first floor a 2/2 sliding sash window and to ground floor a replacement timber door at that opens onto a concrete universal access ramp and steps.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Red brick with sandstone dressings
Windows Original timber sash

Setting
Set on an elevated site adjacent to the Main Building (HB01/22/009A) at the west end of Magee University Campus with terraced lawns to the front and sides and two small bitmac yards to the rear enclosed by red brick walling (with moulded terracotta coping) and a single-storey red brick garage to the west; the latter retains three sheeted timber doors with glazed upper panels, presumably intended as one space per dwelling. Fronting onto the main bitmac driveway through the campus. Almost identical buildings are set to the west (HB01/22/009D & E).

Historical information

The two-storey red brick university building located to the south-east side of Magee’s College building (HB01/22/009A), an irregular-shaped building possessing facades of three sides, was originally built as a professor’s house in 1895.

Magee College, a college for the education of men seeking a career in the Presbyterian ministry, was established due to the bequest of over £20,000 by Martha Maria Magee upon her death in 1846. The bequest was to be used by the Presbyterian General Assembly to build a suitable college in Ulster but, due to political interference, debates over where to site the institution and construction delays, it would be almost two decades before the college was opened. In 1853 Londonderry was selected as the only viable site for the new college and an architectural competition was organised to settle upon a design for the college building. The trustees invited plans that would provide eight classrooms, a common hall and library capable of holding 500 people, a laboratory, a small room to be used as a museum and also plans for eight houses that would be utilised as dwellings for the college’s professors.

Dublin-based architect Edward P. Gribbon’s Gothic design was selected and the foundation of Magee College was laid on 18th August 1856 but, due to budgetary constraints, the construction of the eight professor’s houses was abandoned. Magee College was officially opened to students on 10th October 1865. As a result of its failure to acquire an association with any of Ireland’s universities, Magee College possessed few students in its first decade (in 1874 only eight students were enrolled). In 1879 Magee became one of the constituent colleges of the Royal University of Ireland resulting in an increase in enrolment numbers (this was furthered by the admittance of women students from 1883). The connection with the Royal University of Ireland and the ‘great generosity of the friends of the college’ resulted in a number of additions being made to the Magee College campus in the late-19th century.

In 1881 the first of the professor’s houses, originally intended to be built along with the college building in the mid-19th century, were constructed on what became known as College Avenue (HB01/22/009D-E). These first residences were constructed to the south-west side of the Magee college building and were designed by Young & Mackenzie. The two-storey red brick professor’s house located to the south-east side of the college was added over a decade later in 1895. This building was much larger than the houses of 1881 and were designed by William Barker (1851-1898), a local architect who carried out a number of contracts for the Presbyterian Church in Co. Londonderry and had also designed No. 10 Florence Terrace in 1890 (HB01/22/008A). The construction of the professor’s residence at Magee College was one of the final contracts completed by Barker before his death in 1898. Despite its greater size, the professor’s house by Barker resembles the previous residences of 1881 and it is clear that Barker had closely followed the original design of Young & Mackenzie. The Natural Stone Database described the buildings as ‘two-storey plus attic … dormers on roof and wall dormers to end bays with Dutch style gable,’ and noted that the red brick buildings along College Avenue possessed Corsehill sandstone dressings and (DIA; NSD).

The professor’s residence located to the south-east side of Magee’s college building was depicted on the c. 1873-1910 Annual Revisions Town Plan. The map shows that the general layout of the building has been maintained and few structural changes have been made to the site since the late-19th century (minor flat-roof extensions have been added to the rear of the building). The Annual Revisions set the total rateable value of the new professor’s residence at £135 in 1895 and recorded that the building was internally divided into three separate dwellings, each of which were occupied by a college professor. In 1901 the building was occupied by the Rev. John E. Henry (Professor of Theology and College Secretary), Professor Leebody (President of Magee College and Professor of Mathematics and Physics) and the Rev. Henry. F. Dickey (Professor of Oriental Literature and Biblical Criticism). The contemporary 1901 census building return described the building as three 1st class dwellings that consisted of 45 rooms and possessed coal houses and sheds as their sole out offices.

Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the professor’s residence was increased in value to £167. During the Second World War many of the buildings at Magee College were requisitioned for the war effort but a number of the professor’s houses were utilised as classrooms throughout the conflict whilst the remainder of students were educated at the Model College on the Northland Road. With the end of the war the professor’s houses returned to their original use as private residences but by the 1950s not all of them remained occupied.

In 1950, on the recommendation of the Acheson Report, some of the professor’s houses were converted into student residences. By the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the red brick buildings were also utilised as administration and teaching blocks as well as residential units. The former professor’s residence to the south-east side of the Magee college building was converted into student accommodation in 1953 and continued to be used for this purpose until at least the 1970s. The building was subsequently converted into classrooms during the expansion of the university in the 1980s and, during the Second Survey, was utilised as a staff common room and classrooms for the Faculty of Health Science, the School of Nursing and the School of Psychology. The red brick buildings along College Avenue were listed in 1976 and were included in the Magee Conservation Area in 2006 (NIEA HB Records; Conservation Area Design Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
4. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. Ulster Town Directories (1880-1918)
7. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
8. First Survey Record – HB01/22/009B (1970)
9. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/009B

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. Holmes, R. F. G., Magee 1865-1965: The evolution of the Magee colleges’ Belfast: B. N. L. Printing Co., 1965.
4. Logan, W., ‘The story of Magee College’ Londonderry: Standard Office, 1909.
5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
6. ‘A design guide for the Magee Conservation Area’ Belfast: Department of the Environment, 2010.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Natural Stone Database - http://www.stonedatabase.com/
3. University of Ulster website - http://library.ulster.ac.uk/magee/history.htm

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

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

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical multi-bay two-storey with attic red brick building to the east side of Northland Road, built c.1895 to designs by William Barker as three professor's houses. Almost identical, the MC block emulates the slightly earlier MA & MB blocks by Young & Mackenzie and its brick and red sandstone details also share much in common with the ME Block on opposite side of the main neo-Gothic building on College Avenue.
Dutch-style gabled dormers imply a Queen Anne influence that saw popular revival in the High-Victorian era, whilst the cogging brick courses, basket-arched lintels, tall profiled chimney stacks and leaded glass overlights reflect a desire for hand-crafted detailing emerging with the Arts & Crafts movement. Now used as offices by the University of Ulster, the three houses are connected internally and largely modernised, with some loss of historic fabric.
Despite the institutional appearance of the ramps and lift shaft, the exterior remains well proportioned and the brick yard enclosure, together with the garage to the rear further enhance the quality of its setting. The MC Block shares group value with a wealth of nineteenth-century structures dispersed throughout the campus (HB01/22/009A,B & D-I inclusive) that contribute significant interest to the Magee Conservation Area.