Carrickmore House

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey over basement rendered former house, built c.1879. Square on plan facing east with a flat-roofed corridor to the rear connecting to a two-storey rendered block, built c.1989. Set within its own landscaped grounds on the north side of Rock Road with large bitmac car park to the east.

Hipped natural slate roof on a U-plan with black clay ridge tiles and three replacement rendered chimneystacks. Moulded cast-iron guttering to bracketed overhanging eaves course and cast-iron downpipes. Painted rendered walling with rusticated rendered quoins and moulded trim to plinth course. Square-headed window openings with architrave surrounds, hood mouldings, painted masonry sills and single-pane timber sash windows with convex horns.

Symmetrical three-bay two-storey over basement front elevation with central portico. Ground floor window openings are set within shallow bay projections that rise from basement level having lead-lined hood cornice with a central window and slender sidelights flanked by slender pilasters supporting plain entablature and rising from continuous sill with plain panelled aprons. Square-headed principal entrance has a tripartite timber doorcase comprising a four-panel timber door and fixed-pane sidelights flanked by slender pilasters and scrolled console brackets supporting a lintel cornice and tripartite glazed overlight. Door opens onto sandstone paved platform and five sandstone steps bridging the basement area. The doorcase is flanked by Doric pilasters with responding Ionic columns supporting a full dentilated entablature with felt covering. Platform and steps enclosed by original wrought-iron railings with a replacement steel railing enclosing the basement area.

South side elevation has three windows to the first floor and two windows to the ground floor, detailed as per ground floor windows to the front elevation. Tripartite windows openings to the basement with plain surrounds.

Randomly-placed window openings to west rear elevation having single-pane timber sash windows and later timber casement windows. Abutting the centre of the rear elevation is a flat-roofed rendered corridor connecting the house to a two-storey rendered block.

North side elevation has randomly-placed window openings detailed as per first floor of the front elevation. A flat-roofed single-storey extension abuts the right hand side of this elevation.

Materials:
Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Painted render
Windows Timber sash

Setting
Set back on the north side of Rock Road on a slightly elevated site with mature trees and planting to the south, with no boundary wall and a large bitmac parking area to the east. Although physically separated by Rock Road, it now forms part of the Magee University Campus to the south.

Historical information

Carrickmore House, a two-storey three-bay square-shaped former gentleman’s mansion located on the Rock Road, was constructed in 1879. Calley states that the Rock Road was first recorded on maps of 1689 and was first named in 1865. The road was named after the Rock, a house and hamlet of smaller buildings that were located on the hill overlooking the Strand Road. The first edition Ordnance Survey map for Londonderry (1830) records that a sand pit was located on the current site of Carrickmore House in the early-19th century (Calley, p. 337).

The Annual Revisions record that Carrickmore House was constructed in 1879 on land owned by the Gilliland’s of Brookhall (HB01/25/002). The valuer noted that the Victorian mansion was initially valued at £65 and possessed a two-storey outbuilding to its south-west side (demolished and now replaced with modern extension). The first occupant of the dwelling was Quinn J. Brownrigg, County Inspector to the Royal Irish Constabulary (R. I. C.). Brownrigg continued to reside at Rock Road until 1884 when a Mr. Stewart H. Bruce took possession of the building. Bruce may have been Major S. Hervey Bruce, the governor of H.M. Prison on Bishop Street (UTD). In 1894 Carrickmore House passed to Sir. William McLearn, a railway and carting contractor (with business premises on Foyle Street) who was also a local magistrate and Mayor of Londonderry in 1901 and 1913-15. McLearn was knighted by Queen Victoria on 24th June 1900 and was a patron of Carlisle Road Presbyterian Church (HB01/19/059).

The 1901 census building return described Carrickmore House as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 16 rooms. The return notes that the outbuilding located to the south-west side of the mansion was utilised as a stable and coach house. Sir. William McLearn continued to reside at Carrickmore House until his death in 1918 (PRONI Wills). The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that Carrickmore House was acquired by the trustees of Magee College by the 1930s when it was valued at £. Holmes states that the house and its six acres of land was gifted to the college by W. J. Hanna, the chairman of the college trustees. From the 1930s the trustees leased the property to William Hyndman, a local merchant. Following his death in 1934, Hyndman’s family remained at the Rock Road until 1956 when Carrickmore House fell vacant. The Second Revaluation (1956-72) suggests that the building remained vacant until the 1970s. The value of the mansion stood at £65 by the end of the revaluation in 1972.

In 1970 the UAHS guide for Londonderry described Carrickmore House as ‘a fine two-storey house with basement, standing in its own grounds. It is almost square in plan, with a small entrance portico and a commanding view over Rosses Bay (UAHS guide, p. 52). Carrickmore House was listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that in 1980 the building was converted from a private dwelling into a radio studio for B.B.C. Radio Foyle. The radio station only briefly occupied the site before moving to a purpose-built station at the corner of the Northland Road and Northland Avenue in 1985. Carrickmore House was converted into a suite of lecture and seminar rooms for Magee University between 1985 and 1989. The conversion was carried out by Ferguson & McIlveen (architects for the Magee Campus Extension Development). The former outbuilding located to the south-west side of the building was demolished when the single-storey modern extension was added to the building (NIEA HB Records). During the Second Survey Carrickmore House continued to be utilised by Magee University. The building was included in the Magee Conservation Area in 2006.

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
2. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/8C-8E – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
6. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1918)
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (13 Apr 1918; 27 Jul 1934)
10. First Survey Record – HB01/22/0011 (1970)
11. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/0011

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.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical three-bay two-storey over basement rendered late-Victorian house, built c.1879 and located on the north side of Rock Road. While the exterior retains much of its good quality Italianate style detailing and some mature planting within the grounds, the car-park to the front and the extension to the rear have an adverse impact on the quality of its setting and a good amount interior fabric is lost, due to conversion to teaching accommodation. Nonetheless, the sweeping entrance steps with wrought iron railings that lead to the portico make an impressive statement on the main facade, especially given its prominent position overlooking the River Foyle.
The former mansion is of historic importance having been the home of Sir William McLearn, local magistrate and former major of Londonderry and it has social value as one time studio for BBC Radio Foyle.
Although physically separated by Rock Road, when considered as part of the wider University of Ulster Campus (HB01/22/009A-I inclusive), Carrickmore House is one of a good collection of nineteenth-century buildings that contribute significant character to the Magee Conservation Area.

General comments

Previously recorded as HB01/22/011,this Dummy record needs to also transfer.