OLD FOYLE COLLEGE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Classical-style five bay, three (and two) storey over-basement Georgian stone former school building with modern extensions to the rear. Three-storey central bay is flanked by two-storey slightly projecting wings. Set back behind a rough-cast rendered high wall with a large bitmac car park to the East side; front entrance is accessed via a short flight of steps centred on rough-cast rendered wall, approached from Cranagh Terrace. Built between 1809 and 1814 to designs by J. Bowden. Rectangular plan form with a large modern return to the rear set on an elevated site within a large green area concealed by large trees of varying species. The current college building was built to replace the former Free (Grammar) School which dated from 1617. Foyle College is the city's earliest surviving educational institution and today continues to serve as an educational purpose as part of the Magee University Campus.

Hipped (Welsh slate) roof has deep overhanging eaves to 3-storey central block and stone copings to gabled side bays. Main central block has terracotta clay ridge tiles and a large stone chimney stack with stepped cornice and 6 octagonal-shaped clay pots (one missing) to the NW side of roof. Half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular painted cast-iron downpipes throughout.

Symmetrical principal (South-East) elevation is of 'course squared' local Schist with Giffnock sandstone band-courses spanning the width of the elevation; the main block has projecting cornices with a series of semicircular arch headed windows on ground floor and square headed windows on upper floors with stone voussoirs; continuous stone sill-course to first floor windows; second floor windows diminish in scale resting on sandstone sills. Each flanking wing is of Giffnock sandstone with one-bay linking ranges; side bays have a tripartite timber sliding sash divided by stone mullions with scroll brackets on ground floor with a 6/6 timber sliding sash above all set within a segmental arched recess and below a pedimented gable; linking ranges contain a square headed doorway with a projecting cornice over a pair of half-leaf diamond-faced panelled doors with glazed top panes and integrated side lights and a semicircular fanlight over; there is a single square headed 6/6 timber sliding sash above doorway to either side of central block.

Side (South-West) elevation is of painted rough-cast render, six-bays wide, set behind a low schist wall with metal railings above. Basement level contains segmental arched windows with square headed door openings; accessed via a set of stone steps from the SE side. Ground floor level has a concrete open link leading to a pair of metal fire doors with a 9-pane transom light above, three square headed window bays to the left and two to the right, aligned with windows on first floor level; windows are 6/6 timber sliding sashes. There are two rendered unpainted chimney stacks centred on ridge to slated pitched roof with stepped cornices and octagonal-shaped buff clay pots.

Rear (North-West) elevation is of local Schist with red-brick dressings to window surrounds; elevation consists of four gable-ends facing North-West with a three-storey block to the left side merged between two gable-end returns, three-storey block has a large modern flat-roof extension on ground floor level with a rendered and glazed front and a pair of large metal automatic sensored doors to the left side. The fenestration pattern to the overall rear elevation is irregular with a series of square headed and semicircular arched 6/6 and 6/3 timber sashes and coupled 6/6 timber sliding sash windows.

Side (North-East) elevation is of painted rough-cast render with an entrance doorway to the far right side on ground and first floor level, accessed via a set of external metal steps; ground floor has a pair of half-leaf panelled timber doors with a 9-pane transom light over. Ground floor has four-bays and first floor consists of five-bays, aligned with bays on ground floor below; windows are 6/6 timber sliding sashes, first floor openings diminish in scale. Natural slate pitched roof has two modern roof lights and a red brick chimney stack to the NW gable-end. Basement level is accessed via a concrete ramp from the SE side having a mix of three square-headed and segmental arch headed blind bays, a large square-headed doorway with a single pane transom light over and a segmental arched window to the left (SE) side having a 6/6 timber sliding sash.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Smooth render painted
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Setting:
Located on an elevated site to the North-West side of the Strand Road overlooking the River Foyle to the North-east side. Principal elevation faces South-East accessed via a short flight of steps set within a high wall approached from Cranagh Terrace. Situated within its own grounds consisting of a car park and a large green area concealed to the rear with large mature trees.

Historical information

The Foyle Art’s Centre, a three-storey five-bay Georgian building flanked by two-storey wings located on the Strand Road, was designed and constructed between 1809 and 1814. Foyle College is Londonderry’s earliest surviving educational institution originally dating from the early-17th century when it was established as a Free (Grammar) School (or Diocesan School) for boy’s located within the historic city walls.

The 17th century maps of Londonderry (1622; 1689) show that ‘The Freeschole’ was located on the land between Palace Street and Society Street (the latter was known as Free School Lane in the late-18th century). The 1689 and 1799 city plans record that the original school was located on the opposite side of the street from St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012A) and was a rectangular-shaped building. Simpson’s Annals of Derry (1847) notes that the first school was constructed in 1617 with the Corporation of London charged with maintaining it. The first schoolhouse was built at the expense of Mathias Springham, a merchant tailor from London, and was a one-and-a-half-storey building measuring 67ft in length by 25ft in breadth: ‘It was like the other original buildings of the City, entirely of stone. The first storey consisted of a school room hall and parlour, the second of sleeping apartments … in which were four windows, in range.’ The first schoolhouse was severely damaged during the Siege of Derry and was almost entirely rebuilt following the conflict by Bishop King. This building continued to be utilised as the Free School until the early-19th century (Simpson; Foyle Civic Trust).

Having stood within the historic city walls for almost two centuries, the Free School relocated to a new site on the Strand Road in 1814. Funds for the new school were raised under the direction of Bishop Knox who personally submitted £1,000 and obtained grants from the Livery Companies and the Corporation. The Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that the first designs were submitted in 1808 by Richard Elsam, an English architect who established a practice in Londonderry in c. 1808. Elsam submitted plans for a Tudor-Gothic building, however these designs were unexecuted and the Classical Regency-style plans of John Bowden were accepted. John Bowden (d. 1822) was a Dublin-based architect who was official architect to the Board of First Fruits (1814-21) and was also responsible for the design of Londonderry’s County Court House (1813-17) (HB01/19/002) and may have been the architect of modifications to the Bishop’s Palace (HB01/19/006) in the early-19th century (DIA; Calley, pp 413-414).

Foyle College was one of a number of buildings constructed in the early decades of the century, which also including the Infirmary (1810), the Lunatic Asylum (1825-29) and Christ Church (1830). These structures were the first major building ventures outside the historic walls and, as Curl states, were expressions of the city’s desire to construct edifices of ‘architectural quality.’ The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) records that the first stone was laid in 1814 by Bishop Knox and that the school was officially opened later that year. The memoir writer described the school in the following terms: ‘Its length is 135ft, and its greatest breadth 66. It is a simple but handsome stone edifice, consisting of a central building, 21ft long, and two wings, terminating in angular pavilions, which are each 24ft long. The height of the central building is 47ft, and of the wings 40.’ The college was an all-boys school and admitted its first pupils in 1814. The Free School (or Diocesan School) was renamed Foyle College in that year. (Curl, p. 407; OSM).

The Townland Valuation set the total rateable value of the school at £100 in the 1830s. The contemporary Town Plan (1834) depicted the school along its original layout possessing a central block flanked by two wings. The 1830s map and the Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1848-49) record that the site possessed a gate lodge at the Strand Road entrance to the site. Dean believed that the lodge was contemporary with the College although it had been demolished by the turn of the 20th century (the building did not appear on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1904-05). Griffith’s Valuation records that the value of the school was increased to £160 in 1856. Hume succinctly described the nature of the school in the mid-19th century: ‘[Foyle College] had a chequered history but by the early-19th century was well enough established to be patronised by the gentry and counted peers, bishops and judges among its alumni. It offered what was described as a classical education which meant an education that extended well beyond the reading, writing and arithmetic that was the common fare in most of the schools of the city. [Entry to the College] ran at more than £5 per annum, an outlay that would have given pause to even the wealthier parents of children who had not secured one of the twenty-four available scholarships’ (Hume, pp 98-99).

The most notable alumni of Foyle College was John L. M. Lawrence (1811-1879) who born in Richmond (Yorkshire) but spent part of his youth in Londonderry and was educated at Foyle College where his uncle the Rev. James Knox presided. Following his education at Foyle College Lawrence travelled to India where he served as District Officer of Delhi. During the Sikh War (1845-46) he was appointed Commissioner of the Jullundur region and in 1853 Lawrence became Chief Commissioner of the Punjab. In 1864, following the suppression of the Indian Rebellion, Lawrence succeeded James Bruce (Lord Elgin) as Viceroy of India and continued to serve as head of the British administration in the country until 1869 when he returned to England. Lawrence died on 27th June 1879 and was buried at Westminster Abbey (Dictionary of Ulster Biography; Dictionary of Indian Biography). The street to the immediate south side of Foyle College was renamed Lawrence Hill in the late-19th century and a statue of John Lawrence, originally located in Lahore, was transported to Londonderry and installed in front of Foyle College in March 1964 in order to commemorate the Viceroy’s connection with the school (see HB01/24/001 for full history of statue).

In 1896 Foyle College amalgamated with the Londonderry Academical Institution following the passing of the Foyle College Act. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the total rateable value of Foyle College was increased to £215. The school continued to operate from the Strand Road site until 1968 when Foyle College relocated to new premises on the Northland Road. A. T. Marshall’s three-storey school building was opened in 1968 and has continued to be utilised as Foyle and Londonderry’s junior school. The relocation of the school also included the removal of John Lawrence’s statue which is currently located in front of the school on the Northland Road. In 1968 the building on the Strand Road was acquired by the Londonderry & County Borough Education Authority who converted the structure into additional classroom and workshops for the neighbouring Municipal Technical College (HB01/22/015). By the end of the Second General Revaluation the total rateable value of the school had been increased to £600.

The former Foyle College building was listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building was acquired by the University of Ulster and converted into an Arts Centre in 1992. The conversion of the building included the reslating of its roof in welsh slate, the installation of new timber windows throughout, the repointing of its stonework and chimneys and the reorganisation of the interior floorplan. Modern extensions were added to the rear of the Foyle Arts Centre in c. 2007 which provided additional accommodation for the university’s schools of dance, music, drama and arts and design (NIEA HB Records). The Foyle Art’s Centre was included in the Magee Conservation Area which was designated in 2006. The Conservation Area Guide described the former Foyle College Building in the following terms: ‘Its quiet restraint and simplicity combines with excellent massing and proportions, simple detailing, and well selected and constructed materials to form a building of considerable architectural stature in the Magee Conservation Area and the wider city. Like Magee College it is the only one of its type in the city’ (Magee Conservation Area Guide).

References

Primary Sources
1. Thomas Raven’s Plan of Londonderry (1622)
2. Thomas Phillip’s Plan of Londonderry and Environs (1689)
3. Porter’s Map of Londonderry (1799)
4. PRONI OS/6/5/20/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1830)
5. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
6. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
7. PRONI VAL/1/B/547A-F – Townland Valuations (1831)
8. PRONI VAL/1/D/5/9B – Townland Valuation Town Plan (1834)
9. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16B – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
10. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/10 – First Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
11. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
12. Ordnance Survey Memoir of Parish of Templemore (1837)
13. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847)
14. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
15. Dictionary of Indian Biography (1906)
16. First Survey Record – HB01/22/016 (1970)
17. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/016
18. Foyle Civic Trust: Living City Project (Palace Street)

Secondary Sources
1. Calley, D., ‘City of Derry: An historical gazetteer to the buildings of Londonderry’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2013.
2. Curl, J. S., ‘The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914’ Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 1986.
3. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
4. 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.
5. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
6. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
7. Thomas, A., ‘Irish Historic Town Atlas, No. 15: Derry – Londonderry’ Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2005 - including Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1904-05).
8. ‘Magee Baseline Audit’ Department of the Environment, 2010.
9. ‘Design Guide for Magee Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2010.

Online Resources
1. Digital Atlas of Derry - http://www.ria.ie/digitalatlasderry - including Ordnance Survey Town Plan (1848-49)
2. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/
3. Dictionary of Ulster Biography - http://www.ulsterbiography.co.uk/
4. Foyle and Londonderry College website - http://www.foylenet.org.uk/

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

Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
R. Age

Evaluation

Classical-style stone former school building with a large three-storey central block flanked by projecting side-bays. Built 1809-1814 to designs by J. Bowden, it is situated on an elevated site to the North-West side of the Strand Road overlooking the River Foyle on the North-East side. Foyle College is Londonderry’s earliest surviving educational institution originally dating from the early-17th century when it was established as a ‘Free School’ for boys. Built originally as a school building it continues its original use as it now operates as an educational building as part of the Magee University Campus, having group value with the other Magee buildings (HB01/22/009A-I). Despite changes to the original plan form and the loss of some historic detailing due to modern refurbishments this building is a well proportioned structure with plain detailing and robust massing and is a building of considerable architectural stature within the Magee Conservation Area.