4 BAYVIEW TERRACE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-terraced two-bay three-storey with attic rendered mid-Victorian house, built in 1870 (Architect unknown). Rectangular plan form facing north with rendered banded rustication to ground floor of front elevation and a three-storey rendered return to rear adjoined to a three storey outbuilding accessed from the rear. Part of a terrace of seven buildings of similar type and style lining the south side of Asylum Road (HB01/22/017A-G).

Pitched (replacement) natural slate roof has two small dormers, one to the front one to the rear with a two-stage rendered and brick chimney stack with clay pots rising from the east side, centred on ridge. Timber fascia and slightly overhanging timber soffit; moulded uPVC guttering discharging to circular cast-iron downpipe to the left of the north elevation.

The front (North) elevation has a two-storey three-sided canted bay, to the right hand side of entrance, rising from ground floor to first floor level with entablatures and a plain frieze to the lower window and blind fretwork to the upper level frieze with dentilled moulding to the parapet above; continuous sill course to first floor windows; window openings are square headed with moulded architrave surrounds and uPVC casement windows. The recessed elliptical arched door case, four steps up, is flanked by rendered square pilasters with an entablature above, plain fanlight to a pair of recessed timber panel half doors, framed by moulded square pilasters of the Doric order and moulded entablature above. Small pitched roof dormer on main slate roof, centred on front elevation has slated cheeks and a semicircular uPVC casement window, set within the u-PVC horizontal cladding to front.

Rear (South) elevation is of red brick with a square headed window opening on third floor directly above a three storey pitched roof return and to the left a wall dormer on attic level. Remainder of rear elevation is obscured by an external fire escape stair which is sheeted in corrugated plastic.
Three storey return has a pitched artificial slate roof with black ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods; east elevation is abutted by outbuilding of adjoining property (No.5 Bayview).

To the rear of the site is a refurbished three-storey rendered unpainted outbuilding which forms part of the stepped row of outbuildings associated with the houses of Bayview Terrace. The south elevation of the outbuilding contains square headed window openings with uPVC casement windows at all floor levels. West elevation is adjoined to neighbouring property outbuilding (No.3 Bayview) (HB01/22/017C); slated pitched roof and uPVC and cast-iron rainwater goods to outbuilding.

West side is abutted by No.3 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017C).

East side is abutted by No.5 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017E).

Setting:
Located on the south side of Asylum Road behind a concrete wall with steel railings above, the front main entrance is approached by a short flight of concrete steps, set within a terrace row of seven houses of similar type and style facing north situated within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate / Artificial slate to rear return
RWGs Cast Iron & uPVC
Walling Painted Render (N) Red brick (S)
Windows uPVC

Historical information

Bayview Terrace, a row of seven three-and-a-half-storey mid-Victorian townhouses located at the lower end of Asylum Road, was laid out in 1870. The terrace was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1870 and was first depicted on the c. 1873 Annual Revisions Plan of Londonderry. Asylum Road which runs between the Strand and Northland Roads dates from before 1830 and so predates the streets of the Clarendon Street Conservation Area which were laid out between c. 1837 and the 1860s. The Road formed the southern border of the Londonderry District Lunatic Asylum which was built in 1825-29. The asylum was demolished in the 1960s but the perimeter wall of locally-quarried Derry Schist continues to stand opposite Bayview Terrace noting the original boundary of the institution.

The second edition Ordnance Survey map records that no buildings had been constructed along Asylum Road by 1853. Nos 1-13 Asylum Road, located at the top of the hill, were the first houses to be erected in c. 1860. The development of this row was contemporary with the laying out of the Georgian-style terraces along Queen and Clarendon Street. The three-and-a-half-storey buildings were similar in style and scale to the houses of the adjoining streets, the majority of which had been erected between 1847 and the 1860s.

Nos 1-7 Bayview Terrace were constructed a decade after the completion of nos 1-13 Asylum Road and display a more Victorian character than their Georgian-style neighbours. The terrace possesses a number of ornate features such as door frames that possess Doric columns and entablatures. Nos 1, 4 and 7 Bayview Terrace possess bay windows with entablatures bearing fretwork frieze decorations. The terrace was named Bayview due to its location close the banks of the Foyle which afforded the houses a scenic view over Rosses Bay. The reclamation of land and the construction of buildings on the eastern side of the Strand Road has deprived the row of its former view (Calley, pp 21-22). The architect of the buildings is not known although the Annual Revisions note that the terrace was built on land owned by Harvey Nicholson, a local magistrate and Justice of the Peace (Ulster Town Directories).

No. 4 Bayview Terrace, along with the adjoining nos 1-7, was constructed in 1870. The Annual Revisions notes that the house was originally valued at £48 and the landlord was Matthew McClelland, a local magistrate and builder who resided at No. 1 Bayview Terrace. As with the neighbouring streets, the townhouses on Bayview Terrace became the residences of Londonderry’s professional and merchant classes. The first occupant of No. 4 Bayview Terrace was a Mr. David Johnston although by c. 1880 the property was the dwelling of George Walker, a grocer and seed merchant who held business premises on Magazine Street (UTD). The Census of Ireland records that the property lay vacant in 1911, however the census building return described the majority of the other buildings on the terrace as 1st class dwellings that consisted of 10 rooms.

A Mr. Archibald Halliday occupied No. 4 Bayview Terrace in 1911. In that year the building was converted from a private dwelling into a branch of Skerry’s College. The college had been established in Edinburgh in 1878 by George Skerry and aimed at preparing candidates for Civil Service examinations. The great success of the college resulted in the founding of branches throughout the United Kingdom. Archibald Halliday was the principal of the college and also resided at No. 4 Bayview Terrace. The First General and Second Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-72) record that the landlord of the building remained as Matthew McClelland until the 1970s. The valuer notes that Skerry’s College closed in 1948 when the building was converted into clubrooms for the Derry Catholic Club and that the total rateable value of the building was increased to £75 in that year. The building continued to be occupied by the Derry Catholic Club until c. 1990 and its value had been further raised to £184 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated Bayview Terrace (and the surrounding streets) a Conservation Area ‘being an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance’ (Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet). No. 4 Bayview Terrace was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building continued to be occupied by the Derry Catholic Club in 1985 but lay vacant in 1996 when it was converted into a number of self-contained apartments (NIEA HB Records).

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/157/1/8 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
4. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11DA-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
7. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Northern Ireland (1936-57)
8. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Northern Ireland (1956-72)
9. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
10. Ulster Town Directories (1861-1918)
11. First Survey Record – HB01/22/017 (1970)
12. First Survey Image – HB01/22/017 (April 1977)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/017D

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. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
4. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978.
5. ‘Design Guide for Clarendon Street Conservation Area’ Department of the Environment, 2012.

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
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

Mid-Victorian mid-terraced two-bay three-storey with attic rendered house built in 1870, one of a terrace of seven buildings of similar type and style lining the south side of Asylum Road (Nos 1-7 Bayview Terrace - HB01/22/017A-G). No.4 is located between No.3 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017C) and No.5 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017E), located on the western side of the River Foyle within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Despite inappropriate alterations to the exterior such as replacement windows, the front facade retains sufficient detailing to regard it as special, including a bay window with fretwork frieze entablature. It is a good example of a substantial terraced house that became one of the residences of Londonderry’s professional and merchant classes. During its past the house was converted into a branch of Skerry's College and then clubrooms for the Derry Catholic Club, adding to its historical interest. The house has group value along with the rest of the houses in the terrace.