6 BAYVIEW TERRACE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

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

Pitched 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 terracotta clay pots. Timber fascia and slightly overhanging timber soffit; moulded uPVC guttering discharging to circular uPVC downpipe on the north elevation.

The front (North) elevation has rendered banded rustication on ground floor with continuous painted sill course to first floor windows spanning the width of the elevation; window openings are square headed with moulded architrave surrounds and 1/1 double hung timber sliding sashes with moulded horns. Two window bays aligned with upper floor bays to the right of a recessed elliptical arched door opening, five steps up, flanked by rendered square pilasters and entablature above, plain fanlight to a pair of replacement timber single panel round headed 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 segmental arched timber casement window set in timber fascia and framing. Front stone steps leading to entrance doorway have painted handrail to either side.

Rear (South) elevation is smooth-rendered unpainted finish with square headed window openings on each level having 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with a 2/2 double hung sliding sash to wall dormer on attic level. PVC soil pipe to left of windows rising full height of elevation.
Three storey return has a pitched slate roof with black ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods, west elevation of return has a door with side-light and top-light on the left hand side and a timber casement window with metal bars on the right on ground floor level and a 3/3 timber sliding sash window to first and second floor levels at the left side of the elevation, south elevation has a boarded window with metal grille on ground floor, east elevation has an irregular fenestration pattern with a single 6/6 timber sliding sash window to the left side on first floor level and a timber casement window to the far right side. Second floor level has three timber casement windows, one larger one to the left hand side and two small ones towards the right. Ground floor east elevation was not visible at time of survey.

To the rear of the site is a stone outbuilding which forms part of the stepped row of outbuildings associated with the houses of Bayview Terrace. The north elevation of the outbuilding is built in stone rubble with red brick detailing and more recent rendered sections; ground floor contains a timber flush door and three timber casement windows, one to the right of the door opening and two above, aligned with the door and window below, rendered skew to gable up-stand of asbestos sheeted roof; south elevation is of rendered painted finish with a large altered deeply recessed rectangular blind opening on ground to the left side with a metal door on the extreme left and a deeply recessed opening above on first floor level with vertically sheeted timber boarding; right hand side of elevation is blank. uPVC rainwater goods to outbuilding.

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

East side is abutted by No.7 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017G).

Setting:
Located on the south side of Asylum Road behind a stone plinth wall, the front main entrance is approached by a flight of concrete pavior steps, set within a terrace row of seven houses of similar type and style (HB01/22/017A-G) facing north situated within Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWGs uPVC
Walling Painted Render
Windows Timber Sliding Sash (N&S) Timber casements (S)

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 1873 Ordnance Survey map 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 in 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. 6 Bayview Terrace, along with the adjoining nos 1-7, was constructed in 1870. The Annual Revisions notes that the house was originally valued at £45 and the landlord was Matthew McClelland, a local magistrate and builder. 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. 6 Bayview Terrace was a Mr Stewart Christie but by 1901 the house had passed to William Gailey, a local stationer and newsagent who held business premises on Waterloo Place. In 1911 the census building return described Gailey’s property as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 11 rooms. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) records that a Ms Kathleen Nerrie occupied the house in the 1930s and continued to reside there until 1968. The McClelland family remained the landlord of the house until at least the 1970s and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) the total rateable value of the building had been decreased to £40.

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. 6 Bayview Terrace was subsequently listed in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that No. 6 Bayview Terrace underwent extensive renovation in 1999 which included the construction of new dormer windows, the reslating of its roof and the installation of new sliding sash windows (NIEA HB Records). During the Second Survey the building was utilised as office premises.

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)
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 (No Date)
13. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/017F

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
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
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 three-bay three-storey with attic and basement level 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.6 is located between No.5 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017E) and No.7 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017G), located on the western side of the River Foyle within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Externally, the front elevation retains sufficient detailing to regard it as special, including rendered square pilasters either side of the front door and entablature above. Internally some historic detailing remains and the original plan form remains largely intact. It is a good example of a substantial terraced house that became one of the residences of Londonderry’s professional and merchant classes. The house has group value along with the rest of the houses in the terrace.