7 BAYVIEW TERRACE

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End-of-terrace 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 and a three-storey rendered return to rear stepping down to an attached flat roofed single storey extension. Part of a terrace of seven buildings of similar type and style (HB01/22/017A-G) lining the south side of Asylum Road.

Hipped replacement natural slate roof continuous with the rest of the terrace has two small dormers, one to the front one to the rear. Timber fascia and slightly overhanging timber soffit; half round cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipe on the east elevation and a uPVC downpipe to the north elevation.

The front (North) elevation has a two-storey three-sided canted bay rising from ground floor to first floor level with entablatures and a plain frieze to the lower window and blind fretwork to the upper 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 1/1 double hung timber sliding sashes with moulded horns. The first floor has one window aligned with the front door below and to the left of the canted bay, and the second floor has two windows, both centred on the windows below. The windows to the canted bay are replacement timber casements. The recessed elliptical arched door case, eight steps up, is flanked by rendered square pilasters and entablature above, plain fanlight to a recessed pair of round headed timber panelled doors, framed by moulded square pilasters of the Doric order and moulded entablature above; rendered corner quoins to the northeast corner of front and gable elevations on first and second floor levels; small pitched roof dormer on main slate roof, centred on front elevation has slated cheeks and a segmental headed 1/1 timber sliding sash window. Front stone steps leading to entrance doorway has modern galvanised handrail to either side attached to existing iron railings and to rendered pilasters left and right side of door case.

Rear (South) elevation is smooth-rendered painted finish with square headed window openings. First and second floors have timber casement windows to the left hand side of the elevation and a 1/1 double hung timber sliding sash window to wall dormer on third floor level.
Three storey return has a pitched slate roof with black ridge tiles and uPVC rainwater goods. East elevation of the return has a small outshot with a small timber casement window to the south side on second floor level. Adjacent to this window on the east elevation is another small window opening (window not visible at time of survey). The rear elevation of the return has two timber casement windows to the left side of the elevation on first and second floor levels.
An attached single-storey rendered outshot extends the full width of the site abutting a high concrete block wall at either end and has a flat felt roof with a modern roof light, with a timber bargeboard and uPVC rainwater goods, timber casement windows and a timber door opening out onto rear yard to the south. Rear yard is enclosed by a high painted concrete wall with a vertically sheeted and braced timber gate leading to entrance laneway accessed from Clarendon Street.

West side is abutted by No.6 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017F).

Gable (East) side elevation is adjacent to a vacant plot. Elevations are blank to each section; the main three storey house, the three-storey return and single-storey return.

Setting:
Located on the south side of Asylum Road behind a stone plinth wall with iron railings above, the front main entrance is approached by a flight of stone 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 Cast Iron / uPVC
Walling Painted Render
Windows Timber Sliding Sash (N) Timber casements (N & 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 c. 1873-1910 Annual Revisions plan of Londonderry which depicted the row along its current layout. 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 to 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. 7 Bayview Terrace, along with the adjoining nos 1-6, 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. 7 Bayview Terrace was a Mr. William Hunter, who was a clerk at the Union Workhouse and was described in his Will as a local gentleman. By 1911 the house had passed to John Boyd Moore, a veterinary surgeon. In that year the census building return described No. 7 Bayview Terrace as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of ten rooms and possessed a stable as its sole outbuilding. The First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) recorded that ownership of No. 7 Bayview Terrace had passed to John Hill, a local merchant, by the 1930s. No. 7 Bayview Terrace also possessed the four-storey return leading onto Queen Street and was increased on valued to £60 under the First Revaluation. The value of the building was further raised to £68 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) at which time the building was occupied by Hills (Derry) Ltd.

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. 7 Bayview Terrace was subsequently listed in 1979 and was converted into office premises in the late-20th century. During the Second Survey the building was occupied by Gingerbread N.I., a single-parent support organisation.

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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (18 Nov 1875)
12. First Survey Record – HB01/22/017 (1970)
13. First Survey Image – HB01/22/017 (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/017G (Missing)

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 end-of-terrace 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.7 is located to the east side of no.6 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017F), located on the western side of the River Foyle within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Despite replacement casements to the front bay window, the front elevation retains sufficient detailing to regard it as special, including decorative fretwork to the top of the bay window. Much historic detailing remains internally such as decorative cornicing, although some internal alterations have taken place to the layout. 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.