Former Manse

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-Victorian four-bay two-storey with attic level to left side, former Manse building, built c.1862. Rectangular on plan form with projecting rear return. Principal elevation faces north-west, built on the east side of Queen Street.

Hipped natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles and three smooth rendered chimney stacks mid-ridge with circular vented terracotta pots; half-round cast-iron guttering supported by wall below to left side, ogee profile gutter to right side terminating to circular cast-iron downpipes to front elevation.

Principal elevation (NW) is smooth render painted finish; left side of two storeys with attic-level gabled dormer to left side; right side of two storeys with two small wall-head dormers; blind pointed arched openings with trefoils above slightly shouldered square-headed window openings to ground floor on painted masonry sills with painted plaster band to reveals; blind geometric-shaped heads wih plain circular detail and shouldered opening to first floor windows of left block; right side bays on ground floor are aligned with window bays on floor above; all windows are 1/1 timber sliding sash; windows to first floor of right block and attic level of left block have chamfered heads; sheeted and braced painted timber door, door opens onto threshold at ground level.

North East elevation abuts adjacent property, No.1 Bayview Terrace (HB01/22/017A).

South-East elevation to rear of smooth render painted finish with irregular fenestration pattern. Square-headed window openings on painted concrete sills containing 1/1 timber sliding sash windows. Modern stained glass window to left side of right block. Cast-iron half round gutter terminating to circular cast-iron downpipes. Two single storey modern rear returns with pitched slate roof, pvc rainwater goods, pvc windows and single two panel timber door with top section glazed.

South-West elevation abuts adjacent property former Reformed Presbyterian Church (HB01/22/019A).

Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast-iron (pvc to rear returns)
Walling Painted render
Windows Timber sliding sash (pvc to modern rear returns)

Setting:
Attached mid Victorian-style former manse, adjacent to the former Reformed Presbyterian Church (HB01/22/019A) on the corner of Clarendon Street and Queen Street. Accessed directly off the footpath.

Historical information

No. 17 Queen Street, a two-and-a-half-storey and two-storey mid-Victorian building, was constructed in c. 1862 as the manse to the adjacent former Reformed Presbyterian Church on the corner with Clarendon Street. The adjoining church was constructed in c. 1856-57 for the Covenanter’s congregation. The Covenanter's Church, or Reformed Presbyterian Church, was formed in the late-17th century when a minority broke away from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. In the aftermath of the Williamite War the Irish Covenanters refused to subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith (which they claimed did not recognise the position of Christ as King) subsequently forming their own denomination. Prior to the construction of the new church on Clarendon Street, the Covenanters of Derry had met at an earlier meeting house on Fountain Street led by the Rev. Robert Nevin (who would later be elected the Moderator of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland). The Ordnance Survey Memoirs (1837) record that the original meeting house was built in 1810-11 and contained seats for 300 persons (OSM, p. 108). The congregation, which had originally stood under the shadow of the city walls, was relocated to the new residential district of Clarendon Street (the Rev. Robert Nevin coordinated the move), following the general trend of the mid-nineteenth century in which the professional and merchant classes shunned the walled city in favour of the new Georgian-style terraces to the north.

The Annual Revisions first recorded the manse at No. 17 Queen Street in the valuation book covering the years 1862-63 suggesting a build date of c. 1862. The architect of the manse is unknown, however the valuer noted that the building was constructed on land leased by John W. Johnston and was valued at £30. The manse was occupied by the Rev. Robert Nevin until his death in c. 1894. In that year the value of the manse was reduced to £22 as the valuer noted the building had fallen into a state of disrepair. It is not certain whether the manse was occupied over the following two decades as the next minister, the Rev. Robert Hawthorne Davidson, boarded at other addresses during both the 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland. The manse continued to be recorded as a vacant building by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931. [REVALS].

The adjoining former Reformed Presbyterian Church was listed in 1979 and both buildings were included in the designation of Clarendon Street (and the surrounding streets) as a Conservation Area in 1978. The Department of the Environment stated that the church and its environment represented ‘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). The NIEA HB Records note that the former Reformed Presbyterian Church and its manse had fallen out of their original use by 1993 when both buildings were converted into modern office premises (NIEA HB Records). In 2013 Calley described the former manse in the following terms: ‘Mildly Tudoresque manse … it is in two sections with a continuous wall surface. That on the left is two-and-a-half-storey and that on the right two-storey. There are a total of six bays on the ground floor and four on the first floor. Ground floor bays have blind pointed Saxon arches containing trefoils above the slightly shouldered openings’ (Calley, p. 329).

References
Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
4. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 - First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13-14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. Ordnance Survey Memoir of Parish of Templemore (1837)
7. Presbyterian Historic Almanac (1859)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1918)
9. First Survey Record – HB01/22/019 (1970)
10. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/019

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. Hume, J., ‘Derry beyond the walls: Social and economic aspects of the growth of Derry 1825-1850’ Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2002.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
5. Williams, J., ‘A companion guide to architecture in Ireland: 1837-1921’ Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 1994.

Online Resources
1. Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland website - http:// rpc.org

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

S. Authenticity
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

No. 17 Queen Street, a stepped two to two-and-a-half-storey mid-Victorian painted rendered dwelling, was constructed in c.1862 as the Manse to the adjacent Reformed Presbyterian Church (HB01/22/019A). The church was constructed about six years earlier in c. 1856-57. The Church, which is attached to the Manse, is located on the corner of Queen Street and Clarendon Street, located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area in an area north of the historic walled city of Londonderry. The proportions and detailing of the Manse are unusual - of particular note are the blind pointed arched window heads with trefoils to the front elevation. The building has retained its special architectural interest; despite some minor alterations to the rear, much original internal and external historic fabric and detailing remains. The former Manse has group value with the adjacent church and its original setting remains largely unaltered.