22 Clarendon Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian mid-terraced two-bay three-storey with attic Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1863. Rectangular on plan with projecting two-storey L-shaped block return which extends to the northern boundary of the site and encloses a small yard to E. Principal elevation faces south onto Clarendon Street set behind low rendered wall. Originally in brick but now rendered No 22 forms part of a terrace row of similar brick houses along Clarendon Street to the E and W, being situated within Clarendon Conservation Area.

Pitched natural slate roof with angled black clay ridge tiles and two roof lights to S with a single dormer to the rear N. Terrace is stepped at each house following contour of the hill each with a red brick rectangular section chimney to their E, No 22 has buff clay pots and red brick chimney to E. Cast iron semi-circular guttering discharging to circular section downpipes.

Principal south elevation has a painted smooth render finish; windows are square-headed with two 1/1 double hung timber sliding sash windows to ground floor right and two larger 6/6 timber sliding sash windows to first and second floors, no window horns (SF window to left has horns); three centered arched opening to entrance doorway to left with moulded dentilated cornice and quatrefoil foliate detailing supported by columns of the Doric order either side of four-panelled painted timber door with radial fanlight above. Brass door furniture.

The eastern side is abutted by No. 20 Clarendon Street (HB01/22/022H).
The western side is abutted by No. 24 Clarendon Street (HB01/22/022J).

Rear north elevation consists of a three-storey painted smooth rendered facade visible from yard with two storey projecting L-shaped return extending to rear access route with pitched natural slate roof and angled black clay ridge tiles. Extension has a mixture of timber casement and uPVC windows. Dormer window has double hung sliding sash windows, 2/2 timber sash to SF and double hung timber sash to GF. Two storey extension viewed from rear access route has two bays, with a timber panelled door to NE.

Setting:
Built as part of a row of eleven similar Georgian-style, early to mid-Victorian townhouses which line the north side of Clarendon Street. The front of the property is bounded by Clarendon Street set behind a rendered wall enclosing a small gravel surfaced area. Enclosed yard to rear with laneway beyond providing access to the rest of the terrace.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWG Cast iron
Walling Brick
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Historical information

Clarendon Street, characterised by its long terraces of Georgian-style townhouses, was laid out in the early-Victorian period with the construction of the first dwellings commencing in c. 1853. The laying out of similar terraced dwellings on Great James Street and Queen Street was necessitated by a period of growth in the economy and population of Londonderry that occurred in the mid-19th century. John Hume notes that during the period 1825-1850 ‘reconstruction of the city’s buildings [within the walls] took place alongside the development for the first time of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore’ (Hume, p. 147).

The first edition of the Ordnance Survey maps (1830) for the townland of Edenballymore records that the Clarendon Street area was originally rural hinterland with few significant structures. In 1830 the development of the city’s streets had extended no further than Waterloo Place, Abbey Street and William Street. In the first decades of the 19th century the only major construction north of the walls had been isolated buildings such as the Londonderry Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum and Foyle College (HB01/22/016) with little or no domestic architecture being erected during the same period. The only building in the area that predates the early-Victorian development is Foyle Cottage (HB01/21/006), a Regency house that was constructed c. 1815 and which, according to Calley, is ‘a pleasing composition which offers a gentle rebuke to some of the exuberance of later nearby buildings … one of it’s pleasant features is that it opens a gap in the long terraces’ (Calley, p. 116).

In The Annals of Derry, a survey of the city compiled by Robert Simpson and published in 1847, Simpson recorded that ‘all the district now covered by Great James’s Street, William Street, Little James Street … and the numerous lanes in that vicinity [originally comprised] meadow ground without a house’ (Simpson, p. 213). The initial development of housing in this area began in the late-Georgian period and continued into the Victorian era. With the construction of uniform rows of Georgian-style three-storey townhouses, a new affluent area was established that swiftly became the preferred residence of the city’s merchant and professional classes. The laying out of Clarendon Street, Great James Street and Queen Street followed a geometric street pattern which was characteristic of Georgian street development; the development signified the most ambitious project of town planning carried out in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city in 1613-19.

The contemporary 1847 plan of Londonderry, which depicted the final layout of Clarendon Street at least a decade before it was actually completed, recorded that the street was originally known as Ponsonby Street. The street was named after the Rt. Rev. Richard Ponsonby (1772-1853), Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, however by the 1850s the street had been renamed Clarendon Street in honour of the Fourth Earl of Clarendon, George Villiers (1800-1870), Lord Lieutentant of Ireland between 1847 and 1852. The second edtion of the Ordnance Survey map records that Ponsoby Street had been renamed Clarendon Street by at least 1853. Although the 1847 plan of Londonderry depicted that Clarendon Street extended from the quay up to Francis Street, only the bottom section of Clarendon Street (between the Strand Road and Queen Street) had been laid out by 1853.

The development of Clarendon Street progressed slowly throughout the 1850s. Mullin records that development of the remainder of the street did not recommence until the mid-1850s. In 1851 Skipton & Miller had advertised building ground on Clarendon Street, Queen Street and Patrick Street to be let in perpetuity. Griffith’s Valuation recorded that only nine dwellings had been constructed along the entire length of the street by 1856. In that year additional leases were advertised for building ground on the northern side of Clarendon Street (Mullin, p. 117).

No. 22 Clarendon Street was one of the final buildings to be constructed along the north terrace of Clarendon Street. No. 22 was erected in 1863 along with nos 6-10 and 24-26 Clarendon Street and completed the continuous terrace of 11 houses that now runs between Queen Street and Princes Street. No. 22 Clarendon Street was constructed for a Mr. Lyons and was originally valued at £28. Throughout its history the occupants of Clarendon Street were of the city’s merchant and professional classes. In 1901 No. 22 Clarendon Street was occupied by Andrew lowry, a local grocer. The census of that year described Lowry’s house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of ten main rooms. No. 22 Clarendon Street continued to be owned by the Lyons family until 1929; at that time the building was occupied by a Ms. Gertrude McGinley. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935) the entire row of nos 6-26 Clarendon Street had been purchased outright by a Ms. Jennie Steen. In 1935 the valuer increased the total rateable value of No. 22 to £42. Steen continued to own the building by the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956-72) which decreased the value of the house to £38.

In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated Clarendon Street (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. 22 Clarendon Street was subsequently listed in 1979. In 2013 Calley described nos 6-48 Clarendon Street as a ‘delightfully long red brick terrace of the mid-19th century … the buildings are nearly all the same, being three-and-a-half-storey, two-bay with most ground floors rather inelegantly squeezing in a doorway with two reduced scale window bays … depressed arched recessed timber-framed doorways have simple segmented fanlights and thin Doric columns supporting entablatures.’ No. 22 Clarendon Street’s doorcase is notably more ornate that those of the adjoining terrace, a result of that building having been constructed for a different lessor in 1863 (Calley, p. 114).

Few of the mid-Victorian townhouses along Clarendon Street are now occupied as residential dwellings. The majority of the three-storey buildings were converted into offices for local dentist, solicitors and accountancy firms in the late-20th century. During the Second Survey No. 22 Clarendon Street was divided into a number of self-contained 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 Ordnanec Survey Map (1853)
3. PRONI VAL/2/B/5/16G – Griffith’s Valuation (1856)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11B-ZA – Annual Revisions (1862-1897)
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2C-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/4 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1935)
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
8. Robert Simpson’s ‘Annals of Derry’ (1847)
9. O’Hagan’s plan of Londonderry (1847)
10. Census of Ireland (1901 / 1911)
11. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
12. First Survey Record – HB01/22/022 (No Date)
13. First Survey Image – HB01/22/022 (No Date)
14. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/022I

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. Mullin, T. H., Ulster’s Historic City: Derry – Londonderry’ Coleraine: Coleriane Bookshop, 1986.
5. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
6. ‘Londonderry Clarendon Street Conservation Area Booklet’ Department of the Environment, 1978.
7. ‘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
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

A mid-terrace two-bay three-storey with attic red brick Georgian-style townhouse, built in 1863 along with Nos.6-10 and 24-26 Clarendon Street (HB01/22/022A-C & J-JJ). It has group value with Nos. 6-20 & 24-48 (HB01/22/022A-H & J-U) which were built over an eight year period and line the north side of the street. Despite interior alterations following conversion into office accommodation and subsequent loss of historic fabric and detailing, and despite the original brick walling being rendered and painted, No. 22 retains a significantly more ornate Georgian style doorcase than its neighbours as a result of being built for a different lessor. Located within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, the well preserved setting adds to its interest. The terrace represents the mid 19th century development of Londonderry and the house is a noteworthy example of the type of property built during this period of growth in the economy and population of the city.