1A Academy Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Victorian end-of-terrace six-bay two-storey rendered villa type house. Built between1866-1869 and thought possibly to have been designed by John Guy Ferguson. Rectangular on plan with a cruciform pitched slate roof and large chimney stack centred on ridge. Built on the corner of Northland Road and Academy Road with front elevation facing south onto Academy Road and two-storey rear return interlocking with Nos. 1&2 Crawford Square (HB01/22/037A&B). Small garden, triangular on plan, to east with smooth rendered boundary wall (painted) with concrete capping and modern galvanised metal pedestrian gate accessed from Northland Road.

Principal elevation (south) is smooth ruled and lined painted render; window openings are square-headed on painted masonry sills, with windows all concealed behind plywood sheeting. Fibre cement slate to pitched roof with terracotta ridge tiles and central gable with recessed roundel centred on apex. Central four-bay single-storey flat roofed entrance porch with projecting cornice. Entrance door to east side with painted plaster moulded architrave. Replacement uPVC ogee guttering, square-section downpipes, fascia and soffit. Smooth rendered unpainted chimney stack with 5 tall clay pots, centred on ridge, with middle pot capped.

Rear elevation (north) is smooth render painted walls having no fenestration with two-storey return to west with single storey lean-to return to east. Return interlocks in section with Crawford Square rear returns; sheet membrane pitched roof in cruciform arrangement with main roof pitch.

East elevation is smooth painted block-lined render with single-storey lean-to extension accessed six steps up from garden level having fibre cement slates behind rendered boundary wall.

West elevation is abutted to outbuilding of No. 3 Crawford Square.

Pitched fibre cement slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and rendered brick chimney stack with five clay pots. Replacement uPVC ogee guttering, square-section downpipes, fascia and soffit.

Materials:
Roof Fibre cement
RWG uPVC
Walling Render
Windows Sheeted with plywood

Setting:
Set at the junction of Northland Road and Academy Road to the south of Crawford Square with a small garden to the east, within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

Historical information

No. 1A Academy Road, a two-storey rendered dwelling located at the corner of the Northland Road and to the rear of nos 1-2 Crawford Square (HB01/22/003A-B), was constructed between 1866 and 1869. A road occupying the current layout of Academy Road had been laid out by at least the late-18th century. Calley states that in 1799 this was known as Haw’s Lane. The road gained its current name following the establishment of the Londonderry Academical Institution in 1870-71 (the building was demolished in the 1970s). No. 1A was constructed as part of the development of the neighbouring Crawford Square.

Crawford Square, a mid-Victorian square located off the Northland Road on a hill overlooking the River Foyle, was originally laid out in 1861. The Dublin Builder records that the square was named after Samuel Law Crawford, a local solicitor who owned the land. Crawford Square was laid out by Fitzgibbon Louch (1826-1911), a civil engineer and architect, during his early career. Louch established an independent practise in Londonderry in 1859, was active in the city until the late-1860s and was responsible for the design of the Magazine Gate entrance to the city walls (Dublin Builder, p. 505; DIA). Following the establishment of the Georgian-style terraces along Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street in the 1830s-1860s, the city continued its northern expansion with the construction of a number of additional terraces designed for Londonderry’s professional classes. According to Mullin, the Northland Road was still a country road leading from the city to Donegal when the first tenders for the erection of new dwellings on Crawford Square were invited in the 1860s (Mullin, p. 119).

Calley states that Crawford Square, ‘along with Templemore and Victoria Parks, can be seen as the city’s delayed response to Dublin’s garden squares [which] created, near to the city centre, a green oasis for its wealthy residents. It has an enclosed central garden bounded on three sides by the square.’ Nos 1-2 Crawford Square were the first houses to be constructed (see HB01/22/037A-B). The pair were erected in 1865 for Samuel Knox, a building contractor, whilst the majority of the adjoining terrace were built for John McAdoo, a local seed merchant and landowner (UTD; Calley, p. 128; 420).

The Annual Revisions note that No. 1A Academy Road was constructed between 1866 and 1869. The building was originally leased by the Crawford estate, was occupied by Samuel Knox (who had nos 1-2 Crawford Square erected in 1865) and was valued at £12. The building appears on the contemporary Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910) which depicted the building abutting the rear returns of nos 1-2 Crawford Square. The map records that the building did not possess its current single-storey flat roof porch (which was erected in the 20th century). The architect of No. 1A Academy Road is not known but it is possible that the building was designed by John Guy Ferguson (d. 1901), one of Londonderry’s most prominent Victorian architects who was architect to the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe and was responsible for many of the city’s most important civic, ecclesiastical and commercial buildings. Ferguson had designed nos 1-2 Crawford Square to the rear of No. 1A Academy Road (and may also have designed nos 20-23 Crawford Square) which are the earliest known houses known to have been designed by Ferguson (DIA; Dublin Builder, p. 249). The Knox family continued to occupy No. 1A Academy Road until at least the 1970s. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) the house was occupied by a Mr. Samuel Downes Knox and had been increased in value to £24. The value of the house was further increased to £30 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72) when a Ms. Vera Knox resided at the property.

In 1978 No. 1A Academy Road and Crawford Square were included in the Clarendon Street 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. 1A Academy Road was subsequently listed along with Crawford Square in 1979. The NIEA HB Records note that the building was refurbished in c. 1998. No. 1A Academy Road was badly damaged by a fire in September 2013. The Londonderry Sentinel reported that ‘substantial portions of the roof structure were lost in the fire and the building was left open to the elements’ (NIEA HB Records; Londonderry Sentinel).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/5/20/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1853)
2. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/4 – Annual Revisions Town Plan c. 1873-1910
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11A-ZD – Annual Revisions (1860-1897)
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-2F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
5. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1926-57)
6. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/13 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
7. Dublin Builder (1 May 1861; 15 Oct 1865)
8. Ulster Town Directories (1843-1918)
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (1 Mar 1945)
10. First Survey Record – HB01/22/003 (1970)
11. First Survey Image – HB01/22/003 (No Date)
12. NIEA HB Records – HB01/22/003T
13. Londonderry Sentinel (27 Nov 2013)

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. Mullin, T. H., Ulster’s Historic City: Derry – Londonderry’ Coleraine: Coleraine Bookshop, 1986.
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.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie/

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

S. Authenticity
S. Authenticity
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

Victorian six-bay two-storey rendered dwelling with cruciform pitched roof located at the corner of the Academy and Northland Roads, built between 1866 – 1869 and thought to have possibly been by J. G. Ferguson, who designed No.1 & 2 Crawford Square (HB01.22.037A&B) for Samuel Knox, resident at 1A Academy Road. It has group value with these two properties and the three also interlock at the rear and share a yard. Despite fibre cement roof slates and uPVC rain water goods, which detract, the main façade remains well proportioned and although plain, adopts the symmetry and order of Classicism. The central gable at eaves level and early 20th century flat roofed porch with large vertical openings and projecting cornice read as a pediment and portico respectively.
Set on a steeply inclined hill within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, it forms an end-of-terrace to the rows of slated outbuildings that belong to the terraces of Crawford Square, with garden and mature trees bound by low wall and hedging to the Northland Road.

General comments

This record was re-numbered, previously HB01/22/003T.