56 Northland Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

End-of-terrace three storey with attic two bay rendered Italianate style townhouse with rendered dressings, built 1869 to designs by John Guy Ferguson. Rectangular plan form facing North-east with a three storey rendered return built at half-landing height stepping down to a single storey extension overlooking long enclosed garden with local schist outbuilding to the rear of the site. One of a terrace of three buildings situated on an elevated site to west side of the Northland Road; no's 58 and 60 (HB01/22/038B & C) built at the same time and are similar in style and character. Now sub-divided into flats.

Pitched slate roof with hip to side elevation (SE); 2 no. tall smooth rendered unpainted two-stage chimney stacks to left side; clay roll-top ridge tiles to ridge and hips; half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular painted cast-iron downpipe on adjoining building, no.58 Northland Road.

Front (North-east) elevation is three storey with attic with channelled rusticated ground floor, painted smooth plaster above with corner stepped plaster quoins; decorative cornice with narrow fielded panels and roundels and paired corbel brackets supporting a projecting eaves. The doorway contains three-panel timber double doors with roundels at mid-height set within shouldered arch and plaster architrave with rope-mould and vermiculated keystone and blocks. To the left of the doorway is a two storey with hipped roof canted bay surmounted with cast-iron cresting. Windows to ground and first floors are square headed having 2/2 timber sliding sashes; first floor window to right side is an aedicule with foliate console brackets; second floor windows are segmental arched 2/2 timber sliding sash with slightly shouldered architraves on a continuous sill course; roof dormer to left side has round-arched 1/1 timber sliding sash window with decorative timber fascia and cast-iron finial to apex; small modern rooflight to right side.

Side (South-east) elevation facing onto Eden Terrace of smooth render painted finish to ground floor; strip quoins from plinth to cornice under continuous sill course at first floor level, stepped quoins to upper floors. No fenestration to ground level; tall narrow square-headed windows to far left and far right to first and second floors containing 2/2 timber sliding sash windows; continuous sill course to second floor. Two symmetrical large chimney stacks centred on elevation to hipped roof with paired corbel brackets supporting projecting eaves.

Rear (South-west) elevation is of smooth render unpainted with three-storey return built to left at half-landing level with strip quoins from boundary wall to cornice under continuous sill, stepped quoins to upper floors. Single square-headed horizontally-split 2/2 timber sliding sash windows to ground and second floors and 2/1 timber sliding sash window to first floor level to right side with segmental headed 2/2 timber sliding sash window to second floor to left, above roof of return. Smooth rendered buttress wall to left of rear return to first floor level with sloping slate clad top. Small roof dormer of matching style to front dormer.

Three-storey rear return built at half-landing level with pitched slate roof located to left side of rear elevation. Gable elevation of return has a single square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash window with coloured margin panes to first floor landing level with horizontally-split square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash window above to second floor landing level. Replacement uPVC half round gutter terminating in circular uPVC downpipe to gable elevation of return. Right-side cheek of return has small square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sash windows to first and second floor landing levels. Three-storey return is abutted to the rear by a single storey return with modern slate pitched roof (return not visible at time of survey).

Long schist boundary wall extends from rear corner of house to outbuilding at rear of garden.

North-west side abutts adjoining property no.58 Northland Road. (HB01/22/038B).

Two storey outbuilding to rear of site of local schist walling with redbrick dressed windows containing louvred timber shutters to north-east elevation at first floor level; south-east gable elevation is blank with redbrick dressings to corners; south-west elevation has timber vertically sheeted double doors to left, replacement single timber door to right and two square-headed window openings on first floor level; pitched natural slate roof with clay roll-top ridge tiles, small redbrick chimney mid-ridge and replacement uPVC rain water goods.

Setting:
Located on the West side of the Northland Road, on an elevated site with the River Foyle below to the East. Small garden to the front is enclosed by a low rendered plinth wall with capping stone and metal railings above, rear garden enclosed by schist boundary wall and schist outbuilding to rear. Front elevation faces north-east forming a terrace row of three, three storey with attic rendered buildings situated at the junction of Northland Road and Eden Terrace.

Materials:
Roof Natural Slate
RWGs UPVC & Cast-iron
Walling Render
Windows Timber Sliding Sash

Historical information

Nos 56-60 Northland Road, a terrace of three mid-Victorian three-storey with attic two-bay houses located at the corner of Eden Terrace, was constructed in 1869. The northern expansion of Londonderry had been initiated in the mid-19th century with the construction of Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street. Mullin states that Edenballymore and the Northland Road was still rural in character when the Victorian terrace of Crawford Square (HB01/22/003; 004) was constructed in the 1860s-1870s. The expansion of the city was facilitated by a period of economic growth and prosperity that endured from the 1860s until the end of the 19th century. With the opening of Magee College in 1865, a number of new terraced dwellings were constructed in the vicinity including College Terrace (HB01/22/026), Clarence Avenue (HB01/22/006), Florence Terrace and Nos 56-60 Northland Road (Mullin, p. 119; Rowan, p. 371).

The Irish Builder notes that nos 56-60 Northland Road, also known as ‘Edenbank,’ had been designed in 1869 by John Guy Ferguson, Londonderry’s most prominent Victorian architect. Ferguson (c. 1830-1901) was a partner in the practise of Frazer, Ferguson & Frazer in 1861 and was appointed architect to the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe in 1868. Ferguson designed many of Londonderry’s best known buildings including St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012), the Apprentice Boy’s Memorial Hall (HB01/19/011), the extension to St. Columb’s Cathedral (HB01/19/001) and the design of the first Guildhall (HB01/19/038). In 1865 Ferguson had designed the contemporary nos 1-2 Crawford Square and may also have been responsible for the earlier terrace at nos 20-23 Crawford Square (DIA). Nos 56-60 Northland Road was built by Alexander McElwee, a prominent local contractor who often collaborated with Ferguson, and was built for James McNeill, a steamboat agent whose company James McNeill & Co. Operated from premises on Shipquay Street. The Irish Builder described the terrace as possessing ‘pleasing Italian elevations’ with ‘deeply recessed … doorways … with crested bays rising two storeys’ (Irish Builder, p. 250; DIA; UTD).

No. 56 Northland Road was initially valued at £35 by the Annual Revisions in 1870. The valuer noted that James McNeill resided at the house and leased the adjoining nos 58-60 out to other tenants. McNeill continued to reside at No. 56 Northland Road until his death in 1891 at which time the house passed to his brother Andrew McNeill (PRONI Wills). The 1911 Census records that McNeill resided at No. 56 Northland Road with his sisters. In that year the census building return described the house as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms and possessed a stable and coach house as its sole outbuildings. By the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) ownership of No. 56 Northland Road had passed to a Mr. James Mitchell who leased the building to a Ms. Violet Miller. The valuer increased the rateable value of the house to £38. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1957-72) the owner, occupant and value remained unchanged.

An outline planning application was made in November 2004 for a 70 bed hotel on the site of 56-60 Northland Road. The application was withdrawn in July 2006.

In 2006 nos 56-60 Northland Road were included in the Magee Conservation Area. The subsequent Magee Conservation Area Baseline Audit identified the terrace as buildings at risk and described the houses in the following terms: ‘Very fine three-storey houses. Despite their poor condition they are undoubtedly of very high architectural quality and differ considerably in their detailing from other terraces either in the Magee of Clarendon Street Conservation Areas … they appear to be the only plastered and painted terrace in the city with horizontal astragal divisions in the sash windows’ (Magee Conservation Area Baseline Audit, p. 56).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI VAL/12/E/157/1/1 – Annual Revisions Town Plan (c. 1873-1910)
2. PRONI VAL/12/B/32/11G-11ZA – Annual Revisions (1870-1897)
3. PRONI VAL/12/B/33/2A-F – Annual Revisions (1898-1931)
4. PRONI VAL/3/C/6/10 – First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57)
5. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/14 – Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956-72)
6. Irish Builder (1 Nov 1869)
7. Ulster Town Directories (1877-1918)
8. PRONI Wills Catalogue (23 Aug 1891; 20 May 1882; 3 Sept 1907)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)

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: Coleriane Bookshop, 1986.
4. Rowan, A. J., ‘The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster’ London: Yale University Press, 2003.
5. ‘Magee Conservation Area Baseline Audit’ Department of the Environment, 2010.

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

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

Evaluation

A substantial three-storey with attic two-bay rendered Italianate-style townhouse with rendered dressings, built 1869 to designs by John Guy Ferguson, one of Derry’s most prominent architects (c.1830-1901). Ferguson designed many of Derry’s best known buildings including St. Augustine’s Church (HB01/19/012) and the extension to St. Columb’s Cathedral (HB01/19/001). No.56 is the end-terrace of a row of three dwellings situated on an elevated site to west side of the Northland Road adjacent to no’s 58 and 60 Northland Road (HB01/22/038 B & C) with a schist boundary wall to Eden Terrace and a stone mews building to the rear. The front elevation retains much of its original character, style and proportions. Fine detailing remains such as the moulded panelled timber doors set within a shouldered arch and detailed plaster architrave. Together the three dwellings have group value and the Magee Conservation Area is enhanced by their historical authenticity and presence.