58 Northland Road

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Mid-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 56 and 60 (HB01/22/038A & C) built at the same time and are similar in style and character. Now sub-divided into flats.

Pitched slate roof with tall smooth rendered unpainted two-stage chimney stack to right side shared with no.60; clay roll-top ridge tiles to ridge; half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular painted cast-iron downpipe.

Front (North-east) elevation is three storey with attic with channelled rusticated ground floor, painted smooth plaster to first and second floor levels; 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 with square-headed plain fanlight above 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 by cast-iron cresting. Windows to ground and first floors are square headed 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 abutts adjoining property no. 56 Northland Road. (HB01/22/038A)

Rear (South-west) elevation is of smooth render unpainted with three-storey return to left built at half-landing level abutted by a single storey return. Square-headed 1/1 timber sliding sash window to second floor level, square headed window aligned below on first floor level (top only visible at time of survey); Segmental arched 1/1 timber sliding sash window located above roof of rear return on rear wall of house.
Rear return contains replacement timber casement windows to first and second floor landing levels. 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.

North-west elevation abutts adjoining property no.60 Northland Road. (HB01/22/038C).

Two storey outbuilding to rear of site of local schist walling with redbrick dressed windows containing replacement timber casement window to left; right section of elevation covered in ivy to north-east elevation; south-west elevation has square-headed openings built up in block and redbrick with single corrugated sheeted door remaining to right side; pitched artificial slate roof with clay roll-top ridge tiles 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/ Timber Casement

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. 58 Northland Road was valued at £35 by the Annual Revisions in 1870. The valuer notes that James McNeill initially leased the property to a Mr. John Cooke although the house passed to a Ms. Jane Watters in 1876. Watters was originally from New York and remained at Edenbank until her death in 1882. Minchin Percy Lloyd, a local magistrate and land agent, acquired the house in the 1880s and continued to reside at the house until his death in 1907 (PRONI Wills). By 1911 the house had been inhabited by the Rev. James Pyper, minister of Strand Road Presbyterian Church (HB01/21/011). In that year the census building return described No. 58 Northland Road as a 1st class dwelling that consisted of 13 rooms and possessed a coach house and stable amongst its outbuildings. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936-57) ownership of the house had passed to a Mr. James Mitchell who continued to lease the dwelling, which had been increased in value to £40, to the ministers of Strand Road Presbyterian. In the 1950s the house was purchased by the Trustees of Londonderry High School (based at Duncreggan House on the Duncreggan Road) and converted into school offices. The conversion of the building into office premises resulted in an increase in the total value of No. 58 Northland Road to £98 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956-72).

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

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

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.58 is the mid-terrace of a row of three dwellings situated on an elevated site to west side of the Northland Road situated between no’s 56 and 60 Northland Road (HB01/22/038 A & C) with 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.