Loreto Convent

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay two-storey-with-attic late-Victorian convent; built 1877 to designs by Young and MacKenzie and located to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Plan roughly comprises L-shaped main gabled block abutted to west by two-storey hipped roof projections and by a single-storey projecting porch at southwest corner. Single-storey canted bay to south and two-storey bow bay at east; two-storey gabled return with single-storey abutments to rear. The convent is attached to the main school building to the west and north side of the rear return, and to the chapel (HB03/16/009B) at east.

Hipped and pitched natural slate roofs with terracotta ridges and hips; raised painted masonry verges on kneeler stones; rendered chimneystacks with moulded caps. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on moulded eaves. Walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth, having moulded string-course at impost levels and between floors. Windows are round-headed timber sash with horns and projecting painted sills (unless otherwise stated); those to first floor are multi-paned over a single pane, those to ground floor are 1/1 all surmounted by hood moulds.

The principal elevation faces south comprising narrow central bay flanked by slightly projecting gabled bay at right and projecting single-storey flat-roof porch at left. Central bay has a uPVC window at first floor over two lattice leaded glass 1/1 windows at ground floor; exposed section of west elevation has a window to right of centre at first floor and two at ground floor (tops visible only); abutted at ground floor right by the flat-roof entrance porch and a lower flat-roof extension flush with hipped roof projection at left (described below). Flat-roof extension contains a panelled-and-glazed entrance door. Porch is accessed by three sandstone steps; arcaded opening with moulded archivolt and semi-engaged corner colonnettes with carved capitals; lit to left cheek by a leaded-and-coloured glass fixed window. Gabled right bay has a glazed oculus in a moulded surround to attic; two windows at first floor over canted bay at ground floor.

The west elevation comprises projecting gabled bay at left, three windows wide with irregularly arranged fenestration, all square-headed uPVC with the exception of a round-headed uPVC window to centre at attic. To ground floor left is a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door, accessed by a small bitmac ramp. Hipped roof stair bay at right contains a large leaded-and-stained glass Venetian-style window; small 1/1 window to ground floor right.

The north (rear) elevation was partially concealed (see surveyor’s comments). Abutted at right by the gabled return, which is partially exposed to west with window at each floor; east elevation has four windows at first floor and is abutted at ground floor by the single-storey hipped roof abutment. Abutment has, to north face, a timber-sheeted door accessed by two sandstone steps and a large modern window; to east face is a lean-to extension (lower) with fixed timber window. Gable of return has leaded-and-coloured glass fixed window to first floor left and 6/6 square-headed window to ground floor left; abutted at right by a modern two-storey linking block, which connects the school building.

The east elevation comprises left bay with two-storey bow bay to left of centre, flanked by a window to each floor at either side; gabled right bay has a glazed oculus to attic and two windows at first and ground floor.

Setting:

Situated on a large site to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine. Accessed from south via a tarmacadamed entrance with original gate screen and gate lodge (HB03/16/009C), dating from 1877 and to designs by the same architects. The convent shares the site with a large school building (later), adjoining the convent at north and west and extended over the years. A modern entrance to southwest of the convent from Castlerock road gives access to the school building. At east, and accessed from the convent via a connecting corridor, is a single-cell rendered chapel dating from 1939 (HB03/16/009B). The site has a variety of mature trees and is lawned to front and east, with gravelled pitch to north and modern shrine to the Virgin Mary at southwest.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted smooth render
Windows: Timber sash with horns or uPVC
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Loreto Convent School, a two-storey former merchant’s mansion located off the Castlerock Road in the Waterside of Coleraine, was constructed in 1877-1880 along with its associated gate lodge (see HB03/16/009C). The building was first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1880 when the newly completed residence and its lodge were jointly valued at £75 5s. Originally known as ‘Tievtara,’ the mansion was constructed for Hugh Anderson, Chairman of Coleraine’s Town Commission and a partner with the wine and spirit merchant company, Anderson & Stewart (Ulster Town Directory – 1880). Tievtara and its associated gate lodge were planned for Anderson as early as 1874 when the first designs were drawn by the Belfast-based architects, Young & Mackenzie; construction commenced in 1877 and was completed by 1880. The building firm contracted to carry out Young & Mackenzie’s design was J. Lowry & Sons (Dictionary of Irish Architects).

In 1880 the Constitution described Tievtara as ‘the most extensive and costly residence in the neighbourhood of Coleraine, presenting an appearance of solidity and elegance combined; the stone is from the neighbourhood quarries – the cut stone used in the windowsills, corbels, doorsteps and piers at the entrance having been procured from Dungiven; no expense seems to have been spared in introducing the latest improvements’ (The Constitution).

Hugh Anderson continued to reside at Tievtara until his death in 1899 at which time the value of Tievtara had been reduced slightly to £65 5s. (partially due to the removal of the gate lodge from the joint value of the site in 1887). Following Anderson’s death, administration of Tievtara passed to the daughter of his business partner, John Stewart (PRONI Wills). Ms. Daisy Stewart did not take up residence at Tievtara but sold the property to a Major. Mellon, a retired Welsh soldier, only briefly resided at the property before, once again, putting the site up for sale. In 1904 the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps first depicted Tievtara as a rectangular-shaped building with a single oblong outbuilding located to the north of the dwelling (now demolished).

Tievtara was purchased by the Rev. Fr. Convery P. P. in 1904; however in 1906 the priest’s property was acquired by the Ursuline Order who converted the former dwelling into a convent and boarding school for the secondary education of girls and primary education for boys. In 1911 the first schoolhouse on the site was constructed to the west side of the convent; the two-storey building continues to stand and is attached to the convent by a connecting corridor. The 1911 expansion of the school resulted in the increase in the value of the site to £105 5s. at which it remained by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930.

In addition to providing education and boarding for pupils, the convent also provided accommodation to the nuns of the Ursuline Order; the Census of Ireland notes that 21 nuns resided at the convent in 1911, including the Superioress, Sister Marie Brisstean. As a French Order, many of the Ursuline nuns originally came from the continent, although a large minority of their members came from Ireland. The census also noted that over forty pupils attended the convent school in 1911; the division between girls and boys at that time was almost half. The census building return described the site as a first class ‘private institution’ that consisted of 14 rooms and possessed a number of minor sheds as its sole outbuildings.

In the aftermath of partition, the Ursuline Order was forced to vacate the school as the establishment was unable to meet the new teaching qualifications required by the Northern Ireland Educational Authority. In 1930 administration of the Convent School was taken over by the Loreto Nuns of Omagh (Loreto College website). Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland (1935) the total value of the Loreto Convent School and its gate lodge was increased to £175. Between 1936 and 1940 a project of renovation and alteration work was carried out to the convent school by Dublin-based architect Thomas Joseph Cullen (1879-1947) who also erected the convent’s chapel (see HB03/16/009B) located to the east side of the original dwelling (Irish Builder, p. 574).

The next major alteration to the site came in the 1950s when a modern wing was added to western side of the 1911 schoolhouse. This work was followed by the erection of an additional extension to the north of the original dwelling (both of these extensions were joined to the earlier buildings on the site by connecting corridors). Further wings added in 1966 and 1968 resulted in the increase in the total value of the school to £3,060 under the second revaluation, which was cancelled in 1972.

Girvan, writing in 1972, described the original Victorian dwelling as ‘asymmetrical and multi-gabled with round-headed windows and burgeoning bows, typical of late-Victorian villa style’ (Girvan, p. 26). In 1977 Loreto Convent was listed; it was also in this year that the school became fully co-educational for the first time. Later changes to the convent school included the construction of further extensions in 1981 and 1990 when the current layout of the school complex had been mostly completed. In June 1990 the boarding school at Loreto College was finally closed after almost 85 years. In 2005 the school celebrated the 75th anniversary of the school opening under the administration of the Loreto Order, however, at the time of writing, the site has been utilised as a Catholic school for over a century.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1849-50
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1904
3. PRONI OS/6/5/7/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1923
4. PRONI OS/6/5/7/5 – Fifth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1949
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/30/9A-P – Annual Revisions 1859-1931
6. PRONI VAL/3/B/6/3 – First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1935
7. PRONI VAL/4/B/5/1 – Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland 1956-1972
8. The Constitution (29 May 1880)
9. PRONI Wills Catalogue (27 Jan 1899)
10. Irish Builder, Vol. 81 (8 Jul 1939)
11. Census of Ireland (1911)
12. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
13. First Survey Record – HB03/16/009 (1973)
14. First Survey Image – HB03/16/009 (1973)
15. Ordnance Survey map – 13-13NW3 (1967)

Secondary Sources

1. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.
2. Mullin, T. H. ‘Coleraine in modern times’ Belfast: Century Services, 1979.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie
2. Loreto College website - http://www.loretocollege.org.uk/index.php

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

A two-bay two-storey-with-attic late-Victorian convent; built as a dwelling in1877 to designs by Young and MacKenzie and located to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. Well-preserved and retaining a wealth of historic detailing, both internally and externally, this is the finest example of its type in the area. There is considerable group value with the adjoining chapel (HB03/16/009B) and gate lodge (HB03/16/009C), and an original gate screen and attractive setting add to the integrity of the site. Of considerable local interest and social importance, Loreto Convent makes a significant contribution to the architectural interest of Coleraine.

General comments

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.