Gate Lodge to Loreto Convent

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey gate lodge to Loreto Convent (HB03/16/009A), built 1877 and located to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. T-shaped plan with projecting open porch to west and canted bay to south.

Hipped and gabled natural slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, leaded valley and rendered chimneystack having moulded cap. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods on overhanging eaves on exposed rafter tails; plain bargeboards to gable on profiled brackets. Walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting chamfered plinth. Windows are uPVC replacements in moulded architraves with projecting painted sills (unless otherwise stated).

The principal elevation faces west, comprising projecting gabled bay at left flush with open porch to centre under catslide slate roof. Right bay is a single window wide. Gabled bay has round-headed window at attic over paired windows at ground floor; ground floor windows have continuous sills and are surmounted by plain frieze with a moulded cornice. Porch is open at south, is accessed by two stone steps and laid with original terracotta and black square tiles. uPVC entrance door at oblique angle to re-entrant angle.

The north elevation has a window to left of centre, surmounted by plain frieze and moulded cornice. To left of window is a diminutive window opening.

The east was only partially viewed. Projecting gabled bay at right has a window at first floor.

The south elevation has a canted bay to centre, partially breaking eaves line.

Setting:

Situated to the east side of the entrance to Loreto Convent and chapel at Castlerock Road. Small yard to rear is enclosed by painted smooth render walls and accessed to south by a modern timber-sheeted door. Directly to east is a two-storey rock-faced blackstone building with red brick dressings (belonging to the school). Original gate screen and boundary walls to south comprises ashlar stone plinth walls with chamfered tops surmounted by decorative composite iron railings having barley-twist heads. To centre are square ashlar stone piers with corniced pointed caps supporting original entrance gates (detailed as railings). Site has a variety of mature trees with chapel, convent and school to north of the lodge.

Roof: Natural slate
Walling: Painted smooth render
Windows uPVC
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

Loreto Convent’s Gate Lodge, a two-bay one-and-a-half-storey building with an attached two-storey blackstone extension to the east, was constructed in 1877-1880. Prior to the site being taken over by the Ursuline Nuns and converted into a Convent, the gate lodge and its associated mansion house were privately owned. The gate lodge was built in tandem with the mansion (HB03/16/009A - formerly known as Tievtara); both were 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 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).

When initially completed, Tievtara and its gate lodge were jointly valued at £75 5s. It was not until 1887 that the buildings were valued separately; in that year the gate lodge, including its adjoining blackstone extension, was valued at £5. The first occupant of the gate lodge recorded in the Annual Revisions was a Mr. James Burke, however over the following decade the occupant of the lodge changed with great frequency. Hugh Anderson died in 1899, leaving the administration of Tievtara and its gate lodge to the daughter of his partner, John Stewart (PRONI Wills). Ms. Daisy Stewart did not reside at Tievtara but sold the property to a Major. Mellon, a retired welsh soldier who 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 depicted the gate lodge along its current layout, showing that no major alteration to the plan building had been undertaken in the last century of its history.

Tievtara and its gate lodge 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 School for the education of girls. When the Ursuline Nuns came into possession of Tievtara, the value of the gate lodge was combined with the value of the Convent School; in 1907 the total value of both buildings stood at £65, however this was increased to £105 5s. by 1911. The values of the convent and its gate lodge were not changed by the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1930; further, the later editions of the Ordnance Survey maps (1923-1949) note that there was no alteration to the layout of the building, however the map caption notes that the site continued to be utilised as a ‘lodge.’

In 1930 administration of the Convent School was taken over by the Loreto Nuns of Omagh. 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; there was no further revaluation of the site undertaken for over two decades due to the disruption caused by the Second World War, however in 1956 the value of the Convent School, and its associated buildings, including the gate lodge and the Convent Chapel (see HB03/16/009B), was further increased to £570. After major extension work which resulted in the construction of the majority of modern school buildings surrounding the original house, the value of the site was greatly increased to £3,060 in 1968, however due to the joint value it is impossible to determine the individual value of the gate lodge between 1907 and the completion of the second revaluation in 1972.

Dean, writing in 1994, described the gate lodge as ‘a big late-Victorian exercise in the Picturesque on an L-plan’ and noted that the gate lodge, like the mansion, was administered by Loreto Convent. The gate lodge was listed in 1977; there has been no discernible alteration to the layout of the gate lodge since the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map in 1904, however in the mid-20th century interior alterations resulted in the loss of much original fabric. Despite this loss, the retention of the original gate screen and boundary walls, has maintained the original character of this Victorian gate lodge to a former merchants mansion. Field inspection finds that the gate lodge is currently occupied by the Loreto nuns as a separate dwelling.

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. PRONI Wills Catalogue (27 Jan 1899)
9. Census of Ireland (1901; 1911)
10. Ulster Street Directories (1843-1918)
11. First Survey Image – HB03/16/010 (1973)
12. Ordnance Survey map – 13-13NW3 (1967)

Secondary Sources

1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.
2. Girvan, W. D., ‘Historic Buildings in Coleraine and Portstewart’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1972.

Online Resources

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

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

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

Evaluation

A two-bay, one-and-a-half-storey Victorian gate lodge to Loreto Convent (HB03/16/009A), built 1877 and located to the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre. The lodge retains its original proportions and makes a contribution to the historic interest of Coleraine. The original finely detailed gate-screen and adajacent basalt building add to the site's interest and together they provide a fitting entrance to Loreto Convent. The lodge also has group value with the convent (HB03/16/009A) and chapel (HB03/16/009B) forming an important group of considerable local interest and social importance.

General comments

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

Previously HB03/16/010