Northern Constitution, 20 Railway Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT511PD

The Northern Constitution building at 20 Railway Road, Coleraine is a two-storey-with-attic late Victorian eclectic-style red-brick building, constructed around 1900–1901 as offices and printing works for the Coleraine Constitution Company (later renamed the Northern Constitution in 1908). It occupies a corner site at the junction of Railway Road and Mill Street, to the east of The Diamond in Coleraine town centre, and incorporates a large double-gabled return to the rear which links to the adjoining terrace to the south. The building has been in continuous use as newspaper offices since 1875 and carries significant local, social, and historical interest. It forms part of a listed group together with the adjoining newspaper offices and an associated detached former pressroom and paper store to the south-west on Mill Street.

OVERALL CHARACTER

Because the building served both an administrative and an industrial function, its various parts differ noticeably in character and finish. The office accommodation to the east, which formed the public face of the newspaper, is contained behind a richly detailed and formal Victorian corner frontage. The industrial, largely open-plan printing and storage areas to the rear are united by a similar but simplified façade to the north, while the elevations to the west and south are considerably more plain and functional in appearance.

ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS

The pitched roof is covered in slate with terracotta angled ridge-tiles and finials to the gables. A pair of brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots sits on the ridge-line of the northernmost return. The north gable alone has a plain timber bargeboard to the sheeted overhanging eaves. Cast-iron ogee-profile rainwater gutters run along a moulded brick eaves course, draining into square downpipes fitted with decorative cast-iron dragon hoppers.

WALLING AND PRINCIPAL MATERIALS

The walls are built in red brick laid in English garden wall bond, with sandstone dressings, some of which are rendered. A heavily moulded mid-level cornice carrying an egg-and-dart motif wraps around the principal elevations. Above eaves level, the decoration intensifies with a basketweave pattern of decorative brick alternating with elaborately moulded terracotta panels.

WINDOWS AND DOORS — GENERAL

Window openings on the first floor are generally square-headed, with projecting sills and stone lintels. The ground floor is characterised by expansive round-headed openings with rebated gauged brick reveals, hood mouldings, projecting keystones, and flush stone sills. Windows throughout are generally transomed and mullioned or multi-light timber casements, unless otherwise noted.

EAST ELEVATION (PRINCIPAL FRONTAGE)

The east elevation faces Railway Road and is the principal public face of the building. At its centre is a slightly projecting shouldered gable that breaks through the eaves line and is enriched with terracotta moulding, decorative stone kneelers to each side, and offsets above the ground floor windows. A series of moulded brick string courses runs above the ground floor level.

At ground floor, two expansive round-arched openings contain multi-paned timber casement windows. Above these, on the first floor, are two segmental-headed window openings each with a projecting keystone breaking through a string course and stepped apron panels.

To the left of the central gable, a first-floor window sits above a deeply rebated round-arched doorway fitted with decorative wrought-iron gates; the doorway has a label mould with stops and is enriched with moulded decorative inserts of floral motifs. To the right, the first-floor corner is corbelled out over an obliquely angled doorway containing a multi-panelled double-leaf timber door, and an elaborate wrought-iron and timber signage structure projects from the first floor at this corner.

NORTH ELEVATION

The north elevation, which fronts Mill Street, is somewhat more restrained than the east but retains similar detailing in a simplified form. It contains a multi-pane timber casement at first floor level with a single-light casement in the attic, and a round-arched window at ground floor. To the right, a lower return extends the elevation with four segmental-headed multi-paned timber casement windows at ground floor and flat-arched three-over-three timber casements above; the windows on the left side of this return are narrower than those to the right on both floors, and there is an additional single-light casement to the left.

WEST ELEVATION

The west elevation is abutted by the adjoining two-storey brick returns which extend to the south-west and also abut the rear of the adjoining terrace. The main face of this elevation is skewed in plan and comprises two gables of differing heights. It is functional and plain in detailing, with plainly finished brick walling, multi-light metal casements, and a timber door. The left-hand gable is dominated by a large sliding steel door. The right cheek of the return is largely obscured by the wall to the south alley, but features a single-storey lean-to extension spanning the full length of the return and a small two-storey flat-roofed extension projecting from right of centre.

SOUTH ELEVATION AND SETTING

The south elevation is entirely abutted by the adjoining terrace. A narrow yard extends the length of the south elevation of the rear return, accessed via a door from an alleyway off Mill Street; the yard is bounded to the south by the flat-roofed return of the neighbouring property.

The north, east, and west elevations front directly onto their respective streets. The associated but detached former pressroom and paper store is situated to the south-west on Mill Street.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The site was relatively undeveloped until the 1890s. A house and forge previously occupied by Abraham Simpson had stood on or near the site, with several mills located a short distance to the north. Historical valuation records note that the house and forge were removed in 1900 and replaced with the printing office and yard of the Coleraine Constitution Company in 1901. The building was first listed under the ownership of a William Church and initially valued at £40. At that time the rear return was slightly shorter than it is today, with an adjoining return to the south-west.

The adjoining terraces to the south-west, also first shown on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904, originally contained shops at ground floor with living accommodation and later offices on the upper floors. The detached associated building to the south-west on Mill Street was valued separately at ten shillings and used by the Coleraine Constitution as a shed.

By the early 20th century, the rear returns had been extended to the south-west and west in line with the Mill Street frontage, and the building's total valuation had risen to £46. No significant valuation changes were recorded until the mid-20th century. The local newspaper, first published as the Coleraine Constitution in 1875, was renamed the Northern Constitution in 1908.

CURRENT CONDITION AND USE

The building is currently used as offices for both the Coleraine Chronicle and the Northern Constitution newspapers. Part of the northern return has been modernised with new ground-floor office accommodation. Following the cessation of on-site printing and production in recent years, the rear returns are now largely disused.