Loreto Convent, Castlerock Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 3JZ

Loreto Convent, Castlerock Road, Coleraine

This late-Victorian convent was originally built as a private dwelling in 1877, to designs by the Belfast-based architects Young and Mackenzie, with construction carried out by the firm J. Lowry and Sons. It sits on the north side of Castlerock Road in Coleraine town centre and is among the finest examples of its type in the area. Well-preserved both inside and out, it retains a wealth of historic detailing and is of considerable local, social and architectural importance.

Origins and History

The building was originally known as "Tievtara" and was constructed for Hugh Anderson, Chairman of Coleraine's Town Commission and a partner in the wine and spirit merchant company Anderson and Stewart. Designs were first drawn as early as 1874, construction began in 1877, and the house was completed by 1880, when it was jointly valued with its gate lodge at £75 5s. Writing in the Constitution newspaper in May 1880, a correspondent described Tievtara as "the most extensive and costly residence in the neighbourhood of Coleraine, presenting an appearance of solidity and elegance combined," noting that cut stone for the windowsills, corbels, doorsteps and entrance piers had been sourced from Dungiven quarries. Hugh Anderson continued to live at Tievtara until his death in 1899, after which administration of the property passed to Daisy Stewart, daughter of his business partner John Stewart. She did not take up residence but sold the property to a Major Mellon, a retired Welsh soldier, who also only briefly occupied it before placing it back on the market.

In 1904 the property was purchased by the Reverend Father Convery, but by 1906 it had been acquired by the Ursuline Order, who converted the former dwelling into a convent and boarding school providing secondary education for girls and primary education for boys. By 1911 the first schoolhouse had been added to the west side of the convent, increasing the value of the site to £105 5s. The 1911 census recorded 21 nuns in residence, including the Superioress Sister Marie Brisstean. As a French Order, many of the Ursuline nuns originally came from the continent, though a significant minority were Irish. Over forty pupils attended the school at that time, divided almost equally between boys and girls. The census building return described the site as a first-class private institution with 14 rooms and a number of minor outbuildings.

Following the partition of Ireland, the Ursuline Order was obliged to vacate the school, as it was unable to meet the new teaching qualifications required by the Northern Ireland Educational Authority. In 1930 the Loreto Nuns of Omagh took over administration of the Convent School. Under the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935, the total value of the Loreto Convent School and its gate lodge was assessed at £175. Between 1936 and 1940, renovation and alteration works were carried out by the Dublin-based architect Thomas Joseph Cullen (1879–1947), who also designed the convent chapel to the east of the original dwelling. Further extensions were added in the 1950s, 1966, 1968, 1981, and 1990, gradually building up the current school complex. The building was listed in 1977, the same year the school became fully co-educational. The boarding school closed in June 1990 after almost 85 years of operation. At the time of the listing survey the site had been in continuous use as a Catholic school for over a century.

Architectural Description

The plan consists of a roughly L-shaped main gabled block, abutted to the west by two-storey hipped-roof projections and by a single-storey projecting porch at the southwest corner. There is a single-storey canted bay to the south and a two-storey bow bay to the east, with a two-storey gabled rear return flanked by single-storey abutments. The convent is attached to the main school building to the west and north sides of the rear return, and connects to the chapel to the east.

Roofs are hipped and pitched, covered in natural slate with terracotta ridges and hips. Verges are raised and painted on kneeler stones. Rendered chimneystacks have moulded caps. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on moulded eaves. External walling is painted smooth render on a contrasting plinth, with a moulded string-course at impost levels and between floors.

Windows are generally round-headed timber sash with horns and projecting painted sills, all surmounted by hood moulds. First-floor windows are multi-paned over a single pane; ground-floor windows are one-over-one.

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

The west elevation has a projecting gabled bay to the left, three windows wide with irregularly arranged fenestration, all square-headed uPVC except for a round-headed uPVC window to the centre at attic level. At ground-floor left is a raised-and-fielded six-panel timber door accessed by a small bitmac ramp. A hipped-roof stair bay to the right contains a large leaded-and-stained glass Venetian-style window, with a small one-over-one window to the ground floor right.

The north, rear elevation was partially concealed at the time of survey. It is abutted to the right by the gabled rear return, which is partially exposed to the west with a window at each floor. The east elevation of the return has four windows at first floor and is abutted at ground floor by a single-storey hipped-roof abutment. The north face of this abutment has a timber-sheeted door accessed by two sandstone steps and a large modern window; the east face has a lean-to extension with a fixed timber window. The gable of the rear return has a leaded-and-coloured glass fixed window to first-floor left and a six-over-six square-headed window to ground-floor left, abutted to the right by a modern two-storey linking block connecting to the school building.

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

Setting

The convent stands on a large site to the north side of Castlerock Road. The principal approach from the south passes through an original gate screen with gate lodge, both dating from 1877 and designed by the same architects. The site is shared with a large school building added later and extended over many years, which adjoins the convent to the north and west. A modern entrance to the southwest provides separate access to the school from Castlerock Road. To the east, connected to the convent by a corridor, stands a single-cell rendered chapel dating from 1939. The grounds include a variety of mature trees, lawned areas to the front and east, a gravelled pitch to the north, and a modern shrine to the Virgin Mary at the southwest. The original gate screen and attractive landscaping add to the integrity of the site. There is considerable group value with the adjoining chapel and gate lodge.