Bann Rowing Club, 1 Hannover Place, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 IEB

Bann Rowing Club Boathouse, 1 Hannover Place, Coleraine

This is an unusual late Victorian recreational building dating from around 1900, designed by William James Given, town surveyor for Coleraine. It combines half-timber and half-brick construction, and its nautical appearance — particularly the gabled upper level — is entirely deliberate, giving the whole building the character of a traditional river boat, a fitting reflection of its continued function as a boathouse. It stands directly on the east bank of the River Bann, a short distance from The Diamond, and is the dominant architectural feature in its setting, commanding views from both west and south across the river towards the mature banks of Killowen. Several historic buildings are visible from the site, including St John's Parish Church, St John's Chapel, and the Waterside terrace. The setting is generally urban in nature, lying just south of the main thoroughfare and bridge into central Coleraine.

Architectural Description

The building is a detached, symmetrical two-storey gabled boathouse, rectangular on plan with a single bay. The ground floor is constructed in exposed Flemish-bonded red brick with a projecting base course. The upper floor projects slightly outward and is clad in horizontal painted timber weatherboarding, punctuated by vertical posts. The roof is pitched slate with pierced terracotta ridge tiles. Three breakfront gables have lower-pitched roofs over them; the eastern gable has a brick chimney with banding and two replacement clay pots. Painted timber bargeboards finish the gables. The projecting eaves are carried on exposed rafters with a plain timber fascia, and the rainwater goods are ogee-profile cast iron, with some aluminium replacements.

Windows are generally segmental-headed four-paned casements with projecting painted sills — masonry at ground level, timber to the upper floor — and replacement wired glass set in repaired timber frames.

The principal elevation faces west towards the river and is asymmetrical. At ground floor it is four openings wide, with a small high-level window to the left and a modern metal staircase housed within a projecting brick end bay, lit by a squared window. The main windows at ground level have flush reconstituted stone sills. The upper level is six openings wide; twin gables rise from the right and left of centre, each containing a single window with a small pane in the head. To the centre and far left are modern timber and glazed double-leaf doors; the far-left door has a contemporary pitched porch on painted columns above it. A concrete balcony supported on cast-iron columns with modern metal railings wraps around the west and south upper levels, accessed by steps to the north of the extension. Metal railings also line the riverside walkway, which opens out to a timber jetty to the south-west.

The north elevation is partly abutted by a recessed flat-roofed two-storey extension, which is clad in timber sheeting with square-headed twelve-paned timber casement windows on both levels on each cheek. Beyond this sits a modern two-storey masonry extension with an oversized hipped roof supported on painted columns. Although architecturally separate, its materials and construction are contemporary with the boathouse and executed in a broadly similar style. The remainder of the north elevation is blank.

The east elevation is symmetrical with four small infilled windows at ground level and single windows above. A blank central gable projects slightly above the eaves line. The walling here is of new brick without a base course.

The south elevation is of brick construction and is three openings wide at ground floor, with segmental-headed doorways either side of an advancing central bay containing a window (brick laid in stretcher bond). The double-leaf original timber-sheeted and braced doors survive here: the left-hand door is a sliding type, while the right-hand door has a diminutive door set into its left leaf. The upper level is of blank brick in stretcher bond, abutted by a canted bay window with a brick base and a timber-sheeted upper section under a pitched slate roof, the roof having been added in recent years.

History

The Bann Rowing Club's history on this site stretches back to the mid-19th century. The club claims a founding date of 1842, though the first regular regatta on the Bann at Coleraine began in 1863 and is said to have provided the impetus for its formal establishment. In 1864 the club's first boathouse was erected in Hannover Place adjoining the ferry slipway, but it was destroyed by fire approximately two months after completion. A replacement boathouse was built, and a second storey was added in 1881, but the foundations proved unsatisfactory and when the structure threatened to collapse an entirely new boathouse was commissioned. This is the building that survives today, constructed in 1900 at a cost of approximately £800. On completion it was considered to compare favourably with similar buildings elsewhere in the British Isles, and was praised for providing Coleraine's young men with healthy and manly exercise. It appears first on the third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904.

Valuation records show a boathouse first inserted around 1870 at a valuation of £4, leased by the Bann Rowing Club from the Irish Society. This appears to have been the second boathouse on the site — the replacement for the building destroyed by fire. The valuation was raised to £8 10s around 1880, and following construction of the present building it rose to £28 in 1901. Valuer's notes from the 1930s record the accommodation as a club room, changing rooms, bathroom and lavatory on the first floor over the boathouse on the ground floor. At that time the club had approximately 60 members, paying an annual subscription of £1 in the first year and £1 10s thereafter.

In 1954 the southern gable, which had previously been of timber construction, was rebuilt in brick. During this work a bay window was added at first floor level to accommodate the band at club dances, which provided profits that helped sustain the club. The building was listed in 1977, and renovations took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Around 1994 the building was restored, refurbished, and extended; a modern block was added to the north and the building now contains boathouse facilities at ground level with a restaurant and dining room above.

The club enjoyed a golden era between 1880 and 1939, with several members becoming Irish Champions. In more recent times it has produced notable oarsmen including Alan Campbell, who won a bronze medal in the men's 2000-metre individual sculls at the 2012 London Olympics, and brothers Richard and Peter Chambers, who won silver in the lightweight men's four at the same Games.