26 Great James Street, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, BT48 7DB

26 Great James Street is a Victorian mid-terrace three-storey two-bay red brick house built in approximately 1849, constructed in a Georgian style and set within a terrace of similar properties lining the north side of Great James Street in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, Londonderry. It sits within the townland of Edenballymore and was originally known, together with the adjoining No. 28, as "Stanley's Buildings."

The building is rectangular on plan with a pitched slate roof finished with black clay ridge tiles. A tall chimney stack rises to the west but has been rebuilt in modern red brick. Rainwater goods consist of replacement grey uPVC ogee guttering terminating at a circular downpipe. There is a large three-storey rear return, which is a modern extension; while this detracts from the overall scale of the building, sufficient original exterior detailing survives for the building to be considered special, and together with its neighbours it makes a positive contribution to the character of the area.

The principal elevation faces south and is built in Flemish bond red brick. It is set behind a low rendered plinth wall with painted metal railings above. The entrance doorway is reached by four steps up from pavement level, with access steps descending to the left down to basement level. Window openings throughout the principal elevation have cut brick flat arches set within painted cement reveals on painted masonry sills. At first floor level there is a continuous painted sill course, with 6-over-6 timber sliding sash windows; the second floor also has 6-over-6 timber sliding sash windows, though of diminished scale. At ground floor level there are two 6-over-6 timber sliding sash windows, though the bays at ground floor level are not aligned with the window bays on the floors above. The basement level has a painted rendered finish and contains a single 1-over-1 timber sliding sash window and a modern replacement door.

The entrance doorcase features rendered bands on plinth blocks with timber console brackets to either side of a recessed six-panel timber door. Above the door is a moulded timber cornice beneath a rectangular glazed fanlight with a central diamond pane and angled timber glazing bars.

The rear north elevation is finished in smooth unpainted render. The large modern extension to the rear appears to connect to the rear extension of No. 24 Great James Street and was built at the same time using the same materials and finish. The original windows to the rear elevation have been replaced with modern uPVC casement windows. The east and west sides are party walls adjoining the neighbouring properties at No. 24 and No. 28 Great James Street respectively.

Great James Street was originally laid out around 1833, with the first buildings appearing by 1835–37, including the Londonderry Third Presbyterian Church, the earliest building on the street. The development of Great James Street, together with the adjoining Queen Street and Clarendon Street, was driven by a period of significant economic and population growth in Londonderry during the mid-19th century. As John Hume records, during the period 1825–1850 reconstruction within the city walls took place alongside the first development of housing outside the walls at Bogside and Edenballymore. Great James Street was the first major new street in the area — Queen Street followed around 1847 and Clarendon Street around 1853. The first edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1830 show the Great James Street area as rural hinterland with few significant structures; at that date the city's built fabric extended no further north than Waterloo Place, Abbey Street and William Street. In the early decades of the 19th century, construction north of the walls had been limited to isolated institutions such as the Londonderry Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum and Foyle College, with little domestic architecture. The only building in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area predating the early Victorian development is Foyle Cottage, a Regency-style house built around 1815. Robert Simpson, writing in his Annals of Derry (1847), recorded that "all the district now covered by Great James's Street, William Street, Little James Street … and the numerous lanes in that vicinity [originally comprised] meadow ground without a house." With the construction of uniform rows of neat three-storey townhouses, the area quickly became the preferred residence of the city's merchant and professional classes. The geometric street pattern followed by Great James Street, Clarendon Street and Queen Street was characteristic of Georgian town planning, and represented the most ambitious planning project carried out in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city in 1613–19.

No. 26 Great James Street was constructed between 1847 and 1849, together with the adjoining No. 28. O'Hagan's map of Londonderry (1847) records that while Great James Street had been partially developed by that date, no buildings had yet been erected on the north side of the street between Queen Street and Prince's Street. The pair first appear on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of 1848–49, depicted as square-shaped buildings each originally possessing a small return and an outbuilding to the rear; both outbuildings have since been demolished and No. 26's original return has been replaced with the modern extension. The map identifies the pair as "Stanley's Buildings." Griffith's Valuation of 1856 confirmed that Nos. 26–28 Great James Street were owned by the Trustees of Stanley's Charity. This charity was founded on 1st November 1755, following a bequest made in 1751 by Alderman Peter Stanley, who left his entire estate to the Dean and curates of Londonderry for charitable purposes. According to the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837, the money was used to distribute alms to 30 poor inhabitants of the city, providing £60 per annum, administered by the Dean and curates of St. Columb's Cathedral.

In 1856 Griffith's Valuation recorded the house as valued at £25 and as leased by the Trustees of Stanley's Charity to a Mr. David Haslett, a local gentleman who used it as his private dwelling. Haslett continued to reside there until his death in 1880. In 1888 the house passed to Charles O'Neill, a local grocer and publican who operated a porter and ale-bottling store at Nos. 4–6 Custom House Street. The annual revisions town plan of approximately 1873–1910 showed the building retaining its earlier layout with a small return and outbuilding to the rear. The 1901 census building return described No. 26 as a first-class dwelling consisting of 15 rooms and possessing a stable, a coach house and a store among its outbuildings. By 1911 the occupant was John Doherty, a local cattle dealer. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the value of the house had risen to £27, and in the 1930s the property, still referred to as "Stanley's Buildings," was occupied by a Ms. Jane Gillespie. In 1960, Mr. Thomas Boyle purchased the house outright and occupied it as his private dwelling until at least the 1970s. By the end of the Second General Revaluation (1956–72), the total value of the house stood at £28. In 1978 the Department of the Environment designated the mid-19th century streets and terraces of this area as a Conservation Area, defined as "an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance."

The building is set within a terrace of interesting and characterful houses of varying types lining the north side of Great James Street.