1 College Terrace, Rock Road, Londonderry, County Londonderry, BT48 7NZ

1 College Terrace, Rock Road, Londonderry

This is a Victorian end-of-terrace two-bay, two-storey-with-attic redbrick townhouse built in 1889–90. It sits on the corner of College Terrace and Rock Road, on the north side of the city centre on the eastern bank of the River Foyle, and forms the northernmost house in a terrace of thirteen matching properties lining the eastern side of College Terrace. The terrace faces west, close to the junction of Rock Road and Strand Road, overlooking the boundary of the University of Ulster at Magee College. Because of its corner position, Number 1 is slightly larger than its neighbours, with a splayed north elevation facing onto Rock Road. The house is listed together with its boundary walling.

Architectural Description

The building is rectangular on plan. It has a projecting two-storey rear return that steps down to a single-storey extension at the back, and a centrally placed wall dormer on the principal west-facing front elevation. The roof is natural slate with a pitched profile, capped with a coping stone at the gable end and finished with terracotta clay ridge tiles to both the main roof and the rear return. A metal finial sits at the apex of the dormer. A large two-stage redbrick chimneystack, which has been rebuilt, rises from the north side of the main roof, centred on the ridge, and carries six clay pots. A further brick chimneystack sits on the apex of the gable. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes serve the front elevation; uPVC rainwater goods have been fitted to the rear.

West (Principal) Elevation

The front elevation is set in Flemish brick bond with ornate Victorian industrial brickwork dressings in contrasting black brick. There is a dentilled brick cornice at eaves level with black brick dressings below, and continuous decorative brick stringcourses in contrasting colour at ground floor level, first floor level, and below the dormer. All window and door openings have red and black brick voussoirs.

At ground floor level, the full width of the elevation is occupied by a traditional-style shop window — the original shop unit that once occupied this corner — divided into forty-two individual panes, with a cornice and fascia above and console brackets on plain pilasters with a stall riser below. To the right of the shop window is a semicircular arch-headed entrance door opening set one step up from the pavement, with moulded timber architraves and a cornice above a painted four-panel timber door with a plain fanlight over it.

At first floor level there are two segmental arch-headed window openings, each fitted with 4/1 timber sliding sash windows. The dormer carries a single semicircular arch-headed window opening with a 4/2 timber sliding sash, centred on the elevation.

North Elevation

The north gable elevation is two storeys with attic level and sits on the edge of the pavement facing Rock Road. It is set in Flemish brick bond with stringcourses in contrasting black brick at ground floor, first floor, and below dormer level, and has a brick chimneystack at the apex of the gable. At ground floor level there is a traditional-style shop window divided into multiple panes, with a cornice and fascia above, console brackets on plain pilasters, and a stall riser below, positioned to the right-hand side. To the extreme right of the elevation at first floor level is a segmental arch-headed narrow window opening with a 4/1 timber sliding sash, positioned above the shop window. At attic level there are two small semicircular arch-headed window openings — one to the extreme right and one to the extreme left of the elevation — each with 4/2 timber sliding sashes. All openings have red and black brick voussoirs.

The north elevation wall continues as a single-storey Flemish brick-coursed wall enclosing the rear yard. This wall has two openings: a timber panelled door giving access to the rear yard, and a wider opening with a metal gate to the extreme left providing access to the rear alleyway.

Rear and Side Elevations

The east (rear) elevation is finished in smooth painted render and is abutted by the two-storey rear return, which is cement rendered, stepping down to a single-storey extension in unpainted cement render. The fenestration is irregular: there is a single 1/1 timber sliding sash at ground and first floor level at the north end, and a single 1/1 timber sliding sash at attic level above the rear return at the south end. Both rear returns have casement windows.

The north face of the two-storey return has a timber door to the right-hand side and two uPVC casement windows to the left on the ground floor. At first floor level there are two uPVC casement windows, which are not aligned with the ground floor windows. The east gable of the return is blank and is abutted by the single-storey extension. The south elevation is blank. The single-storey extension has a timber door to the left and a timber casement window to the right on its north elevation, with its north gable facing the rear alleyway.

Interior

Much of the original internal detailing has been removed, resulting in the loss of some historic fabric.

Setting

Number 1 occupies the corner of College Terrace and Rock Road. The terrace as a whole overlooks a low schist wall on the western side of the street, topped with plain iron railings, which forms the boundary with the Magee College campus. Mature trees growing behind this wall give the modest street the character of an urban oasis. A rear alleyway runs the full length of the terrace, providing access to the individual rear yards. The rhythm of fenestration and decorative brickwork detailing continues consistently along all thirteen houses, and the terrace as a whole — including Number 1 — has group value as a significant feature of the Magee Conservation Area.

Historical Background

College Terrace was laid out in 1889–90 by the Trustees of Magee College, originally to provide accommodation for college staff and students. The Rock Road itself had appeared on maps as early as 1689 but was not named until 1865, taking its name from a house and hamlet known as The Rock, located off the Strand Road. One of the earliest known photographs of Derry, taken around 1872, shows this hamlet as a small cluster of two-storey buildings on the current site of Rock Terrace, close to the banks of the Foyle, with Magee College standing alone on the overlooking hill.

The northward expansion of Londonderry had begun in the mid-19th century with the construction of Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street, driven by a period of economic growth that lasted from the 1860s through to the end of the century. From the 1880s, the development of the Magee College campus prompted the construction of new redbrick housing at College Terrace alongside the three-storey redbrick houses of Clarence Avenue, to serve the growing college community. Magee itself had opened in 1865 as a seminary for young men entering the Presbyterian Ministry, was renamed the Presbyterian Theological College when it became a constituent college of the Royal University of Ireland in 1879, and saw a significant burst of building activity in the three decades between 1881 and 1911, during which three professors' houses were built to designs by Young and Mackenzie, W. A. Barker, and Robinson and Davidson.

Number 1 College Terrace was constructed together with the rest of the terrace in 1889–90. Its rateable value was set at £12 by the Annual Revisions — higher than the other houses in the terrace owing to its larger size and the presence of a ground floor shop unit at the Rock Road corner. The first recorded occupant was a Mr Charles F. Hurst. By 1911 the house had passed to Herbert Swan McCandless, a local merchant who operated his business from the ground floor shop unit; the 1911 census building return described the house as a second-class dwelling containing six rooms. McCandless continued to live at Number 1 until 1968. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) the rateable value was raised to £23, and by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72) it had risen further to £30. Neither revaluation recorded the ground floor shop unit, which suggests it may by that stage have ceased to be used for retail purposes and been absorbed into the domestic accommodation.

Within a decade of construction, most houses in the terrace had passed to occupants unconnected with the college. Following Magee's incorporation into the University of Ulster in 1969, the majority of properties along College Terrace were converted from private houses into multiple-occupancy student accommodation, a change attributed in the Magee Conservation Area Design Guide to the negative impact of Strand Road bars and nightclubs on the quality of residential life in the area.

A renovation carried out in 1981 included the repointing of the brickwork and the replacement of the original entrance door. Around 2009 the building was converted to office use, and at the time of the second survey it was occupied by a local architect's firm.

College Terrace was incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006, along with the Rock Road and part of Northland Road, as a zone of distinct character within the Conservation Area. The terrace's gentle curve represents a departure from the earlier rectangular Georgian-style squares at Crawford Square and De Burgh Terrace. The Conservation Area Design Guide notes that the stepped eaves, attic dormers, chimneys, and overall high architectural quality of the terrace make it a significant contributor to the wider Magee Conservation Area. The terrace was first listed in 1980.