13A Little James St., Londonderry

A five-storey brick multi-bay former shirt factory erected in 1897–98 for Messrs Hogg & Mitchell, shirt and collar manufacturers, to designs by William A. Barker, a local architect. Originally known as Strand Factory, it occupied the entire block between Great James Street and Sackville Street, close to Strand Road. The southern section was demolished following a fire in 1997 and is now partly occupied by a modern multi-storey apartment block. Only the historic five-storey block along Great James Street survived, converted to apartments in 2000.

The building is aligned east–west on the south side of Great James Street, at its junction with Little James Street. It is of considerable architectural interest because of its massing, regularly fenestrated façade, and stucco embellishment to the brickwork.

The roof is of artificial slate with skylights and ogee metal gutters and downpipes. Walls are of red brick and rendered brick throughout. The principal elevation faces north onto Great James Street. The ground floor is divided into six sections by fluted stucco pilasters with Corinthian capitals. Five sections contain shop fronts, each with an entrance door and large window fitted with roller shutters. The fourth section from the left is the entrance to Hogg & Mitchell Apartments on the floors above, with three doorways set in a modern polished granite surround and glazed doors protected with decorative wrought ironwork. A moulded cornice runs across the top of the shop fronts and carries small planters.

The upper floors each have 18 regularly spaced window openings, grouped into threes by banded stucco pilasters terminating in fluted capitals at eaves level. Stucco quoins of similar detail are located at each end. The upper floors are delineated by stucco entablatures carrying geometric motifs and running directly under the common cill courses of the windows above. All windows are double-glazed 1×4-paned uPVC replacements with moulded brick jambs and shallow segmental heads also of moulded brick. All but the top floor windows have advanced painted keystones. The moulded stucco eaves cornice is enlivened by dentilated capitals at the top of the brick piers between the top floor windows. The eaves course also forms the heads to these windows, which are of slightly diminished size compared with those below.

The ground floor of the east elevation is rendered and contains two flat-headed doorways, with a fire escape at the left. Its upper floors each have three window openings, all detailed as the façade. The west elevation is slightly wider than the east end and is six openings wide, divided into three pairs by stucco pilasters. The ground floor has three pairs of large shop front windows, and the upper floors each have three pairs of 1×4 windows. All detailing to this elevation is identical to the front façade. A raised fire gable at its south end separates this elevation from a modern six-storey brick apartment block which continues along Little James Street.

The south (rear) elevation is abutted at left by the six-storey apartment block with its rendered rear wall. The exposed section of the original building is nine openings wide and rendered throughout in cement. Its upper floor openings each have 1×4-paned windows with shallow segmental heads and concrete cills.

The setting comprises shops lining the street directly opposite the former factory, with a narrow lane running down the east side beyond which are further shops. On the west side of Little James Street is a Post Office sorting office. At the rear of the premises is a vacant yard, with Sackville Street beyond.

Hogg & Mitchell's shirt factory was recorded in the Valuation Revision book entry for 1899, along with six shops along Great James Street which were leased out by them. The factory had a rateable valuation of £255, with each shop rated at £18. The 1902 entry records "additions in progress", resulting in an increase in the factory's valuation by £120 to £375. The 1904 Ordnance Survey map captions the premises as "Strand Factory (Shirt & Collar)". No significant changes to the factory are recorded in subsequent valuations up to 1931 or maps up to 1953. Messrs Hogg & Mitchell were still operating the shirt factory in 1950, but it was subsequently vacated.

The building is of considerable economic and social importance as one of a number of "second generation" shirt factories built in Londonderry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which made Londonderry the "shirt capital of the world" during this era. The factory provided employment to many generations of women. The urban setting of Great James Street is enhanced by its historic importance as a reminder of the industrial and manufacturing past of the city.