1 Crawford Square, Londonderry, Co.Londonderry, BT48 7HR

1 Crawford Square, Londonderry

This is a Victorian rendered semi-detached townhouse of two bays and three storeys over a basement, built in 1865 to designs by John Guy Ferguson. It forms one of a pair with the adjoining No. 2 Crawford Square, and together the two are the earliest known domestic buildings designed by Ferguson. The house sits to the northwest of the city centre within Crawford Square, a tree-lined garden square laid out at an angle to Northland Road by civil engineer and architect Fitzgibbon Louch (1826–1911). The square was originally laid out in 1861 and named after Samuel Law Crawford, a local solicitor who owned the land, as recorded in the Dublin Builder. It shares group value with No. 2 Crawford Square and also with No. 1A Academy Road, with which it interlocks at the rear.

Architectural Character and Exterior

The design shows a clear Italianate influence, expressed particularly through the pedimented gable and deep overhanging eaves. The building bears a strong resemblance to Nos. 22 and 23 Crawford Square, set diagonally opposite and built in 1862, although it cannot be confirmed with certainty that Ferguson designed those earlier buildings. Together, Nos. 1 and 2 Crawford Square are slightly more ornate than the adjoining terrace and form a bookend to a stepped row of similar three-storey houses with canted bay windows and well-ordered fenestration, contributing to the distinctive character of the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.

The plan is rectangular, with a two-storey rear return built at half-landing height. The principal elevation faces northeast onto Crawford Square, while the southeast elevation fronts onto Northland Road. Both elevations are set behind a low rendered boundary wall with concrete coping and painted cast-iron railings above, with the boundary also defined by hedging on the low rendered wall.

The roof is pitched and finished in natural slate with terracotta clay ridge tiles, running continuously with No. 2 Crawford Square. There is an open pedimented bay to the northeast side. A large two-stage rendered chimney stack with seven terracotta clay pots rises from the southeast side of the main roof. The eaves feature a timber fascia and decorative paired modillions beneath deep timber soffit boards. The rear return also has a pitched natural slate roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present where visible.

Principal (Northeast) Elevation

The principal elevation is rendered and painted, with rustication to the ground floor set on a raised plinth, and rendered dressings throughout, some painted in a contrasting colour. Moulded string-courses above the ground and first floor windows span the full width of both front elevations. The left-hand projecting bay has an open pedimented gable with vermiculated quoins rising from first floor level and a two-storey canted bay window. Above the ground floor bay windows there is a further string-course and a panelled frieze; above the first floor bay windows there is a roundel and a plain low parapet. The windows to the centre of the canted bay are two-over-two timber sliding sashes, with one-over-one timber sliding sashes to the sides. At second floor level above the canted bay there is a round-arched window with a hood mould and a small vermiculated keystone, fitted with a two-over-two timber sliding sash. Sill-courses run beneath the ground and first floor windows throughout.

To the right-hand side of the principal elevation, the entrance is formed by a segmental-arched opening with a moulded surround at ground floor level. The door is a raised-and-fielded timber panelled door, flanked by large Corinthian columns supporting a moulded cornice with a plain overlight above. Directly above the door at first floor level is a narrow round-arched window with a moulded rendered architrave and a one-over-one timber sliding sash, and above that at second floor level is a segmental-arched window with a shoulder-course and a one-over-one timber sliding sash. Both upper windows have shoulder-courses.

Southeast Elevation

The southeast elevation is rendered with rustication to the ground floor set on a plinth painted in a contrasting colour. The moulded string-courses between each floor level continue from the principal elevation. There are tall, narrow square-headed windows with one-over-one timber sliding sashes, moulded architrave surrounds, and moulded sills — one to each side of the elevation on each floor level. Moulded panels between paired modillions appear at eaves level. The large two-stage rendered chimney stack is centred on this elevation and rises from the main roof.

Rear Elevations

The southeast elevation of the rear return is rendered and painted with an irregular fenestration pattern. It features two-over-two timber sliding sash windows where visible, a small two-over-two timber sliding sash at first floor half-landing level, and a square-headed door opening at ground floor level. The southwest rear elevation is of three storeys with a smooth rendered painted finish and two-over-two timber sliding sash windows where visible, plus a wallhead dormer with a round-arched two-over-two timber sliding sash window. The rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey gabled rear return shared with No. 2 Crawford Square, built off the half-landing level, and interlocks in section with the adjoining No. 1A Academy Road to the rear. The walled yard to No. 1 has a sheeted timber painted door opening onto a landscaped area adjoining Northland Road. The northwest side is joined to No. 2 Crawford Square.

The paired entrances to Nos. 1 and 2 are approached by a broad flight of steps.

Historical Context

Crawford Square was laid out in 1861 by Fitzgibbon Louch during the early part of his career. Louch established an independent practice in Londonderry in 1859 and was active in the city until the late 1860s. He was responsible for the entrance design to the City Cemetery — selected at competition in 1859, though his scheme was not ultimately realised — and the design of the Magazine Gate entrance to the city walls. The entrance screen, Superintendent's House and Chapel that exist today at the City Cemetery were designed by Robert Collins and built in 1866. Crawford Square was part of the city's continued northward expansion following the establishment of Georgian-style terraces along Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street in the 1830s to 1860s. At the time the first tenders for new dwellings on Crawford Square were invited in the 1860s, Northland Road was still a country road leading from the city towards Donegal. Crawford Square, together with Templemore and Victoria Parks, has been described as the city's delayed response to Dublin's garden squares, creating a green oasis for wealthy residents near the city centre, with an enclosed central garden bounded on three sides by the square.

Nos. 1 and 2 Crawford Square were the first houses to be constructed in the square. The pair was erected in 1865 for Samuel Knox, a building contractor, while the majority of the adjoining terrace was built for John McAdoo, a local seed merchant and landowner. The Dublin Builder records that the pair of three-storey two-bay Italianate dwellings were built to a design by John Guy Ferguson. Ferguson (died 1901) was one of Londonderry's most prominent architects, a partner in the practice of Frazer, Ferguson and Frazer in 1861, and was appointed architect to the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe in 1868. He is best known for his designs of St. Augustine's Church, the Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall, and the expansion of St. Columb's Cathedral, and carried out only a small number of domestic commissions in the city. The Dictionary of Irish Architects identifies Nos. 1 and 2 Crawford Square as the earliest known houses designed by Ferguson.

On completion, the rateable value of No. 1 Crawford Square was set at £31 by the Annual Revisions. By the end of the Second General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1956–72), this had risen to £45. The majority of the square's occupants were from the city's professional and merchant classes. In 1911, No. 1 Crawford Square was occupied by Henry Crawford McCay, a local solicitor with offices on Shipquay Street. The 1911 Census Building Return described it as a first-class dwelling consisting of 12 rooms. Nos. 1 and 2 Crawford Square remained in the ownership of the Knox family until at least the 1970s.

In 1970, a survey of Londonderry described Nos. 1 to 19 Crawford Square as a fine terrace of three-storey rendered buildings on a sloping surface overlooking a tree-lined grassy square, with well-modelled elevations and two-storey height bay windows. Crawford Square was included in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area in 1978 as an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. Nos. 1 and 23 Crawford Square were subsequently listed in 1979. Around 1992, No. 1 Crawford Square underwent a renovation that included repairs to the roof, restoration of the façade, and the eradication of internal dry rot.