21 Crawford Square, Londonderry

21 Crawford Square, Londonderry

A Victorian mid-terrace townhouse built in 1862, thought to have been designed by J.G. Ferguson. The building is a three-bay, three-storey structure over basement with an attic level, constructed in red brick with stucco dressings and rustication to the ground floor and smooth painted render to the basement level.

The principal elevation faces south onto Crawford Square, set behind a low stone boundary wall with painted cast-iron railings above. The house was built as a pair with No. 20 Crawford Square and forms part of a terrace row of four similar houses offset to the northwest of Crawford Square.

The pitched natural slate roof features a platform ridge continuous with No. 20 Crawford Square, and two duo-pitched dormer windows with round-arched fascia boards and 2/2 square-headed timber sliding sash windows under leaded roofs with slated cheeks. A large ashlar sandstone two-stage chimney stack with projecting string course, panelled upper stage and corbelled cap supports four buff clay pots on the front elevation. The eaves feature a timber fascia and paired modillion moulding to a deep timber soffit board, with half-round moulded uPVC guttering to the front elevation.

The principal elevation is of red brick laid in Flemish bond on the upper floors, with painted stucco dressings and rustication to ground floor level marked by a dentilled band on a moulded sill-course to the first floor windows. Ground, first and second floor windows are square-headed; the basement and ground floor have replacement 2/2 timber top hung casement windows, while the first and second floors and attic level dormers have 2/2 timber sliding sashes. A uPVC entrance door left of the window bay to basement level is accessed via steps from ground floor level. The first floor windows feature moulded stucco architrave surrounds with decorative console brackets supporting deep projecting cornices above; the second floor windows have lugged architrave surrounds. A large round-arched opening with moulded surround marks the entrance doorway on the ground floor level, accessed via broad entrance steps over a basement well shared with No. 20, leading to a pair of raised-and-fielded timber doors (with missing pilasters on either side) with a dentilled cornice and plain glazed fanlight above.

The east and west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties. The north elevation to the rear is two bays wide and of three-storeys over basement with an attic level. A two-and-a-half-storey gabled rear return, built off half-landing level on the right side and shared between No. 21 and No. 22, features smooth-render walling, unpainted. Timber sliding sash windows light the rear elevation of the main building and return; two small dormers have uPVC casement windows with uPVC vertical boarding to their cheeks and front. A two-storey stone outbuilding with red brick dressings stands in the rear yard, with a rock-faced un-coursed stone boundary wall facing onto Northland Crescent to the north. The main roof and rear return have pitched natural slate roofs; the outbuilding has a pitched slate roof with terracotta clay ridge tiles. Large sandstone chimney stacks rise from the north and south sides to front and rear elevations, topped with octagonal or circular buff or terracotta clay pots; chimney stacks to the east side are shared with No. 22. uPVC guttering runs to front and rear elevations and the rear return. A pair of dormer windows feature pitched natural slate roofs and tile hanging to the sides with 2/2 timber sliding sash windows.

The building is located at Crawford Square, set at an angle to Northland Road on an inclined site to the northwest of the city, within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. Crawford Square centres on a rectangular mature garden bounded by low walling and enclosed on three sides by three-storey buildings. No. 21 sits mid-terrace within the row of four similar townhouses, elevated and set back from the pavement behind rendered walling with stone copings, painted cast-iron railings above (some now replaced), with paired entrances opening onto broad steps over cellar wells. A shared yard to the rear is enclosed by a row of two-storey rubblestone outbuildings, formerly a stable block, with red brick dressings and slated roofs. A further rock-faced uncoursed schist stone retaining wall beyond aligns the boundary with Northland Crescent. The southeast side of Crawford Square comprises a long terrace of eighteen similar townhouses.