17 Crawford Square, Londonderry

17 Crawford Square, Londonderry

A three-storey, two-bay rendered terraced house in the Italianate style, built in 1888 and most likely designed by Robert Collins. The building forms part of a terrace of sixteen houses situated on the south-west side of the tree-lined Crawford Square on a sloping site. It is paired with and symmetrical to the adjacent No. 18 Crawford Square, except for modern dormers added to the roof.

The house has a rectangular plan facing north-east, with a three-storey extended return to the rear and a separate two-storey stone outbuilding accessed from the rear of the site. The building steps down the slope as part of a row of associated outbuildings that front onto Academy Road.

The pitched natural slate roof is continuous with No. 18 Crawford Square. A large buff brick chimney with moulded corbel and buff clay pots is shared with No. 16. The timber fascia boards and moulded soffit feature paired block modillions. Half-round cast iron guttering discharges to a circular cast iron downpipe. A modern single-bay flat-roofed dormer with timber-framed windows has been added to the roof, and a further three-storey rendered return extension with half-hipped natural slate roof and blue-black angled hip and ridge tiles has been constructed, matching a similar addition to No. 18.

The front elevation displays a two-storey, three-sided canted bay with parapet, featuring moulded panels between the ground and first floors and moulded cills and strings. Window openings have segmental arched heads containing 1/1 double-hung timber sash windows with moulded horns. The first-floor window above the main entrance has a moulded architrave with stop blocks and moulded cill shared with No. 18.

The semi-circular arched doorcase features a hood mould with keystone and decorative console brackets. It is recessed with a moulded soffit and contains a glazed fanlight, tiled step and a pair of three-panelled outer doors. Behind these is an inner doorcase with slender timber columns with decorative capitals, a rectangular fanlight and an original timber door with a glazed top panel and two moulded bottom panels. A flat ceiling with cornice spans the space between the two doors.

The rear elevation and rear return are rendered with square-headed window openings, many now fitted with replacement uPVC windows. A wall-headed dormer with pitched roof contains a round-arched replacement uPVC window. The three-storey return has a pitched natural slate roof and buff brick chimney with moulded corbel and buff clay pots, shared with No. 18's return.

The stone-built outbuilding to the rear forms part of the stepped row of outbuildings associated with Crawford Square houses. The Academy Road elevation is rendered in rough cast with blocked-up ground-floor openings and timber sheeting to a high-level opening. It has a natural slate roof and uPVC rainwater goods.

The house stands set back from the footpath and slightly elevated, facing north-east over the tree-lined Crawford Square green. It is approached by a shared path and short flight of concrete steps leading to the adjacent property. The modest front garden has a concrete finish and is enclosed by a dwarf wall with painted metal railings adjacent to the steps.