City Factory, Queen St., Patrick St., Londonderry

City Factory, Queen Street / Patrick Street, Londonderry

Former shirt factory, detached, multi-bay, three storeys over basement, built in polychromatic brick to designs by Belfast-based architect and engineer Robert Young (1822–1917), constructed 1862–63, and extended eastwards in 1899–1900 to designs by Young & Mackenzie. The building is a good example of Victorian industrial architecture. Although some external fabric has been altered, the rhythmic fenestration and commanding scale of the building remain intact. It was one of the most important shirt factories and employers of local labour in Derry, and played a significant role in the evolution of shirt-manufacturing equipment and techniques. The factory continued in operation until 1991, after which it was converted into commercial and educational space.

Architectural Description

The building is U-shaped on plan, facing south onto Patrick Street, with a series of projections and accretions to the rear. The roofs are hipped natural slate with terracotta ridge tiles, several skylights, and moulded cast-iron guttering carried on a corbelled yellow brick eaves course; downpipes are a mixture of cast iron, steel, and plastic. There is a crow-stepped gable to the east rear projection. A central tower rises to form a third floor at the centre of the principal front elevation, topped with a pyramidal slate roof.

The main walling is red brick laid in Flemish bond, with moulded sandstone ashlar quoins and a plinth course. The basement is faced in rough-hewn limestone. Decorative angled and chevron-patterned yellow brick courses run below continuous sill courses. Window openings are camber-headed, formed in stop-chamfered yellow brick surrounds with sandstone sills, and are largely fitted with replacement hardwood timber casement windows.

The principal south elevation onto Patrick Street is 28 windows wide. A pair of shallow recessed bays divide the elevation into thirds. Each recessed bay contains three slender arched windows at upper levels — the eastern one rising to form an attic storey — with large openings at ground-floor level. The western recess has a square-headed opening with a concrete lintel and replacement steel glazed doors. The eastern recess has an elliptical arched opening formed in chamfered yellow brick with a sandstone keystone bearing the raised digits '1900', and a replacement hardwood glazed entrance screen.

The west side elevation, fronting Queen Street, is seven windows wide and is detailed as the south elevation except at ground-floor level, where the openings are round-headed, formed in stepped and moulded yellow brick with carved sandstone figurative ancons (decorative console brackets) and sandstone sills supported on brackets. The east side elevation is nine windows wide, with an angled return accommodating the line of North Edward Street, and is detailed as the front elevation. The rear elevation is irregular, less ornate, and comprises full-height projections at either end and at the centre, with a series of lower accretions and utilitarian structures making up the remainder.

Historical Background

The shirt industry in Londonderry was founded in the early 19th century by William Scott, a local weaver who recognised the commercial opportunity presented by the shift from flannel to imported American cotton in men's fashion. Scott's first premises were in Weaver's Row, near the future site of Tillie & Henderson's factory, but rapid growth required a move to a larger factory on Bennett Street. By 1850 Scott was still the only shirt maker in the city, but his success encouraged others — including Tillie, Hogg, and Sinclair — to establish shirt manufactories. The Northwest Archaeological and Historical Society records that these entrepreneurs recognised the potential of the sewing machine, invented in 1845 by Elias Howe of Massachusetts, and understood that concentrating workers in a single factory rather than dispersing them across the countryside would achieve significant efficiencies.

Peter McIntyre, a former employee of William Scott, established the firm of McIntyre & Hogg in 1853, initially operating from premises on Foyle Street. The Dublin Builder records that the City Factory was constructed in 1862–63 to designs by Robert Young. Although the building's design has sometimes been attributed to Young & Mackenzie, Young did not enter into partnership with his pupil John Mackenzie until at least 1866; the firm later undertook the extension of 1899–1900, but the original block was an independent commission by Young alone. The Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that Young carried out a number of contracts in County Derry throughout his early career, and the City Factory was among the last he completed in the city before forming the partnership. Young & Mackenzie went on to become, by the 20th century, the most successful architectural practice in Belfast.

The original factory was L-shaped in plan. An Ordnance Survey Annual Revisions Town Plan of around 1873 shows that it comprised the Queen Street elevation and the Patrick Street block as far as the second carriage arch. The builder was Matthew McClelland, whose business premises were on the Strand Road, and the total estimated construction cost was £8,000. On completion, the factory's rateable value was assessed at £370. The year '1863' was inscribed in a keystone above the original coach arch.

During the 1870s McIntyre & Hogg employed 600 workers at the City Factory and over 2,000 across Derry and Donegal. The factory took a leading role in the evolution of shirt-making processes. In 1867 McIntyre & Hogg developed a new steam-powered cutting machine to replace the hand-cutting of shirt materials; the Londonderry Guardian reported that it was invented and applied by the firm's own superintending mechanic, a Mr Croom. A laundry was added to the factory in 1883, raising the rateable value to £410; the Londonderry Sentinel later noted that shirt washing was a particularly demanding process, requiring large cylindrical machines that reversed at intervals to ensure consistent movement of both goods and liquids. In 1893 a new 25-horsepower engine was installed, raising the rateable value further to £425.

The 1899–1900 extension, designed by Young & Mackenzie with Joseph Ballantine as contractor, added a three-storey, ten-bay block of approximately 141 feet to the east, increasing the factory's workforce capacity to 800. The estimated cost was £3,882, including alterations to machinery and boilers. On completion the total rateable value rose to £750. The year '1900' was inscribed in a keystone above the new coach arch added as part of the extension.

During the First World War demand for shirts increased greatly, but following the Armistice in 1918 the international shirt market entered a depression. Local factories survived in part by paying lower wages than their English counterparts. By the 1920s there were 44 shirt factories in Derry employing over 8,000 workers. The rateable value of the City Factory was recorded as £800 in the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57) and had risen to £1,320 by the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72). In the 1970s McIntyre, Hogg & Marsh merged with English Sewing Cotton Ltd. and acquired Tootal Ltd., retaining the Tootal brand name.

The 1970 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide to Londonderry described the building as "a fine example of functional architecture within the discipline of load-bearing brickwork," praising the single rhythm of the windows, the emphasis on the horizontal created by the string courses and decorated brickwork cornice, the excellent use of different-coloured bricks, the articulation of the ground-floor round-headed windows on Queen Street, and the sculpted figurative keystones to those same windows.

Between 1970 and 1978 over 30 shirt factories closed across Northern Ireland due to overseas competition from developing countries, but the City Factory continued to operate for a further two decades. It was listed in 1979. By the 1980s the factory remained in excellent internal and external repair, though the roof required restoration in 1988. The factory finally closed as a working shirt factory in 1991, at which point it still employed almost 400 people.

The building remained vacant until 1995, when the ground floor was converted to commercial use (requiring the blocking up of one of the original coach arches), the first floor was converted to office space, and the upper floors were briefly converted into four self-contained apartments. In 1999 the upper floors were brought into educational use as offices for a faculty of the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education. In 2005 the Void Art Centre, established by Derry Artists for Derry Art, opened in the basement of the building.

The City Factory is one of the earliest surviving shirt factories in Londonderry and one of the last remaining physical links to the city's industrial heritage, particularly following the demolition of Tillie & Henderson's factory in 2003.

Setting

The former factory occupies the entire length of Patrick Street and returns onto Queen Street, dominating its locale. The less formally designed east side elevation faces onto North Edward Street, with utilitarian accretions and extensions to the rear facing an access lane. The building lies within a conservation area.