35 Great James St, Londonderry

35 Great James Street is a three-storey-over-basement, three-bay, end-of-terrace former manse, built in the early Victorian period between approximately 1837 and 1847 to serve the adjacent Third Presbyterian Church. It was designed by County Surveyor Stewart Gordon (d. 1860), who was also the architect of the neighbouring neo-classical church. Despite being constructed in the Victorian period, the building retains a Georgian character in its style and proportions, and its original plan form remains intact along with internal detailing of historic interest.

The building sits within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area and is set back from the street behind a boundary wall with a sandstone plinth and wrought iron railings above. Access to the manse is through a pedestrian side gate offset from the main church entrance.

The roof is hipped, finished in fibre-cement slates (replaced March/April 2015, originally Spanish natural slate) with clay ridge tiles. A large cement-rendered chimney-stack is centred on the west elevation and carries nine clay pots. Cast-iron rainwater goods include a half-round gutter supported on cast-iron rise-and-fall brackets projecting from the eaves.

The walls are rendered redbrick. The principal elevation faces east onto the churchyard and is rendered and painted. It features a projecting single-storey rusticated entrance porch, reached by eight steps up from the north elevation on Great James Street. The entrance doorcase has painted four-panelled timber double doors flanked by Ionic columns supporting an entablature, below a three-centred arched fanlight. Windows on the ground and first floors are six-over-six painted timber sliding sash with moulded plaster surrounds; those on the second floor are a diminished six-over-three timber sliding sash. There is a continuous sill course at each storey level and stepped raised corner quoins.

The south (rear) elevation is in unpainted smooth render with uPVC rainwater goods. It has two-over-two timber sliding sash windows to the second floor and six-over-six timber sliding sash to the raised ground floor. Also at ground floor level there are metal casement windows with three toplights over three long lights. The render is absent in places where a lean-to structure has been removed. The west elevation abuts the Cultúrlann at no. 37. The north elevation, rendered and painted, faces Great James Street and is set behind railings; it is two bays wide with windows matching those of the principal elevation.

The entrance porch was an original feature of the design, as confirmed by O'Hagan's 1847 plan of Londonderry and the valuation town plan of approximately 1873, both of which depict the building in its current layout.

The manse and the church alongside it were among the earliest buildings to be constructed in this part of the city. Their development formed part of a broader early Victorian expansion of Londonderry driven by economic and population growth in the early 19th century. The laying out of Great James Street, Queen Street and Clarendon Street on a geometric street pattern represented the most ambitious town planning project in Londonderry since the construction of the walled city between 1613 and 1619. The construction of an additional Presbyterian church in the 1830s reflected the fact that Presbyterians were by then the largest denomination within the city walls; as the local historian John Hume notes, their birth rate was probably higher than that of other groups and half the population in the adjacent rural districts was Presbyterian.

Griffith's Valuation of 1856 recorded the manse as valued at £36, occupied by the Reverend James Denham and administered by the church trustees. The Reverend Denham ministered to the congregation of Londonderry Third Presbyterian until his death in 1871. By 1873, the new minister, the Reverend James M. Rodgers, had taken up residence and remained until 1892, when the church trustees decided to lease the manse to private tenants. The 1901 Census recorded the building as a first-class dwelling of eight rooms with a stable and coal house as its only outbuildings, occupied at that time by Henry E. Sides, a supervisor at the Inland Revenue. By 1911 the property had become a boarding house operated by John Maxwell, an oil merchant, and his wife Rebecca. By 1912 it had returned to private occupation under a Mr Frazer Evans. Despite changes in occupants, the Trustees of Londonderry Third Presbyterian continued to own the property through to at least 1931, by which time its rateable value had fallen to £22. Under the First General Revaluation of 1935 the value rose to £42, and under the Second General Revaluation (1956–72) it reached £48; throughout this period it remained a private dwelling in the ownership of the church trustees.

In 1978 the building was included within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area, designated as an area of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. Both the church and the manse were subsequently listed in 1979. Records note that the manse was occupied by the NSPCC in 1983 and was refurbished as a dentist's surgery in 1989. The property was recorded as derelict in more recent survey records. In January 2014, the adjoining Irish Language and Cultural Centre, Cultúrlann, acquired both the former Presbyterian Church and its manse for £1.2 million, with plans to convert both buildings into additional accommodation for classes and performances.

The elegant stone steps, ornate railings, and sandstone boundary walling to the front contribute significantly to the character and quality of the building's setting. Together with Great James Street Presbyterian Church, it forms an important group of early Victorian buildings of both architectural and historic significance within the conservation area.