23 Crawford Square, Londonderry

23 Crawford Square, Londonderry

No. 23 Crawford Square is a Victorian end-of-terrace townhouse of three storeys over basement, with an attic and rear return, built in 1862. It is constructed in red brick with stucco dressings and forms a pair with the adjoining No. 22. Together they are part of a coherent row of four similar houses (Nos. 20–23), all thought to have been designed by John Guy Ferguson (c. 1830–1901), one of Londonderry's most prominent architects. Ferguson is known to have designed Nos. 1 and 2 Crawford Square in 1865 — the earliest houses attributed to him in the Dictionary of Irish Architects — and Nos. 22 and 23 are strikingly similar in composition to that pair. Both sets of buildings share pedimented gables, canted bay windows rising from ground to first floor, a rusticated ground floor, and quoins rising from first-floor level. If Nos. 20–23 were indeed by Ferguson, they would represent the earliest known domestic commission by the architect who later designed the Apprentice Boys' Hall and the Guildhall (1887).

Crawford Square was laid out in 1861 by Fitzgibbon Louch (1826–1911), a civil engineer and architect who established an independent practice in Londonderry in 1859. The square was named after Samuel Law Crawford, a local solicitor who owned the land, and was conceived as a formal garden square set on an inclined site to the northwest of the city, overlooking the River Foyle. The Dublin Builder records that when the first tenders for dwellings on the square were invited in the 1860s, the Northland Road was still a country road leading out of the city towards Donegal. Crawford Square was, in the words of one authority, the city's delayed response to Dublin's garden squares, creating a green oasis near the city centre for its wealthy residents. Nos. 20–23, constructed in 1862, are grander in both scale and style than the later terrace of eighteen houses built along the southeast side of the square during the 1870s. The Annual Revisions record that the construction of Nos. 20–23 cost over £5,000 in total, and that No. 23 was originally leased by Samuel Crawford to John Munn, a local merchant, magistrate, and member of Londonderry's Corporation. By the 1880s the house was occupied by James Lyle Bigger, Professor of Oriental Languages and Hermeneutics at Magee College. By 1911 it had passed to Sir John Barr Johnston (1843–1919), a seed merchant, agricultural agent, prominent magistrate, and Mayor of Londonderry in 1897–98, who remained there until his death. The 1911 census classified the house as a first-class dwelling of 17 rooms, with a stable as its sole outbuilding. By the 1930s it was occupied by Frederick J. Simmons, a local estate agent, who remained until his death in 1955. The property was converted into self-contained apartments in 1962 and then into office premises around 2003. Crawford Square was included in the Clarendon Street Conservation Area in 1978, and No. 23 was listed in 1979. A substantial renovation took place in 1990, including the re-slating of the roof in natural slate, replacement of the windows, installation of cast-iron rainwater goods, and construction of a replica entablature to the entrance doorcase.

The principal elevation faces south onto Crawford Square and is set behind a low rendered stone boundary wall with painted cast-iron railings above. The roof is a pitched natural slate construction with a platform ridge continuous with No. 22, and features a duo-pitched dormer with a semicircular fascia board. There is a large two-stage ashlar sandstone chimney stack to the front elevation, with a projecting string course, panelled upper stage, and corbelled cap supporting four buff clay pots; the rear elevation chimney stack carries five octagonal buff clay pots. Deep timber soffit boards at the eaves carry a timber fascia and modillion moulding, with half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to circular cast-iron downpipes.

The upper floors of the principal elevation are of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with stucco dressings throughout and rustication to ground-floor level. A dentilled band sits on a moulded sill-course to the first-floor windows. The advanced right-hand bay has a pedimented gable with toothed quoins from first-floor level and a canted bay window rising from basement to first floor, finished with a moulded cornice and a guilloche ornamental pattern to the frieze below. The windows are currently concealed with plywood sheets. The second-floor tripartite window, partly covered, has 1-over-1 timber sliding sash margin-paned lights with decorative console brackets featuring leaf detail between each pane, a dentilled band above, and a dentilled segmental arch crown moulding with a brick tympanum. At attic level within the pedimented gable is a Diocletian window with three unequal lights divided by plain mullions, set within a moulded stucco surround with keystone; the central opening has a bottom-hung casement window. The first-floor window above the entrance doorway has a moulded stucco architrave with decorative console brackets to either side supporting a deep projecting cornice above; the second-floor window above has a lugged architrave surround. A semicircular arched dormer at attic level above contains a square-headed 2-pane timber sliding sash window with slated cheeks. The entrance doorway has a large semicircular arch opening with a moulded surround, with entrance steps over the basement well shared with No. 22. The steps lead to a pair of raised-and-fielded timber doors flanked by large fluted Doric-order columns supporting a dentilled cornice above.

The west side adjoins No. 22. The rear (north) elevation is of three storeys over basement with attic level, finished in smooth unpainted render. It has a two-storey rear return built off half-landing level, with the gable shared with No. 22, also smooth-rendered and unpainted. The fenestration to the rear is irregular: at third-floor level there is a plain glazed circular roundel window to the right of a 6-over-6 timber sliding sash window; a 2-over-2 timber sliding sash window sits below on the first floor. Two small dormers to the rear pitched slate roof each have slated duo-pitched roofs and cheeks with coupled 2-over-2 timber sliding sash windows. The rear return has timber casement windows where visible, with a pitched natural slate roof. The east gable end is of smooth unpainted render, with toothed quoins returning from the south elevation and two-stage sandstone chimney stacks to both the north and south sides of the platform ridge. Between the chimneys at attic level are two small timber sliding windows; a single 2-over-2 timber sliding sash window sits at first-floor level on the north side of the elevation, with two blind square-headed openings at basement level. Cast-iron rainwater goods serve the front elevation; uPVC rainwater goods are used to the rear and return.

To the rear, the yard is enclosed by a rubblestone outbuilding — formerly a stable — and walling that joins a rubble schist stone retaining wall to Northland Crescent. A cast-iron beam has been inserted within this wall to form a wide garage door opening, which has since been infilled with concrete block. The wall returns along the northeast boundary, with red brick toothed quoins at the corner. The schist stone walling and outbuilding add considerable character to the property.

No. 23 remains a very good example of its type, with finely detailed stucco dressings, a pedimented gable, a canted bay window, and well-ordered fenestration. The decorative cast-iron railings on the stone walling to the front steps and gate to the basement area significantly enhance the setting. The house forms part of the distinctive streetscape of Crawford Square, which is enclosed on three sides by three-storey buildings, many of which survive within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area.