22 Crawford Square, Londonderry

22 Crawford Square is a Victorian mid-terrace townhouse of two bays and three storeys over a basement, with an attic level. Built in 1862 and thought to have been designed by J.G. Ferguson, it is constructed of red brick with stucco dressings and rustication to the ground floor. The building is rectangular on plan and includes a two-storey rear return built off the half-landing level and a two-storey stone outbuilding with a slated pitched roof.

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. 23 Crawford Square and, though slightly more ornate, 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. 23, a duo-pitched dormer with a semicircular fascia board, and a large ashlar sandstone two-stage chimney stack with a projecting string course, panelled upper stage and corbelled cap supporting four buff clay pots. Timber fascia and modillion moulding sit above deep timber soffit boards at the eaves, with half-round cast-iron guttering discharging to a circular cast-iron downpipe.

The principal elevation displays red brick in Flemish bond on the upper floors with stucco dressings and rustication at ground floor level, topped by a dentilled cornice on a moulded sill-course to the first floor windows. The advanced left bay features a pedimented gable with toothed quoins from first floor level and a canted bay window rising through from basement to first floor with a moulded cornice and guilloche ornamental pattern to the frieze below.

Windows on the ground, first and second floors are square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sashes, with 1/1 timber sliding sashes to the sides of the canted bay. The second floor tripartite window comprises 1/1 timber sliding sashes to either side of a 2/2 sliding sash, with decorative console brackets with foliate detail between each pane. Above sits a dentilled band topped by a dentilled segmental arch crown moulding with brick tympanum. A Diocletian window within the pedimented gable has three unequal lights divided by plain mullions with a moulded stucco surround and keystone at attic level.

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, with a semicircular arched dormer to the attic level containing a square-headed 2/2 timber sliding sash window and slated cheeks. A large semicircular arch opening within a moulded surround forms the entrance doorway, accessed via entrance steps over the basement well, shared with No. 23 and flanked by stone walling and cast-iron railings. A cast-iron boot scraper sits on the top step. The steps lead to a pair of raised-and-fielded timber doors flanked by large fluted columns of Doric order supporting a dentilled cornice above; the fanlight over the cornice is boarded up.

The east and west sides are adjoined to neighbouring properties No. 21 and 23 Crawford Square. The north elevation to the rear is of three storeys over basement with an attic level. A two-storey gabled return, shared with No. 23, is built off the half-landing level with an enclosed stair link cantilevered over the yard to a two-storey stone outbuilding. The fenestration pattern is irregular, featuring plain glazing to a circular roundel window on the third floor level to the left of a 6/6 timber sliding sash. Two small dormers to the slated pitched roof to the rear each have a slated pitched roof and cheeks with a 2/2 timber sliding sash window. An additional single-storey hipped roof abutment with smooth rendered walls and two square-headed openings to its west face is covered by a hipped slate roof. The three-storey rear return has a pitched natural slate roof with uPVC rainwater goods.

Crawford Square is set at an angle to Northland Road on an inclined site northwest of the city, within the Clarendon Street Conservation Area. The square is centred on a rectangular mature garden bound by low walling and enclosed on three sides by three-storey buildings. No. 22 is mid-terrace within the row of four similar townhouses, elevated and set back from the pavement behind rendered walling with stone copings and painted cast-iron railings, 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 rock-faced uncoursed schist stone retaining wall beyond marks the boundary with Northland Crescent.