Bishop's Parochial Houses, St. Eugene's Cathedral, Francis Street, Londonderry, County Londonderry, BT48 9AP

Bishop's Parochial Houses, St. Eugene's Cathedral, Francis Street, Londonderry

These are the Bishop's Parochial Houses, a three-storey, five-bay Gothic Revival building constructed in 1876 to designs by the Dublin-based architect James Joseph McCarthy (1817–1882), who was also responsible for the adjoining Gothic Revival Cathedral of St. Eugene. A datestone on site confirms the construction date, though valuation records show the building was not fully completed until 1877, at which point its rateable value was raised from £60 to £85. McCarthy was, according to the Dictionary of Irish Architects, the leading architect of Irish Catholic churches in the mid-Victorian period. The building was originally conceived as two separate dwellings — one for the parish priests and one as the Bishop's private residence — and its plan form has remained essentially unaltered since construction, as confirmed by a town plan of around 1873 that already depicted the proposed layout.

The building is constructed from locally quarried blue-green Derry Schist in coursed squared walling, with dressings of Dungiven Sandstone (also recorded as Barony Glen Sandstone). The roof is pitched natural slate with decorative clay ridge tiles. The gable walls of the side bays rise above the roofline and are finished with stone coping and gabled ridge stones; the south elevation carries a Celtic cross at the apex, while the north elevation has a schist sandstone-dressed chimney stack. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted throughout, with ogee guttering carried on stone corbel brackets.

The principal, south-facing elevation is five bays wide, with the two outer bays gabled and projecting slightly. The right-hand projecting bay features a two-storey canted bay window topped with a quatrefoil-pierced balcony. The central bay rises into a dormer at roof level, incorporating a carved coat of arms. The principal entrance is a central pointed arch trefoil recessed doorway, flanked by polished red granite columns and surmounted by a balcony matching that of the bay window, with a coat of arms above. The entrance doors are six-panel carved timber double doors with stop chamfers, fitted with brass door furniture including a decorative door knocker with a Celtic motif.

All windows have shouldered surrounds and are fitted with horizontal 2/2 timber sliding sash glazing with chamfered reveals. Ground floor windows have central sandstone crocketed capital columns; those on the first and second floors do not. Windows on the ground and first floors have a schist segmental arch above sandstone heads. The top windows on the end bays have sandstone carved pointed arches above, with uncarved coats of arms and Gothic hood moulds with head stops. The east elevation doorway carries a Gothic arch hood mould with label stops. The rear elevation has irregular fenestration, including 1/1 timber sliding sash windows with coloured margin panes to the stairwell.

The building is set on a triangular site at the west corner of the St. Eugene's Cathedral grounds. The principal elevation faces south onto its own gardens within the complex. The north elevation faces onto Infirmary Road, the east elevation faces the Cathedral tower entrance porch, and the west elevation faces Creggan Street behind a boundary wall of schist with granite coping and wrought-iron railings. The building has group value with the other structures within the St. Eugene's grounds.

The first Bishop to reside here was the Most Reverend Francis Kelly, who was chiefly responsible for ensuring the Cathedral's construction. From 1877 until 1988, all Bishops of the Diocese resided at the site. The rateable value of £85 remained unchanged until the cancellation of the Annual Revisions in 1931, when it was raised to £150 under the First Revaluation of 1935, a figure that remained constant through the Second Revaluation of 1956 to 1972. The building was listed in 1979. The Bishop of Derry vacated his portion in 1988, since which time the former Bishop's half has been occupied by the Derry Diocese offices, while parish priests associated with St. Eugene's Cathedral continue to dwell in the building. The interior layout has been largely retained with minimal modern alterations, including the infilling of the courtyard. In 2010 the building underwent an extensive refurbishment comprising roof repairs and exterior stonework repairs and repointing, at an estimated cost of £448,000 — the first major renovation to the exterior since the building's construction in 1876.