St Patrick’s Presbytery, St Patrick’s Church, Buncrana Road, Londonderry, BT48 7QL

St Patrick's Presbytery is a two-storey redbrick house with sandstone dressings, designed by architect J. P. McGrath and completed in 1936. It forms an important part of an ecclesiastical group with the adjacent St Patrick's Church and surrounding railings.

The building displays a competent architectural design with interesting neo-classical entrances. The south-west façade, which contains the main entrance, is four bays wide and features gabled pavilions. Each pavilion contains a double sliding sash window with two panes and a segmented head with sandstone dressings, repeated on the first floor. A large Celtic cross carved in stone with a centre quatrefoil louvred as a roof vent sits within each gable. Sandstone quoins in short and long patterns mark the corners, and the projecting bargestones terminate in rounded and panelled large kneeler stones. The off-centre main entrance is flanked by three-quarter engaged Roman Doric columns supporting a moulded segmented open pediment with a spandrel panel that echoes the pattern of the church entrance. A panelled door with a plain rectangular fanlight sits beneath. Above the entrance is a single sliding sash two-pane segmented-headed window, slightly less in height than those on the ground floor. To one side is a pair of sliding sash windows matching those in the pavilions, with another similar pair of less height above.

The north-west elevation comprises two blocks in line, each three bays long. The block forming the back return has a lower ridge and eaves line, with a central plain door and window. The ends are gabled. The south-east elevation is three bays long, with the first bay blank. The second bay contains an entrance of similar design to the main entrance, positioned opposite the door to the church sacristy. Above this entrance is a single sliding sash two-pane window, with a pair of sliding sash two-pane windows at ground floor level.

To the rear, the pavilions and staircase roofs are gabled with bargestones and kneelers, with all rear windows matching the design of the front elevation. The walls are built of smooth redbrick with sandstone dressings to quoins, windows and doors. The roofs are finished in natural slates, differing from those on the church, with half-round gutters and round cast-iron downpipes. The eaves of the centre block are lower than those of the pavilions.

The yard to the rear is enclosed by a high wall and wooden gates with stone gate piers. Garages have been added. The grounds form part of the adjacent church grounds.

The house was originally conceived by McGrath with an enclosed passageway linking it to the church, but Bishop O'Kane preferred the arrangement as built. The detail design differs from that of the church, employing a neo-classical flavour. The unusual internal plan is of particular note. The building is of local historic interest and demonstrates high quality and survival of its architectural features and proportions.