Elagh House, 33 Upper Galliagh Road, Londonderry, BT48 8LW

Elagh House

A pleasing neo-Georgian style medium-sized house of good proportions, dating from the mid to late 1840s, set prominently on rising ground within a mature three-sided garden.

The house is a two-and-a-half-storey structure, five windows wide on its east entrance facade. It features a natural slated roof, pebble dashed walls with smooth rendered clasping quoins and plinth, and substantial chimneys with clay moulded pots. The building comprises the main block, a back return with single-storey additions, and a two-storey rear porch.

The east entrance facade is dominated by a centrally placed gabled projecting porch containing the entrance door to the side. This porch is not original and has been altered on more than one occasion, featuring a flat roof in the 1930s before being changed to a pitched gabled roof. The porch contains a pair of double hung sliding sash 12-pane windows in its gable and a single window opposite the entrance door. On either side of the porch are double hung sliding sash nine-pane windows with reveals and painted sandstone cills. The centre window above the porch sits at the eaves line with slight projecting corbels or string banding below the gutter. The spacing and proportions of these windows are pleasing, though the porch is considered an unsubtle alteration. The dark grey pebble dashing gives the house a sombre character, though creeper on the walls adds charm in summer.

The south gable features a narrow double hung sliding sash 12-pane window on the ground floor tucked to the south-west, a wider nine-pane window on the first floor immediately above, and a centrally placed round-headed double hung sliding sash 14-pane window in the gable below the chimney stack. The chimney stack is smooth rendered with a simple projecting cap and five tall clay moulded pots. There is no barge board.

The two-storey back return, in line with the south gable, has a double hung sliding sash 16-pane window on the ground floor lighting the kitchen and a modern narrow window with single top hung night vent above. Adjoining this at right angles is a single-storey addition with hipped slated roof, and a further lean-to single-storey addition with skylight. A tall wide chimney stack rises from the gable of the back return, smooth rendered and clearly raised in height at some time, with only two clay moulded pots.

The west or rear side contains double hung sliding sash nine and twelve-pane windows, including two lighting the first and second floor landings. The projecting rear two-storey porch has a flat roof. The north gable has two small windows lighting attic rooms and a similar chimney without pots.

Throughout, window reveals are smooth rendered with painted cills. All windows have white paint. The roofs are finished in natural slates with metal gullies and downpipes.

The entrance avenue sweeps down the sloping ground to imposing square ashlar piers with channel-joined plain rustication, regrettably painted. Pebble dashed wing walls with curved outer sections flank the entrance, with smooth rendered and painted copings and plinths. The gates have been removed but the avenue is bounded by a timber rail fence. The garden contains mature beech trees of undistinguished appearance.

Historically, the Ordnance Survey map of 1830 does not show Elagh House, though a building adjacent to the site is recorded with a valuation of £7-14s-0d in 1831, occupied by John Porter. The 1850 Ordnance Survey map shows Elaghmore with a layout similar to the present configuration but without adjacent small outbuildings. Griffith's Valuation of 1858 records the house with a valuation of £30, the lessor being the Marquis of Donegal and the lessee William Porter. The house was subsequently occupied by Mr Campbell prior to World War I. In 1962 the Brown family occupied the house until the early 1990s.

Interior

The house contains good proportions throughout, with a handsome fanlighted doorway, interior returns, a good staircase, plaster cornices, and a pleasing hall. The sitting room is well proportioned with good panelled doors, architraves and window linings.

Alterations

Apart from the porch and utility rooms beyond the kitchen, the house remains substantially unchanged from the mid-nineteenth century. The external pebble dashing was probably carried out when the porch was altered in the 1930s.

Setting

The house enjoys a prominent elevated setting with a mature garden on three sides, bounded by the timber rail fence along the avenue and containing substantial mature beech trees.