61 Rosemount Avenue, Londonderry

61 Rosemount Avenue is a mid-terrace, two-bay, two-storey-with-attic red-brick townhouse built in 1904 as one of a terrace of five, known historically as Park Villas (Nos. 55–63 Rosemount Avenue). It sits on the north-west side of Rosemount Avenue on an elevated site to the north-west of the city, overlooking Brooke Park, and adjoins Rosemount Factory to the north-west. The record was delisted in April 2016, the assessment noting that the building is of a late date, is not among the best examples of its type, and that its architectural and historic interest has been significantly compromised by extensive alterations — in particular the loss of original windows, rainwater goods, and roof covering.

The building is rectangular on plan with a two-storey rear return built at half-landing height, stepping down to a single storey at the back. It abuts No. 59 Rosemount Avenue to the north-east and No. 63 to the south-west. The principal elevation faces south-east onto Rosemount Avenue and is set two steps up from pavement level.

The principal elevation is built in red brick laid in English Garden Wall Bond. At ground-floor level there is a canted bay window, rendered and painted, with a painted cornice and a continuous cill. To the right of the bay is a segmental-headed door opening containing a four-panelled timber door with a single-pane overlight. At first-floor level there are two windows with segmental-arched heads and brick voussoirs; these have been replaced with 1-over-1 uPVC units with leaded top panes, set on moulded concrete cills. One original cast-iron rainwater downpipe survives to first-floor level, but the guttering at this level has been replaced with aluminium ogee profile and the ground-floor downpipe is uPVC.

The roof has been replaced in fibre cement and carries black clay ridge tiles and two modern rooflights. A large red-brick two-stage chimney stack with six terracotta clay pots rises from the north-east side of the main roof. There is a projecting stepped dog-tooth red-brick cornice at eaves level, with matching cornice detailing to the chimney stack.

To the rear, the north-west elevation is of two-storey-with-attic construction with a two-storey rear return (described as rebuilt) with a pitched roof, and a single-storey pitched-roof structure behind. The walling to the main rear elevation and rear return is smooth render, unpainted; the north-east side of the rear return is of unrendered concrete block. Replacement uPVC windows are fitted at first-floor and first-floor landing levels on both the main rear elevation and the rear return. Rainwater goods to the rear extension are uPVC. Aluminium and uPVC water goods are also present to the front elevation.

Rosemount Avenue was laid out following the development of Park Avenue in the 1880s. Park Avenue was mostly complete by 1898 and comprised a number of terraced and freestanding houses. Rosemount Avenue developed in the early 20th century as a residential street that rose up the hill from Northland Road, extending south-west for almost a kilometre until it met the Creggan Road. The majority of new housing was concentrated along the northern half of the avenue, with the boundary wall of Brooke Park forming the south-east edge. Working-class housing development in the Rosemount area was closely connected to the construction of the four-storey shirt factory for A. B. Grant & Sons in 1904, which was built on land formerly owned by the Church of Ireland (transferred to the Church Temporalities Commission following disestablishment). The factory was designed by Matthew Alexander Robinson, a local architect and engineer also responsible for Claremont Presbyterian Church and the boundary wall, railings, and gates at Brooke Park, and was built by the Belfast firm of H. Laverty & Son.

Nos. 55–63 Rosemount Avenue — a terrace of five two-storey red-brick dwellings with single-storey bay windows — were constructed to the north-east side of the shirt factory in 1904 and may have been built in tandem with it, though the designer of the terrace is not known with certainty. The terrace was owned by a Mr. William Doherty. Annual Revision records set the initial rateable value of No. 61 at £12 and recorded the terrace's name as Park Villas, a reference to its position opposite the entrance to Brooke Park. The first known occupant, recorded in the 1911 census, was Henry Doherty, a bookkeeper at a local factory (most likely the adjoining shirt factory). The census classified No. 61 as a second-class dwelling containing eight rooms. By the 1930s, Doherty had vacated and a Mrs. Annie McVeigh had taken over ownership of the terrace. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the property was occupied by a Mr. Thomas Browne and its rateable value had risen to £22. McVeigh continued as recorded owner through the Second Revaluation (1956–72), during which a Mr. Harold D. Shaw was listed as occupant and the value remained at £22. The terrace was noted in the 1970 Ulster Architectural Heritage Society guide to Londonderry, which described it alongside the adjoining factory. No. 61 was listed in 1979.

Writing in 2013, Calley described Park Villas as "two-storey two-bay with a high wall-head above the first floor windows creating a good sense of mass. The ground floors have contrasting rendered canted bay windows (except for No. 55 which is squared) with pitched roofs. All openings are segmental-headed. The boldly projecting cornices are of matching brick as are the chimneys and their matching cornice brick-work."