8-9 Artillery Street, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, BT48 6RG

Nos. 8–9 Artillery Street, Londonderry

A late-Georgian mid-terrace building constructed before 1832, comprising two separate three-storey dwellings of five bays in total, united by a central coach archway. The building sits on the west side of Artillery Street within the Cathedral Quarter of the Historic Walled City Conservation Area, directly overlooking the City Walls to the east. It is not listed, but forms part of the wider conservation area.

The building is rectangular on plan with a half-basement level that rises approximately half its height above ground. The principal elevation faces east and is finished in smooth-rendered painted render. Its centrepiece is a large elliptical arch with dressed stone quoins to the surround, fitted with large sheeted modern timber entrance gates. To either side of this carriage opening at ground floor level are square-headed windows, each containing a single 6/6 timber sliding sash (not original), and each flanked by a slightly recessed elliptical arch entrance doorway. The left-hand doorway is reached by two steps and has a plain replacement architrave surround, a four-panel timber door, and a plain fanlight above. The right-hand doorway is reached by four steps and has a plain replacement architrave surround, a four-panel timber door, and is flanked by small replacement decorative console brackets. At half-basement level, there is a square-headed window opening to either side of the carriage opening: the left is blind, and the right is filled with glass blocks protected by metal grilles over both the window opening and the ground in front. A deep projecting stone cornice with a hidden gutter detail runs at eaves level, with lead flashing to the top of a low parapet wall above. Rainwater is carried by a cast-iron circular downpipe with hopper. The roof is a pitched slated structure with black clay ridge tiles and a pair of large rendered chimney stacks centred on the ridge, each aligned with the outer edge of the carriage archway and each carrying eight octagonal or circular buff clay pots.

The north and south sides of the building abut the adjoining No. 7 Artillery Street to the lower side and No. 10 Artillery Street to the upper side. The west elevation to the rear was re-rendered during refurbishment works in 2010–11. The former rear returns have been demolished, and the original sliding sash windows, original raised-and-fielded timber doors, and fanlights were all removed during these works. A note records a laundry to the rear. Rainwater goods to the rear are uPVC. Restoration and internal alterations were completed in 2011; the building was vacant at the time of survey.

The symmetrical proportions of the front elevation are typical of a Georgian townhouse, and the façade makes a significant contribution to the streetscape and to the Historic Walled City Conservation Area. However, during recent restoration works a great deal of original fabric and external detailing was removed, and the building is not considered to be among the best examples of its type. It is therefore not deemed to be of special architectural or historic interest and has not been listed.

The building was depicted on the Townland Valuation map of 1834, which shows it then possessed two rear returns (now demolished) and was abutted on its north-east gable by the stable block of the King's Arms Hotel. The Townland Valuation of 1832 classified the pair of dwellings as 1C class buildings — that is, slated buildings that were old and out of repair — valued at over £20 and measuring 27 feet in width, 20 feet 6 inches in depth, and 19 feet in height. In the 1830s, No. 8 was occupied by Joseph Stirling and No. 9 by a Mrs Gore. Following the demolition of the King's Arms Hotel stables around 1848, as recorded on the 1848–49 Ordnance Survey town plan, Nos. 8–9 became a detached building. By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1856, the combined value of the pair had risen to £38, and they were leased to tenants by Joseph E. Miller, a surgeon residing at No. 18 Pump Street directly behind.

It has been proposed that the building served as a manse for ministers of Londonderry Fourth Presbyterian Church, which occupied the former theatre at the corner of London Street and Artillery Street between 1838 and 1879, but the Annual Revisions do not record any minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church among the occupants of either dwelling. The only occupant in Holy Orders was the Reverend Francis Smith, who resided at No. 9 between approximately 1862 and 1868; he was a curate at St Columb's Cathedral rather than a Presbyterian minister. Between 1861 and 1879, the minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Robert Ross, resided on the Waterside. With the construction of the adjoining Nos. 10–12 Artillery Street in 1879 and the Convent Schools in 1889, Nos. 8 and 9 became part of a terrace known as Victoria Terrace.

Occupants changed frequently during the second half of the 19th century. In 1885 the properties were occupied by William and Daniel Coyle and their value had decreased to £26. By the 1901 census, No. 8 was occupied by Joseph Curtis, a shirt cutter, and No. 9 by Joseph Maton, an engine fitter. The 1901 census building return described the two as second-class dwellings with a total of twelve rooms. A two-storey square-shaped outbuilding to the rear had been constructed by the turn of the 20th century and was first shown on the 1899 Valuation Map. Under the First General Revaluation of Property in Northern Ireland (1936–57), the value of Nos. 8–9 was raised to £32. By the 1930s the buildings had been acquired by the Convent of Mercy on Pump Street and continued to be leased as private dwellings. By the end of the Second Revaluation (1956–72) the value had risen further to £40. In 1977 Nos. 8–9 were included in the Historic City Conservation Area. A Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland) review of the conservation area described Artillery Street as "a fine example of the unique streetscape of the historic city." In 2005, Buildings at Risk Northern Ireland noted that many properties along Artillery Street, including Nos. 8–9, had fallen into disrepair, describing them nonetheless as forming "an equally important part of the varied and interesting streetscape, which provides a fitting attractive backdrop to the 17th-century city walls." By 2012 the building had fallen into such a state of disrepair that all its windows were boarded up, after which it underwent the extensive restoration completed in 2011 noted above.