16-24 Waterloo St, and 1,3 & 4 Castle Gate, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry, BT48 6HG

16-24 Waterloo Street and 1, 3 & 4 Castle Gate, Londonderry

An early twentieth-century commercial building of distinctive character, constructed in 1907 to designs by architect Patrick H. Elliott. The building is a multi-bay, three-storey structure executed in red brick with rendered dressings, occupying a prominent corner site at the junction of Waterloo Street and Castle Gate, immediately outside the historic city walls of Londonderry.

The building follows an L-shaped plan, with principal elevations facing north-east onto Castle Gate and north-west onto Waterloo Street. The roof is pitched with natural slate covering and features two large red brick chimney stacks rising from the north-east and north-west sides, centred on the ridge and topped by a low solid parapet wall.

The canted corner elevation facing north contains a traditional-style recessed entrance with curved glazed panes above a stall riser on the ground floor. Above this sits a curved oriel window at first floor level. A small balcony with balustrade is positioned above at second floor level, and the corner is crowned by a decorative rendered chimney stack with cornice. The date 1907 is inscribed on the chimney stack within decorative moulding, flanked by scrolled mouldings.

The north-west elevation facing Waterloo Street consists of four bays divided by pilasters extending from ground level to parapet. The ground floor is separated from the upper floors by a deep moulded rendered and painted frieze containing shop signage. Ground floor windows have square-headed openings with shouldered arched timber frames; two timber entrance doorways sit side-by-side to the right. The left door features a rectangular glazed panel above two raised and fielded panels with a plain transom light; the right door is four-panelled with raised and fielded panels and a blind transom light.

The upper floors are laid in English Garden Wall bond. First floor windows are 8/2 casements with the lower section split vertically into two sections. These are set within rendered aedicules with scrolled edges and central keystones with cornices above. The bays are divided by reeded rendered pilasters extending to transom level. Second floor windows are aligned with those below; windows in the left bays match those below but without aedicules, whilst those in the right bay are 8/2 timber sliding sash windows, also without aedicules. A moulded sill-course spans between pilasters at this level. The elevation terminates in a salient cornice with a low parapet wall above.

The north-east elevation facing Castle Gate exhibits similar fenestration to the north-west elevation. First floor windows sit within rendered aedicules and are divided by rendered pilasters; a moulded sill-course runs across the second floor windows above. The right-side bay contains a coupled window aligned with that on the first floor. Ground floor shop-fronts comprise windows with square-headed openings and shouldered arched timber frames. An iron gate at the extreme left of this elevation, positioned between the building and the city walls, provides access to a shared rear courtyard. Two timber doors similar to those on the north-west elevation sit to the right of the gate, with two further single door openings serving shop units among the shop windows. The elevation is topped by a salient cornice with a low solid parapet wall.

The south-west side is abutted by the neighbouring property at No. 20 Waterloo Street. The south-east gable-end elevation, which immediately overlooks the historic city walls, is finished in smooth-rendered painted render with a company printed logo at the apex. The gable is topped by a small red brick chimney stack with stepped cornice and two circular terracotta clay pots.

The building is situated on the south-east side of Waterloo Street, directly overlooking the Historic City Walls on the north-west quarter of the Walled City, with the River Foyle to the north-east. It forms part of a terraced row of red brick and rendered commercial buildings within the Historic City Conservation Area.

Materials include natural slate roofing, cast-iron rainwater goods, brick walling with stucco dressings, and timber casement windows with multiple panes and timber sliding-sash windows.