Boating Club, Boating Club Lane, Londonderry, Co.Londonderry, BT48 7QB

Former Boating Club, now a Public House, Boating Club Lane, Londonderry

This is a detached, two-storey, smooth rendered Italianate-style former boating club, built in 1868 to designs by the architect John Guy Ferguson. It stands on the north-east side of Boating Club Lane, adjacent to Queens Quay Roundabout, overlooking the River Foyle. The building has a rectangular plan with a three-stage campanile tower to its south-east corner, and is one of a relatively rare surviving examples of this building type in Ireland.

History and Origins

The City of Derry Boating Club was originally formed in February 1861. The plot of land on which the clubhouse stands was acquired from the estate of Samuel L. Crawford of Milltown House, the same individual who provided the land for Crawford Square. Construction was funded by subscription from prominent local businessmen — including a £25 subscription from club president Bartholomew McCorkell — and with assistance from the Honourable the Irish Society, which helped raise a total of £800 for the project. Plans by John Guy Ferguson, himself a club member, were accepted by the building committee, and Alexander McElwee was contracted as builder. Construction commenced in 1867 and was completed in 1868 at a cost of £500.

John Guy Ferguson (c. 1830–1901) was one of Londonderry's most prominent architects. In 1861 he was a partner in the practice of Frazer, Ferguson and Frazer, and in 1868 he was appointed architect to the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe. Among his other notable works in the city are St. Augustine's Church, the Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall, the expansion of St. Columb's Cathedral, and the design of the first Guildhall. The Italianate style of the boating club closely resembles his design for Nos. 1–2 Crawford Square, which he completed in 1865.

In March 1868, during construction, the Londonderry Sentinel described the building as "a splendid club-house, which is not surpassed by any Rowing Club in the Kingdom," noting that it would include a fine club room, dressing rooms, a gymnasium, and a landing stage. When first recorded in the Annual Revisions in 1868, the valuer noted that club rooms occupied the upper floor, while the ground floor served as a store and boathouse. The building measured 22 yards by 8 yards and was valued at £15.

The third edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904–05 depicts the building in its then-current layout; the two-storey extension to the rear was not added until the late 20th century to provide additional storage space.

The club remained active and well-regarded into the mid-20th century. In 1924, the Londonderry rowing team famously defeated the Australian Olympic team during their visit to the city following the Paris Olympics. The building fell out of use after the Second World War, and by around 1948 the City of Derry Boating Club had vacated the site, after which the building was converted into a warehouse and stores for Samuel Orr and Sons. In 1956 it was converted into a garage by Thomas Edwards Motor Co. Ltd., who remained at the site until at least the end of the Second General Revaluation period (1956–72), by which time the total rateable value stood at £62.

The building was listed in 1990, at which point it was still in use as a garage. By 1995 it had been included in the Buildings at Risk register, recorded as being in a poor state of repair. Around 2003 the building underwent an extensive renovation, converting it into a licensed restaurant. This work involved a reorganisation of the interior, the creation of a new glazed entrance, the installation of a mezzanine floor, and restoration of the exterior façade. At the time of the second survey the building was in use as a public house and restaurant.

Exterior

The principal gabled elevation faces east. It is finished in smooth painted render with a central pair of double timber sheeted doors set within a moulded surround with a shouldered opening. Above this, at first floor level, is a Venetian window with replacement windows and French double doors opening onto a cast iron balcony. Plain pilasters flank the elevation, decorated with plasterwork containing anchor motifs. A rope-twist moulding runs below prominent scrolled brackets that support an overhanging roof, and an applied timber banner bearing the name and date is positioned above the window.

The campanile tower is set back from the principal elevation and rises in three stages. The upper stage features two round arch-headed windows with decorative plaster moulding to each face, vermiculated keystones, and scroll brackets below a decorative natural slate roof with cast iron metalwork and rolled lead detail to the hipped roof. The lower section of slates is scalloped. The middle stage has three vertical rectangular-headed slit windows with chamfered reveals set within a shallow recess.

The south elevation is of smooth painted render. The original two-storey building occupies the right side, abutting a larger two-storey modern storage building to its left, both with pitched roofs. The original building has a symmetrical fenestration pattern with three circular wagon-wheel eight-pane timber-framed windows aligned above segmental arch-headed timber windows at first floor level. Both ground and first floors have a three-light window centrally placed on the elevation, with a timber sheeted door to the left side. A rope-twist plaster string moulding runs at mid-height of the circular windows. A continuous wall-mounted retractable awning is fixed below the first floor plaster cill course. The roof is of natural slate with black clay ridge tiles and a small modern square ventilation chimney at mid-ridge; replacement uPVC half-round guttering is fixed to a timber fascia, terminating at a cast iron downpipe to the east side of the elevation.

The modern storage building to the west has a fibre-cement slate pitched roof. It features a large glazed entrance screen to the right, set within a slightly projecting granite frame with a wall-mounted retractable awning, two small casement windows close to eaves level on either side of double timber sheeted doors at first floor level, and six modern light units fixed to the wall below eaves level. A timber sheeted gate to the left leads to a small yard containing a fire escape staircase from first floor level.

The west elevation of the modern building is finished in smooth painted render, with a fire escape door at half-landing level to the left and a square-headed timber casement window at first floor level to the right, and a painted timber fascia board to the eaves.

The north elevation is of smooth painted render. To the left is a large container unit at ground level, with five arch-headed timber casement windows at first floor level above. To the right, the original building has a single square-headed timber casement window centrally placed at first floor level, with a small slate-clad ventilation dormer at eaves level to the left side.

Roof and Materials

The roof over the original east portion of the building is covered in natural slate; artificial slates are used on the two-storey building to the west. There is a small ventilation tower to the main roof and a slate-clad dormer vent to the north side of the two-storey roof. Rainwater goods are principally cast iron, with some uPVC replacement sections. Walls are of smooth painted render throughout, and windows are timber casements.

Interior

While the exterior retains much of its original detailing, the interior of the building has been modernised, with a mezzanine floor installed and the internal layout reorganised as part of the early 2000s conversion.