22 Clarence Avenue, Londonderry

No. 22 Clarence Avenue is an end-of-terrace Arts and Crafts style townhouse, built in 1900 to designs by Robert Eccles Buchanan, a local architect and civil engineer active in Londonderry between 1887 and the 1920s. It forms the eastern end of a unified row of eleven similar three-storey red-brick houses (Nos. 2–22) lining the north side of Clarence Avenue within the Magee Conservation Area.

HISTORY AND CONTEXT

Clarence Avenue was laid out in 1897 and named in memory of Prince Albert Victor, the last Duke of Clarence and son of King Edward VII, who died in 1892 at the age of 28. The southern terrace (Nos. 1–17) was constructed in 1899–1900, and the northern terrace (Nos. 2–22) followed in 1900. Their development was part of a broader northward expansion of Londonderry that had begun in the mid-19th century with Georgian-style terraces on Great James Street, Queen Street, and Clarendon Street. By the 1880s, the area around the newly established Magee College campus was being developed with red-brick dwellings at College Terrace and Clarence Avenue to house students and college employees. The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society praised Buchanan's terrace as "excellently modelled" and "fine," while the Magee Conservation Guide described Clarence Avenue as "very unified architecturally and virtually intact," ranking it among "the city's architecturally finest and grandest townhouses."

No. 22 was initially valued at £30 and first occupied by Thomas White, a local accountant and estate agent with business premises on Castle Street. The 1901 census recorded it as a first-class dwelling of twelve rooms. By the 1930s, a Mr James A. Thompson was recorded as owner, by which time the valuation had risen to £45. The White family continued to reside at the property until the 1950s. By 1972 the Second Revaluation recorded its value at £48. The terrace was listed in 1979 and incorporated into the Magee Conservation Area in 2006. Conservation work carried out in 1986 included re-slating of the roof in second-class slate, renewal of the rainwater goods, and repair of the original windows.

EXTERIOR

The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return constructed at half-landing level. The principal elevation faces south onto Clarence Avenue and is set behind a low red-brick wall with painted metal railings above.

The south (principal) elevation is two bays wide, built in Flemish brick bond. To the right, a two-storey canted bay window rises through the ground and first floors, surmounted at second-floor level by a rectangular gabled bay that is cantilevered on large timber brackets with carved timber corbels to either side. The upper gable features vertical half-timber panelling and a plain wide painted timber fascia board — details which, along with the leaded stained glass, reflect an Arts and Crafts influence. The entrance doorway has a square-headed opening reached by two steps, with a moulded cornice supported on console brackets and moulded pilasters to either side of a timber double door with glazed panes. Above the door is a stained glass fanlight. All windows to the principal elevation are square-headed timber sliding sashes with one-over-one panes. The canted bay has stained glass upper lights to both ground and first floors, and the same window type appears above the door opening at first-floor level. The box window at second-floor level has eight-over-two panes, and the single sliding sash above the entrance door at second-floor level has four-over-two panes. A painted rendered band course runs at the heads of the ground and first-floor windows, with a painted sill course at first and second-floor levels.

The east (gable end) elevation is of brick. At ground-floor level there is a single one-over-one sliding sash with a stained glass upper light, with two of the same on the first floor. The second floor has a four-over-one sliding sash and an eight-over-two sliding sash. At the north end of the ground floor there is a uPVC door with fanlight and sidelight. Sill courses run at all three floor levels, with a painted belt course at the heads of the ground and first-floor windows. The upper section of the gable has diagonal half-timber work and a plain wide painted timber fascia board.

The north elevation is three storeys, blank, with an unpainted cement rendered finish. The three-storey rear return, also built at half-landing level, has a small red-brick chimney rising from the gable end. The rear elevation of the main house is blank. Beyond the three-storey return is a single-storey abutment with a duo-pitch natural slate roof and red clay ridge tiles. From left to right this features a flush door with a glazed top panel, a one-over-one sliding sash window, and a sheeted timber door, with all openings extending to eaves level. A further blockwork lean-to with a corrugated metal monopitch roof, painted white, abuts the gable end of this abutment.

The west side abuts the adjoining No. 20 Clarence Avenue.

The rear return is three storeys, smooth rendered and unpainted, and retains timber sliding sash windows: two-over-two panes to the north face; one-over-one panes to the ground, first, and second floors of the east face; and a further window with six-over-one panes at ground-floor level on the east face.

ROOF AND MATERIALS

The main roof and rear return are covered in natural slate with terracotta clay ridge tiles. A large red-brick chimney stack with a dog-toothed corbel rises from the east side, centred on the ridge and fitted with clay pots. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes serve the front elevation. To the north, rainwater goods are a mixture of cast iron and uPVC.

Walling to the south elevation is brick; to the north it is smooth unfinished render. Windows throughout are timber sliding sashes.

SETTING

No. 22 sits at the end of a terrace of eleven similar houses stepping down a steep gradient along the north side of Clarence Avenue, within the Magee Conservation Area. The property is set back from the pavement with a small front garden and a side garden. To the rear, the yard is bounded to the north and east by concrete block walling, with a boarded timber gate and a vertically sheeted fold-back door to a monopitch garage, backing onto a shared alley beyond which lies the University campus.