2 Clarence Avenue, Londonderry

Late-Victorian end-of-terrace townhouse built in 1900 to designs by R. E. Buchanan, displaying Arts and Crafts styling. The building is rectangular on plan with a projecting rear return at half-landing level and forms part of a terrace of eleven similar houses lining the north side of Clarence Avenue.

The principal elevation faces south onto Clarence Avenue, set behind a low red-brick wall with painted capping stone. It is constructed of Flemish brick bond and is two bays wide. A two-storey canted bay projects to the right, surmounted by a rectangular gabled bay at second-floor level that is cantilevered on large timber brackets with carved timber corbels to either side. The gable features vertical half-timber panelling with a plain wide painted timber fascia board above the window head. The gable contains a pair of 1/1 sliding sashes. The entrance doorway is square-headed with a moulded cornice supported on console brackets mounted on moulded pilasters to either side. The door itself is four-panel fielded timber with a stained glass fanlight above. Casement windows with stained leaded glass upper lights are fitted to the canted bay. A single casement window with stained glass appears above the door opening at first-floor level. A painted rendered band runs across the ground and first-floor window heads, with a continuous sill course to first and second-floor windows painted in contrasting colour. Second-floor windows are 1/1 timber sliding sashes.

The west elevation is a brick gable end abutted by a plain rendered return. A single ground-floor 1/1 sliding sash window is centred on the gable and repeated at first and second-floor levels, both having coloured margin panes. An additional casement window with stained glass upper light appears to the left at first-floor level. Sill courses run to windows on all three levels with continuous painted rendered bands to window heads on ground and first-floor levels. The upper section of the gable has unfinished render with a plain wide painted timber fascia board mounted on corbel brackets.

The three-storey rear return on the west side is lower, with a pair of timber sliding sash windows to the first floor and a single sliding sash window to the second floor. The east side is abutted by the adjoining building. The north elevation is three storeys with a two-storey rear return at half-landing level, finished in painted render with a door opening onto the rear yard. The fenestration pattern is irregular, combining both 2/2 timber sliding sashes and casement windows. A uPVC gutter and downpipe serve the return.

The pitched roof is finished in natural slate with black clay ridge tiles. A large red-brick chimney stack rises from the east side, centred on the ridge with clay pots. The rear return features artificial slates and a smaller red-brick chimney centred on its gable end. Cast-iron guttering and circular downpipes front the property.

The house is set within the Magee Conservation Area, positioned on a steep gradient and set back from the pavement with a small front garden. The rear yard is bounded to the north and west by rubble schist stone walling, with a sheeted timber gate within a squared-headed opening to the west, backing onto a shared alley with the University campus beyond.