2-3 Sugarhouse Quay, Newry, Co Down, BT35 6HZ

2-3 Sugarhouse Quay, Newry — Warehouse Complex

This is the most extensive surviving warehouse complex in Newry, directly fronting Sugar House Quay on the south side of the Newry Canal, with its street façades facing northwest. The complex originated in the mid to later 18th century — a building appears on Scale's map of 1763, though it cannot be confirmed that any original fabric survives — and was developed over the following hundred years to service the adjoining canal. Most of the existing buildings date from the 19th century and reflect the growth of commercial activity on the site. The complex was surveyed on 7 April 1998. Partial demolition subsequently took place during the week commencing 11 October 2004, and the record below incorporates notes on that damage.

The complex comprises six contiguous blocks arranged around a central courtyard.

BLOCK 1

Block 1 runs along the street frontage as a four-storey range, subdivided into two distinct sections (1.1 and 1.2), with a lean-to addition to the rear (1.3).

Block 1.1 is a long single-bay section, four openings wide, to the left of a central vehicle entrance. It has a natural slate roof, hipped to its left side. An artificially slated dormer gable rises from the eaves above loading doors at the second opening from the left. Gutters are missing. The façade wall is of smooth lined render with raised brick eaves. At the extreme left of the ground floor is a large double-leaf door, above which are single shuttered window openings to each of the three upper floors, all with metal security bars. To the right of each upper-floor window is a painted timber loading door. A cantilevered hoisting beam projects from the apex of the dormer gable. To the right of the second and third floor loading doors are two further shuttered window openings per floor. A painted wall sign below the lower pair of windows advertises the previous occupant, Small, Bennett and Co, Engineering Contractors. None of the windows throughout the complex have cills. The left gable is of random rubble granite with squared quoins and raised brick eaves, and has a shuttered window opening under the eaves at centre, with jambs partly of brick. The right gable forms a party wall with Block 1.2. To the rear, the wall is abutted at middle by Block 2 and at left by Block 1.3. At ground floor right, the coach arch emerges: it has been given a flat concrete head but retains its original segmental brick arch, with the void between the two infilled with concrete blocks. There is also a small shuttered window opening at the top floor.

By October 2004, the roof of Block 1.1 had been demolished and the top floor partially demolished. Rubble had fallen through the lower floors and into a kiln. The shutters to all windows in the front wall were gone.

Block 1.2 is the same height as Block 1.1, also four storeys. An artificially slated gable rises from the eaves at the centre of the block, directly above loading doors at the second opening from the right. The main roof is pitched throughout, sarked and felted to the left of this gable and artificially slated to the right. Plastic gutters. At ground floor left is a large vehicle entrance rising to the full height of the first floor, with an RSJ lintel and a pair of tongue-and-groove doors partly clad in sheet metal. Above this, at second floor level, is a window opening. The middle section has painted timber loading half-doors to the second and third floors. A first-floor door that formerly existed here has been rendered over, as has a small window directly below it at ground floor. A cantilevered hoisting beam projects from the gable apex. At the right is a painted timber ground-floor door, above which — slightly offset to the left — are single window openings at first and second floors (no window at the top floor); the middle-floor window has metal security bars. The right gable is abutted by a lower two-storey house. The left gable forms a party wall with Block 1.1. The rear wall is abutted to eaves level by Block 1.3, and a slate-hung gable rises above eaves level at the centre, in line with the loading door gable to the front.

By October 2004, the roof and top floor of Block 1.2 had been demolished down to the heads of the openings on the floor below. Rubble was lying on the third floor, and the painted timber loading half-doors to the centre opening in the upper front wall were gone.

Block 1.3 is a three-storey addition to the rear of the street-front blocks, with an artificial slate monopitch roof. Walls are of random rubble granite with raised brick eaves and half-round metal gutters. At centre right (as seen from the rear) is the vehicle entrance, whose RSJ lintel cuts through a segmental brick arch. At ground floor left are two window openings, one of which has been formed within a partially infilled doorway. In line above, at first floor, are two similar openings, one with metal security bars; the second floor has two similar openings plus a third over the vehicle passage. All openings except those at the top floor have segmental brick heads, and all have brick jambs. The left gable is abutted by Block 5; the right-hand end is abutted by Block 2.

BLOCK 2

Block 2 is a four-storey return block that cuts into the roof line of Block 1.1 towards its left end as seen from the street. It has a pitched roof, hipped on its rear (south) gable. The front section of the roof is clad in corrugated metal; the back section is in natural slate. A square brick chimney rises from the front gable. Half-round asbestos cement gutters. Walls are of random granite rubble with raised brick eaves. The principal elevation faces east, away from the main complex, and is three openings wide. At ground floor centre is a pair of metal-sheeted doors. Directly above on each of the three upper floors is a set of double-leaf painted timber loading half-doors. A cantilevered hoisting beam sits at eaves level, without a gable over. Symmetrically arranged to left and right on each upper floor is a single shuttered window, almost all with metal security bars. The ground floor windows are infilled with concrete blocks. All but one opening on this elevation have brick jambs, and all windows have brick heads. Metal patress plates are fixed to the second and third floor walls. A small single-storey shed with a corrugated-metal lean-to roof abuts at the left in the corner with Block 3.

The elevation facing into the yard is slate-hung to its upper floors. It is abutted at left by Block 1.3 and at right by Block 4. At ground floor left, in the angle with Block 1.3, there is an abutting single-storey corrugated metal shed. There is a modern door at ground floor right. Above are two windows to the first floor, one to the second, and two to the third; all are irregularly arranged with segmental brick heads. Patress plates appear at second and third floors. The south gable has small window openings to the upper floors.

BLOCK 3

Block 3 abuts the south end of the east wall of Block 2. It is four storeys high with a hipped natural slate roof, random granite rubble walls and raised brick eaves. The north elevation (facing the street) has a modern tongue-and-groove door in an original ground-floor opening, with a timber-framed top-hung window to its left, also in an original opening. Above the door, at first and second floors, are window openings, the lower with metal security bars and the upper with wooden bars. At third floor are two window openings, one with metal security bars; unlike the other windows on this elevation, both have brick jambs and heads.

The east elevation (facing away from the complex) has brick quoins at the street end of the top floor. Evidence of a former gabled single-storey building at ground floor level is still clearly legible as a ghost outline on the wall. The ground floor is rendered over. At first floor is an infilled brick-headed door. The two floors above each have a single window opening with brick heads, now infilled. The south gable is abutted up to second floor level by a building in a neighbouring property, and has several small window openings to its third floor.

BLOCK 4

Block 4 is a double-pile, four-storey building abutting the south end of the west wall of Block 2, running parallel with Block 1 along the south side of the yard. Walls are of granite rubble brought to courses, with raised brick eaves. Gutters are missing. The roof is pitched and naturally slated. The yard-facing (north) elevation is four openings wide. The entrance is a double-leaf tongue-and-groove door in the third opening from the left, with similar doors directly above on each upper floor. To the left are two window openings per floor; to the right is a single window opening per floor. All openings have segmental brick heads; the window openings also have brick jambs and each contains a two-paned timber window frame. Metal patress plates are fixed at all floor levels. The right gable (as seen from the yard) is abutted at the centre by Block 5 and has a single window opening at the left side of each upper floor, the first floor retaining its timber framework; all have segmental heads and brick jambs. The left end abuts Block 2. The rear wall has windows to the upper floors.

BLOCK 5

Block 5 is a two-storey block linking Blocks 4 and 6, with flat roof and concrete block walls. Its yard elevation has a door at first floor level, reached by a metal ladder. This block is of no architectural interest.

BLOCK 6

Block 6 is a two-storey block running along the west side of the yard, aligned parallel with Block 2. The roof is pitched and partly artificially slated and partly naturally slated. Asbestos-cement gutters, partly missing. Walls are of random rubble granite. The yard elevation has a large modern door with a concrete lintel at the centre, with miscellaneous infilled and new openings to its left, and three first-floor window openings, two of which are original and all of which have modern window inserts. The south gable is abutted by Block 5. The north end abuts the rear of Block 1.2 and part of the adjoining premises. The west elevation, facing away from the yard, is partly abutted by a single-storey link block connecting to a shop on Sugar Island.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A building is shown at this location on Scale's map of 1763, though it is not certain that this corresponds to any of the present structures. By the 1836 Valuation, the complex was already in divided occupation. The section to the left of the vehicle entrance was held by Francis Carville, described as "stores and yard" and valued at £40; the front store was noted as two storeys high, and a salt store was also recorded. The right-hand section was held by James (or John) Ritchie, described as "stores and yard" valued at £22, with a three-storey store to the front (Block 1.2) and to the rear. Block 1.3 had been added by the time of the 1863 Valuation. According to the Valuation revision map and book, the two-storey store on the left was rebuilt in its present four-storey form in or around 1873 by John Kidd Todd, who had acquired that section in 1870 and went on to acquire Block 1.2 in 1876. Further one-, three- and four-storey additions are recorded in 1893; the south section of Block 4 may date from this period.