Survey Data

Reg No

21824007


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Social


Original Use

Town/county hall


In Use As

Town/county hall


Date

1910 - 1915


Coordinates

146268, 146047


Date Recorded

31/08/2008


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached three-bay single-storey with dormer attic town hall, built in 1911, comprising main block with single-bay single-storey recessed porch having hipped-roof dormer window above and flanked by single-bay gable-fronted projections with bay windows to front (east) elevation. Main block having multiple-bay single-storey with dormer attic block to rear (west), with single-storey additions to north and west elevations. Hipped and pitched slate roofs to main block. Half-hipped roof to rear block. With overhanging eaves, timber bargeboards, brackets and cast-iron rainwater goods. Cut limestone chimneystacks to gables of main block and square-profile metal vents to rear block. Lean-to dormer windows to rear of main block and to rear block. Rendered walls with cut limestone plinth course and dressed limestone plinth. Rendered sill course. Carved limestone plaque to interior of porch comprising brackets with floral motifs supporting shelf and rectangular plaque. Canted bay windows to east elevation with dressed limestone surrounds and cornices, square-headed window openings divided by dressed and chamfered limestone transoms and mullions having fixed timber windows. Square-headed openings to south and north elevations of main block with carved limestone block-and-start surrounds and timber windows. Square-headed opening to dormer windows with fixed pane timber windows, divided by timber mullions. Porch comprising dressed limestone steps flanked by cut limestone riser walls with decorative timber supports and arch above and cast-iron gate. Segmental-headed door opening with timber panelled half-glazed double-leaf doors having dressed limestone surround and flanking square-headed sidelights. Cut limestone boundary wall with cut limestone copings and capped piers. Cast-iron gate to front entrance.

Appraisal

As the plaque details: 'This hall was erected in the year 1911 by Windham Thomas Wyndham Quin 4th Earl of Dunraven for the benefit of the people of Adare'. It occupies a prominent site at the junction of three roads and closing the vista from the main road into the town from the east. Its style and form mark it out on the streetscape, particularly due to the variety of architectural features and roof types. The building is of obvious architectural design, and the symmetry of the front façade both belies the large scale of the building and gives it a domestic appearance. It was designed by the English architect, William Clifford Smith who was working in Limerick City. Smith's design here follows an adaptation of the English architect Charles Voysey's style of eschewing the complexities identified with late Victorian design. Voysey's houses featured white rough rendered walls with horizontal ribbon windows and huge pitched roofs, and are recognised for their simplicity, originality and total abandonment of historical tradition. His style and works are considered formative works in the evolution of the Modern Movement in architecture. Smith built a town hall that was much more conventional, informal and domestic. The stonework in Adare's town hall is well crafted and the variety of materials used in construction and ornamentation create a very interesting and striking façade. The two terraces of dormered and gabled cottages which radiate from the hall are a significant part of the overall design.