Survey Data
Reg No
20821045
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Guest house/b&b
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
181191, 98764
Date Recorded
24/08/2006
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached L-plan two-storey over half-basement Tudor Revival-style house, built c. 1850, one of pair, now in use as guest house. Three-bay front elevation, with middle bay projecting and gabled and having canted-bay window to front, end bays having gablets, and porch to north end bay. Catslide roof two-storey over basement section to rear and lower, gabled addition also to rear. Triangular-plan oriel window to north elevation and canted oriel window to south elevation, with dentillated moulded timber cornices and moulded timber sills. Pitched artificial slate roofs with rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Decorative carved timber bargeboards to gables. Carved limestone crenellations to canted-bay window. Hipped artificial slate roof to porch and oriel windows. Roughcast rendered walls with snecked cut limestone walls to canted-bay window. Dressed limestone plinth and string course between ground floor and basement. Camber-headed window openings with chamfered render surrounds, cut limestone sills having carved limestone brackets, and double margined timber sliding sash windows, two-over-two pane to first floor and two-over-three pane to ground floor. Square-headed lights to glazed sides of porch, with timber sill course and fixed timber windows. Square-headed door opening to porch, approached by flight of limestone steps with cast-iron railings, and having timber panelled half-glazed double-leaf doors and overlight. Linked to paired house to north by rendered wall having crenellated parapet and dressed limestone coping and cornice, and triangular-headed openings to each end with timber panelled door and dressed limestone cornice above. Set back from street and sharing site bounded by rubble stone and rendered walls with cut limestone coping and decorative cast-iron railings. Dressed limestone square-profile piers to entrance with carved plinths and caps having moulded details, ornate wrought-iron decorative finials to caps, and ornate double-leaf cast-iron gate.
Appraisal
This large house, together with its pair, forms an imposing feature on the Fermoy streetscape. Prominently sited, its Tudor Revival style is unusual for urban architecture in Ireland and makes it a pleasing and notable addition to the streetscape of largely terraced town house structures. The many decorative features, such as the timber bargeboards and oriel details, are well executed and typical of the style. They add decorative interest to the façade and the form and appearance of the building are further enlivened by the cut-stone canted-bay window and porch. These elements and their disruption of flat façade is characteristic of the style, which is carried through in the steeply gabled bays and breakfront. It has been tastefully refurbished using sympathetic materials and its largely intact form and decoration, along with its site and boundary walls and piers, make it a notable feature within Fermoy.