Survey Data
Reg No
20909926
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Original Use
Coastguard station
Date
1870 - 1910
Coordinates
179688, 59023
Date Recorded
05/05/2009
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay two-storey former coast guard station, built c.1890, having two-storey box end-bays to front (south). Single-storey lean-tos to sides (east and west) and rear (north). Gable-fronted bartizan oriels to sides (east and west) on moulded rendered corbels. Currently vacant. Hipped slate roof with moulded render eaves course with brackets. Timber corbels to rear. Red brick chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Single pitched slate roofs to lean-to additions. Roughcast rendered walls having rendered plinth with chamfered coping, having red brick quoins to box bays. Rendered walls to oriels having chamfered moulding to camber-headed bases. Camber-headed window openings with chamfered limestone sills to front elevation and oriels, having red brick block-and-start surrounds and voussoirs to front elevation. Remains of timber casement windows to front elevation and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to oriels. Square-headed window openings with chamfered limestone sills to rear elevation and box bays, having timber casement windows to box bays. Openings to rear elevation blocked with timber sheeting. Camber-headed door opening to side (east) and rear elevations having timber panelled door to rear opening.
Appraisal
This elegantly proportioned former coast guard station is a prominent landmark of the Myrtleville townscape. The historic character of the building has been retained through the retention of much of its historic features including fine sash and casement windows, striking red brick chimneystacks and window surrounds as well as a finely proportioned pair of box bays. The bartizans located to the side elevations lend an interesting defensive aspect to the building. The coastguard was armed, thus a potential weapons source for insurgents. The coastguard was established in 1831 as part of the customs service and became part of the Admiralty in 1857. This coastguard station forms one of a number which were built in Cork harbour to monitor the movements of foreign warships, enforce custom and excise, and implement British law in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.