Survey Data
Reg No
40311020
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Shop/retail outlet
Historical Use
House
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
260465, 287609
Date Recorded
16/06/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached five-bay three-storey former house with integral carriage arch, built c.1850, with historic shopfront to ground floor, and flat-roofed extension to rear. Pitched slate roof with red brick chimneystacks to gables, overhanging eaves with wrought-iron gutter brackets, and replacement aluminium downpipes. Red brick façade in English bond with ashlar limestone quoins to west side and block-and-start surround to carriage arch. Two-over-two timber sash windows with stone sills. Seven-bay timber shopfront across four eastern bays with plain fascia supported on Corinthian pilasters to ends and elongated decorative brackets between bays, having four-panelled domestic entrance to centre with shops on either side. Shops comprising central double-leaf glazed doors flanked by twin-light round-headed display windows over panelled stallrisers with limestone plinth and steps to entrances. Margin-paned overlights to all three doors over profiled transom. Replacement timber gates to carriage arch with pair of jostle stones.
Appraisal
An eyecatching building in the main street distinguished by an unusual brick facade and a particularly elaborate pair of shopfonts forming a single design which has survived with most features intact. The use of red brick is an unusual for inland towns in this period though it is also seen in towns such as Ballybay and Dundalk, indicating the existence of brick fields in this region. The shopfronts display elegant detail in their joinery and further enrich the urban character of the building. The building retains further historic details of interest including wrought-iron gutter brackets, historic fenestration, and an integral carriage arch with a finely made stone surround demonstrating the historic workings of the house and site. The building adds strong definition to the architectural character of the town centre.