Survey Data
Reg No
40815045
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Atlantic Hotel
Original Use
Hotel
In Use As
Public house
Date
1790 - 1880
Coordinates
234922, 432099
Date Recorded
09/09/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Corner-sited four-bay two-storey former hotel, built c. 1792 and altered or rebuilt c. 1870. Now in use as a public house with modern stairwell extension to the north. Hipped artificial slate roof (fibre cement) having two moulded yellow brick chimneystacks with terracotta pots over, and moulded render eaves course with dentils. Some surviving sections of cast-iron rainwater goods. Smooth rendered ruled-and-lined walls over projecting moulded smooth rendered plinth, and with render block-and-start quoins to the corners having fielded panels to faces. Square-headed window openings at first floor level having continuous moulded sill course, architraved surrounds with fielded keystones and moulded plinths, and with replacement windows; square-headed window openings at ground floor level to south elevation having architraved surrounds, plinth blocks, entablatures over with pulvinated frieze and dentilated cornice, moulded sills, and with replacement windows; enlarged window openings to the west elevation at ground floor level having plain surrounds and replacement fittings. Square-headed door opening to the south elevation (offset to the east side of centre) having timber double-doors, plain overlight, and doorcase comprising fluted pilasters over moulded plinths with fielded panels, capitals over with foliate decoration to friezes, and with entablatures over with dentilated cornice having egg-and-dart motif. Square-headed doorway to the centre of the west elevation having plain surround, timber double-doors and overlight. South elevation fronts on to the former market square to the centre of Buncrana, west elevation fronts onto Upper Main Street.
Appraisal
This handsome building is prominently-sited, fronting onto the north end of the former market square to the centre of Buncrana. A plaque to the west elevation states that was the first hotel in Buncrana, originally established in 1792. However, it now has the appearance and character of the late nineteenth-century building, suggesting that it was either rebuilt or extensively altered, c. 1870. Its front elevation is enlivened by extensive render decoration including elaborate surrounds to the window openings, a well-detailed doorcase, dentilated eaves course, and by the fielded quoins to the corners, all features of late nineteenth-century appearance. The alterations to the west elevation at ground floor level, and the loss of the salient fabric to the openings, detract from its integrity and visual appeal. However, despite these alterations, this building remains a structure of some aesthetic and historic appeal to the centre of Buncrana, and it adds to the streetscape to the centre of the town. It was extant in 1846 (Slater’s Directory) and described as ‘an excellent hotel adjoining the market house’. It was known as the ‘Commercial Hotel’ with a Hector Beatty the hotel manager at this time. A Catherine Herron was the manger here in 1881 and a Jane Herron here in 1894 (Slater’s Directory). It was also a ‘posting house’ during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was known as the 'Atlantic Hotel' by 1902 (Ordnance Survey twenty-five inch map).