Survey Data
Reg No
50060238
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Police Station
Original Use
Garda station/constabulary barracks
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1880 - 1900
Coordinates
310419, 234433
Date Recorded
03/12/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached six-bay two-storey two-pile former police station, built c.1890 for Dublin Metropolitan Police, now in use as residential care home. Square-plan single-storey annex at northwest corner of front of building, having pyramidal slate roof and diaginally-set square-plan red brick chimneystack and red brick walls, and having flat-roof three-bay block to its rear with slightly recessed middle bay to northeast elevation. M-profile pitched slate roof with wide concave eaves and detailed square-plan red brick chimneystacks. Chimneystacks expressed as projections to each gable end. Rendered walls to first floor and exposed red brick walls to ground floor, latter having moulded render cornice and ashlar granite plinth with moulded coping. Mathematical tiles to upper gables. Large wide canted bay windows to southeast end of front facade and opposite side at rear. Wide and deep round-headed entrance to front facade, having alternate large limestone block voussoirs and moulded archivolt arcs. Square-headed window openings throughout, horizontal in form to first floor and annex and vertical to ground floor. Replacement uPVC windows and doors throughout. Recent two-storey red brick extension to rear of building with detailing echoing that of older block. Lawn to front and rear, and backing onto perimeter wall of Phoenix Park.
Appraisal
The Arts and Crafts style of this former police station is clear in the use of mathematical tiles in the gables, the form of the chimneystacks and the shape of the window openings. The robust limestone entrance reflects the original function of the building, although its setting and the rather domestic appearance of the building softens the impression of authority otherwise conveyed. The two-pile form and the contrasting materials and textures all add visual interest and the form adds to the variety of historic buildings in Chapelizod village.