Survey Data
Reg No
50070096
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Gate lodge
In Use As
Heritage centre/interpretative centre
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
314159, 234765
Date Recorded
29/10/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey former caretaker’s house, built c.1850, with single-storey flat-roofed extension to west, now in use as heritage centre. Porch to south elevation, with later extension adjoining garden wall to south. Pitched slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods, brown brick end chimneystacks. Snecked dressed limestone walls, cement render to west elevation. Square-headed window openings, having brown brick block-and-start surrounds, and cut granite sills. Replacement uPVC windows throughout. Square-headed door opening to north elevation of single-storey structure, having brown brick block-and-start surround. Set at north-east corner of former military graveyard, with boundary walls of same extending from west gable and from south elevation. Gardens to front, with pedestrian entrance to public road, and recent red brick boundary wall to park to front.
Appraisal
Arbour House forms part of a group of military related buildings and structures, including military schools, a former garrison chapel, and a former detention barracks, all to the south and south-west. This simple well-built structure is typical of military buildings, having a solid well-built appearance without unnecessary ornament. While it is inward facing, it nonetheless makes a positive contribution to the streetscape due to its well-ordered broad facade. The house was formerly the residence of the caretaker of the military graveyard and school buildings to the south from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. The house is situated to the north-east corner of the walled military graveyard associated with the Church of the Sacred Heart, which was later utilized as a playground for the infants’ school. The Irish United Nations’ Veterans’ Association (IUNVA) was founded in 1989, and the association use Arbour House as a meeting place and office.