Survey Data
Reg No
50080407
Original Use
Worker's house
In Use As
House
Date
1845 - 1855
Coordinates
311703, 233585
Date Recorded
24/05/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Three terraces containing thirty-one three-bay two-storey former railway workers’ houses, built c.1850, laid out to north, south and east of Inchicore Square, each with central gabled porch, and two-storey return to rear with catslide roof. Now in use as private houses. Pitched slate and artificial slate roofs with stepped rendered chimneystacks having clay chimney pots, and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls to front elevations, with roughcast render or smooth render to side and rear elevations. Cast-iron name plaque to front elevation of no.1 (Inchicore Square North) and no.21 (Inchicore Square East). Square-headed window openings with cut granite sills, two-over-two pane timber sash windows, and replacement uPVC windows. Pointed arch door openings with chamfered reveals, timber battened doors with Y-tracery overlight, and some replacement doors with plain overlight. Square recesses over doors. Gardens to front enclosed by red brick boundary walls, curving at corners of terraces, with red brick piers and pedestrian gates. Some early wrought-iron latticed gates to east terrace. Laneway to rear of each terrace. Detached gardens to rear of some houses. Rectangular-plan green to centre of square, with Inchicore Sports and Social Club to west side.
Appraisal
The Great Southern & Western Railway was established in 1844, and the GS&WR engineering works was constructed on a 73 acre site at Inchicore from 1846. The Works Estate was constructed to the east of the GS&WR Works to accommodate workers and their families, as the then rural area had insufficient housing for the new population. Inchicore Terrace North and South, Inchicore Square and West Terrace were constructed first, and appear on Griffith’s valuation map of c.1855. The estate is a notable example of a nineteenth-century industrial village, coherently planned with recreational, educational, and employment facilities alongside housing. The symmetrical houses with central gabled porch continue the architecture designed by Sancton Wood at Inchicore Railway Works. Inchicore Terrace North, Inchicore Terrace South and Inchicore Square were built in the same architectural style with slight variations in porch, door and gate designs. The north, south and east terraces face towards a green area, closed at the west end by Inchicore Sports and Social Club. The cast-iron name plaques, in Irish and English, to nos. 1 and 21, add to the historic character of the square. While some windows and doors have been replaced, the terraces retain their form, scale, and traditional character. The notable wrought-iron latticed gates were locally produced in the railway works.