Survey Data
Reg No
50080425
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Office
Date
1850 - 1890
Coordinates
311343, 233481
Date Recorded
29/05/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay single-storey office building, built c.1870, now disused. Hipped slate roof having diagonal slate pattern to central portion, and remains of cut limestone chimneystack. Rusticated snecked limestone walls. Square-headed window openings having margined reveals, cut granite sills and replacement timber windows. Square-headed opening to recessed entrance porch to front (north) elevation, partially infilled with concrete. Square-headed door openings within porch, one to east side and one to west side of porch. Timber panelled door to east side.
Appraisal
The Inchicore Works was established in 1846 to maintain and construct rolling stock for the Great Southern & Western Railway. Now the headquarters for mechanical engineering and rolling stock maintenance at Irish Rail, it is the largest engineering complex of its kind in Ireland. The development of the Works was responsible for the transformation of this area from rural agricultural to an industrial village in the nineteenth century. The railway network transformed Ireland, linking remote areas in the country with urban settlements and ports, while promoting the commercialisation and industrialisation of larger towns. This building retains much of its early form and character, and the lozenge slates are particularly noteworthy. Highly skilled stone masonry, typical of railway heritage, is evident in the heavily rusticated walls.