Survey Data
Reg No
11818017
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
Masonic lodge/hall
In Use As
Masonic lodge/hall
Date
1895 - 1900
Coordinates
280425, 215175
Date Recorded
17/02/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced three-bay two-storey hall, dated 1897; opened 1898, on rectangular plan. Pitched slate roof with ridge tiles, vitrified blue brick-banded red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on red brick header bond stepped corbels. Vitrified blue brick-banded red brick English bond walls on rendered chamfered plinth with vitrified blue brick Running bond stringcourse. Round-headed central door opening with cut-granite threshold, and red brick voussoirs with vitrified blue brick header bond trim centred on cut-granite date stone ("1897") framing timber panelled double doors having overlight. Camber-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and red brick voussoirs framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Street fronted.
Appraisal
A hall erected for the United Service Masonic Lodge 215 to designs by John James Octavius Ramsay (1861/2-1918) of Dunlavin, County Wicklow, representing an important component of the built heritage of Newbridge with the architectural value of the composition, one accommodating 'a committee room with spacious ante-rooms and a commodious banqueting hall' (Kildare Observer 4th June 1898), confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; the construction in a vibrant red brick with vitrified blue brick and silver-grey granite accents producing a mild polychromatic palette; and the uniform or near uniform proportions of the openings on each floor. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where a stained glass Seal of Solomon highlights the modest artistic potential of a hall making a pleasing visual statement in George's Street. NOTE: The warrant for Lodge 215 was first issued on the 7th November 1750 for a lodge based in Pettigo in County Donegal. The lodge subsequently transferred to Rossharbour, County Fermanagh, in 1848 but the warrant was cancelled in August 1851 and remained out of use until the 6th May 1859 when it was issued by the then Grand Master, Augustus Frederick FitzGerald (1791-1874), third Duke of Leinster, to the United Service Lodge in Newbridge.