Survey Data
Reg No
12000032
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Bank/financial institution
In Use As
Hotel
Date
1840 - 1860
Coordinates
250536, 156009
Date Recorded
16/06/2004
Date Updated
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Description
Terraced three-bay three-storey house, c.1850, on a corner site with three-bay three-storey side (south) elevation. In use as Royal Irish Constabulary barracks, pre-1846-c.1900. Subsequently in use as bank, c.1900. Renovated, c.1975, with replacement shopfronts inserted to ground floor possibly incorporating fabric of earlier shopfronts, c.1900. Now in use as hotel. Pitched slate roof on an L-shaped plan (forming hip to corner) with clay ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves. Painted rendered, ruled and lined walls with chamfer to corner to ground floor. Square-headed window openings (blind to central bay to front (east) elevation) with cut-stone sills, moulded rendered lugged surrounds, six-over-six (first floor) and three-over-six (top floor) timber sash windows. Group of four shopfronts, c.1975, to ground floor (paired to each elevation) possibly incorporating fabric of earlier shopfronts, c.1900, with panelled pilasters, fixed-pane timber display windows, glazed timber doors having overlights, fascias having inscribed consoles, and wrap-around shared fascia over having moulded cornice. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Road fronted on a corner site with concrete brick cobbled footpath to front.
Appraisal
A well-proportioned substantial building occupying an important corner site in the centre of Kilkenny City, thereby contributing positively to the visual appeal of the townscape. Despite extensive alteration works to the ground floor resulting in a somewhat cluttered arrangement of frontages the original form and massing survive substantially intact elsewhere with rendered accents enhancing the Classical theme of the composition. The retention of most of the historic fabric both to the exterior and to the interior further enhances the contribution the site makes to the historic quality of the streetscape. The building remains of additional importance for the disparate historic roles as a Royal Irish Constabulary barracks and a branch office of the Munster and Leinster Bank.