Survey Data
Reg No
21519003
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Cultural, Historical, Scientific, Social
Previous Name
Limerick District Lunatic Asylum
Original Use
Hospital/infirmary
In Use As
Hospital/infirmary
Date
1890 - 1910
Coordinates
158434, 156414
Date Recorded
22/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached nine-bay three-storey female block, c. 1900, with a two-bay side elevation, a three-bay three-storey return, a blind central bay and a pair of single-storey three-sided canted bays to the ground floor of the east elevation. M-profile hipped natural slate roof to the main section and a hipped natural slate roof to the return, all having sprocketed and stepped eaves. A full-height chimneystack to each side elevation stands forward from the elevation and rises between the M-profile roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods throughout. Squared and snecked hammer-finished limestone ashlar walls with a smooth limestone coping to a plinth course below. Smooth limestone ashlar quoins and window surrounds. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and twelve-over-eight timber sash windows to ground and first floors, eight-over-eight to second floor, all with ogee horns. To the first floor of the east elevation is a round-arched blind niche with a carved surround and pediment above. Square-headed door openings with replacement timber-panelled doors and overlights. A tripartite door opening to the north elevation of the return has a carved stepped limestone surround with a pair of sidelights and a timber-panelled door with a multiple-pane overlight. Situated to the southwest corner of the main hospital block.
Appraisal
This building, which formerly housed the female patients, forms part of the collection of buildings, erected later than the main complex, but executed in a complementary style. The masonry and fenestration are of a high quality. On the whole, this addition to the main hospital block has succeeded in extending the principal complex without detracting from its formal plan or its aesthetic appeal.