Survey Data
Reg No
31215036
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
In Use As
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
Date
1925 - 1935
Coordinates
119251, 264244
Date Recorded
25/11/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey presbytery, built 1930, on a symmetrical plan with single-bay two-storey side elevations. Refenestrated, ----. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having "Cavetto"-detailed stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on box eaves. Rendered wall to front (west) elevation with rendered strips to corners; roughcast surface finish (remainder) on rendered plinth. Square-headed central door opening in square-headed recess with chamfered timber mullions on "quarry tiled" drag edged tooled cut-limestone step threshold supporting chamfered timber mullion, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having sidelights on diagonal timber boarded panelled risers below overlight. Square-headed window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows with replacement aluminium casement windows to rear (east) elevation. Set in landscaped grounds shared with Saint Mary's Catholic Church.
Appraisal
A presbytery erected under the aegis of the Right Reverend Monsignor Edward A. D'Alton PP (1865-1941) representing an important component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of Ballinrobe with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding a thatched house photographed (1880) by Thomas J. Wynne (1838-93) of Castlebar, confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal "apartments" defined by polygonal bay windows. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the external expression or integrity of a presbytery forming part of a self-contained group alongside the adjacent Saint Mary's Catholic Church (see 31215035) and nearby parochial house (see 31215037) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in Main Street.