Survey Data

Reg No

15310064


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Social, Technical


Original Use

House


In Use As

Shop/retail outlet


Date

1810 - 1830


Coordinates

243633, 252966


Date Recorded

01/07/2004


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Terraced three-bay three-storey house, built c.1820, having a shopfront, c.1900 to the east side of the main façade (north). Pitched slate roof with rendered chimneystacks to either end (east and west) and cast-iron rainwater goods. Ruled-and-lined smooth rendered walls with square-headed window openings having stone sills and replacement windows. Round-headed doorway to the west end of the main façade (north) having a cut stone Doric doorcase with fluted Doric pilasters supporting fluted lintel over and an early eight paneled timber door (with brass door fittings) having a petal fanlight above. Shopfront, c.1900, comprising rendered stallriser with incised lettering ‘Victualler’, square-headed plate glass window, a square-headed glazed timber door, inbuilt cast-iron ventilation panel and timber pilasters supporting timber fascia with moulded timber cornice over. Road-fronted to the south side of Oliver Plunkett Street. Outbuildings and entrance to former stableyard to the rear on Blackhall Street (15310069).

Appraisal

A very good quality early nineteenth-century building, which retains its balanced early proportions. This house stands out as being one of the few in the commercial heart of Mullingar to have retained many of its original features and character and is an important legacy of the development of the town. The charming, purpose-built butcher’s shopfront is of particular importance and it represents one of the best surviving traditional shopfronts in the town. The cast-iron ventilation panel is the last of its type still extant in Westmeath. The survival of a very good quality Doric doorcase with a delicate fanlight and the original timber paneled door is another important feature, which enlivens the front façade and elevates this building above most of its contemporaries in Mullingar. This building makes a strong contribution to the streetscape of Mullingar and is an integral element of the built heritage of Westmeath. The outbuildings and the entrance to the former stableyard to the rear (15310069) on Blackhall Street adds further importance to this fine composition.