Survey Data

Reg No

15319011


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic


Original Use

House


In Use As

House


Date

1850 - 1855


Coordinates

235860, 239709


Date Recorded

16/09/2004


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached four-bay two-storey over basement house on irregular ‘L-shaped plan’, built c.1852, having two advanced single-bay gable-fronted bays to the north end of the front façade (east). Projecting single-bay single-storey pedimented ashlar limestone Doric entrance porch/portico to the projecting bay closest to the centre of the main facade. Pitched natural slate roofs with overhanging bracketed eaves, rendered chimneystacks with terracotta pots and having cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered walls with raised ashlar limestone block quoins to a number of the corners. Square-headed window openings to the main body of the building with cut stone sills and replacement windows. Tripartite square-headed window opening to the ground floor of the advanced bay to the north end of the front façade having cut limestone surrounds with cut stone console brackets supporting entablature over and with replacement windows. Square-headed window over tripartite window having cut limestone surround with cut limestone console brackets over supporting cut limestone entablature. Paired round-headed window openings with cut limestone heads and margin timber sash windows over porch to the first floor of second bay from the north. Square-headed doorway set into channelled ashlar limestone wall behind porch having a timber door with overlight over. Flight of cut stone steps gives access to doorway. Cast-iron railings over basement to entrance front. Set back from road in extensive landscaped grounds to the northeast of Ballynagore. Main entrance gates to the southwest (15319010).

Appraisal

An elaborate and eclectic mid nineteenth-century house, which retains its early form, character and much of its early. This fine house is built in an Italianate style and has extensive decorative elements in ashlar limestone, including a well-detailed entrance porch, block quoins and surrounds to a number of the window openings. The asymmetrical layout, the variety of the treatments to the window openings and the pronounced overhanging bracketed eaves helps to give this building an attractive and variety façade. This fine structure was built for John Perry to designs by John Skipton Mulvany (1813-1870), an eminent architect of his day. The Perry Family were a prominent milling family in Ballynagore, having bought out the milling interests of the Mulock family in 1838, and owned the large mill to the southwest of the village (15319005) among other business interests in the area. This fine composition is a noteworthy addition to the built heritage of Westmeath and forms an important pair of related structures with the fine gateway (15319010) to the southwest.