Survey Data
Reg No
15503037
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Apartment/flat (purpose-built)
In Use As
Office
Date
1920 - 1925
Coordinates
304904, 121844
Date Recorded
16/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced three-bay three-storey over basement red brick building, built 1923, originally with shopfront to ground floor having apartments over. Renovated, pre-1993, with replacement shopfront inserted to ground floor. Part refenestrated, post-1996. Now in use as offices to upper floors. Roof not visible behind parapet with concealed rainwater goods having shared cast-iron ogee hopper and downpipe. Red brick Flemish bond walls with lined concrete piers to ends, stepped concrete course supporting frieze, and moulded concrete cornice to parapet having consoles. Square-headed window openings with profiled (stepped) concrete sills, moulded concrete surrounds having panelled (hollow) friezes to first floor supporting entablatures, and one-over-one timber sash windows having replacement uPVC casement windows, post-1996, to top floor (replacing one-over-one timber sash windows). Replacement timber shopfront, pre-1993, to ground floor with panelled (hollow) pilasters on plinths, fixed-pane display windows on stone-clad bases, glazed double doors having overlight, glazed timber panelled door to offices having overlight, fascia rising to centre having segmental panelled (hollow) consoles, and moulded cornice. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front [VO].
Appraisal
A pleasantly appointed middle-size range built as part of a visually-related ensemble (with 15503036) representing an element of the early twentieth-century architectural legacy of Wexford Town. Notwithstanding the reasonably late period of construction, a pastiche Classical theme ensures that the building is successfully integrated into an historic streetscape: yet the site is identified in Main Street North on account of the distinctive construction in mass-produced red brick with dressings manufactured in increasingly-popular concrete producing a lively visual palette. Having been reasonably well maintained, the building continues to present an early aspect: however, the continued replacement of the historic fabric threatens to undermine the position of the building as an important element enhancing the visual aesthetic of the streetscape.