Survey Data
Reg No
15503043
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Post office
In Use As
Post office
Date
1890 - 1900
Coordinates
304955, 121844
Date Recorded
16/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay three-storey post office, dated 1894; built 1894-5; opened 1895, on a rectangular plan with shopfront to ground floor; three-bay three-storey rear (north) elevation. Occupied, 1901. Vacant, 1911. Renovated, 1987. Red brick English Garden Wall bond wall to front (south) elevation on granite ashlar plinth with thumbnail beaded ogee cornice on blind frieze on "Cavetto" stringcourse below parapet; part repointed coursed rubble stone walls (remainder) with red brick flush quoins to corners. Shopfront to ground floor on a quasi-symmetrical plan with red brick Running bond pilasters on pedestals on granite ashlar plinth supporting thumbnail beaded ogee cornice on blind frieze on "Cavetto" stringcourse. Camber-headed window openings (first floor) centred on modified terracotta date stone ("1894") with sill course, and red brick voussoirs having bull nose-detailed reveals with hood mouldings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (top floor) with cut-granite sills, and red brick voussoirs framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to rear (north) elevation with cut-granite sills, and red brick block-and-start surrounds framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
A post office erected to designs produced by the Office of Public Works (established 1831) representing an important component of the late nineteenth-century built heritage of Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the demolished Mullingar Post Office (1884-5) in County Westmeath, confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the construction in a vibrant red brick with silver-grey granite dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; the arcaded shopfront; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roof. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a post office forming part of a self-contained group alongside the adjacent Presbyterian church (see 15503042) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in Anne Street. NOTE: A terracotta date stone ("1894") shows no evidence of the Queen Victoria (1819-1901; r. 1837-1901) royal cipher photographed by Robert French (1841-1917) but subsequently "prised off" in anticipation of its replacement with the emblem of the Irish Free State (cf. 15603101; 15605235).