Survey Data
Reg No
15503059
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Malt house
In Use As
Public house
Date
1815 - 1835
Coordinates
304963, 121615
Date Recorded
05/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached six-bay four-storey malthouse, c.1825, with two-bay four-storey side (south-west) elevation having elliptical-headed carriageway to ground floor. Reroofed, c.1950. Renovated, c.1975, with some openings to ground floor remodelled to accommodate part commercial use. Part refenestrated, pre-1993. Hipped roof with replacement corrugated-asbestos, c.1950, concrete ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered stepped eaves over red brick construction having iron ties. Random rubble stone walls with squared rubble stone quoins to corner incorporating chamfer to corner to ground floor. Square-headed window openings in camber-headed recesses with square-headed window openings to top floor having no sills, red brick block-and-start surrounds rising into voussoirs, and timber fittings having some replacement fixed-pane (three-light) timber windows, pre-1993 (series of square-headed window openings to ground floor remodelled, c.1975, in rendered, ruled and lined frontispiece with concealed dressings, and fixed-pane timber windows). Square-headed door opening to first floor side (south-west) elevation in camber-headed recess approached by flight of stone flagged steps on camber relieving arch having iron railings, red brick block-and-start surround rising into voussoirs, and replacement tongue-and-groove timber panelled door, pre-1993. Elliptical-headed carriageway to ground floor side (south-west) elevation with red brick block-and-start surround rising into voussoirs, and tongue-and-groove timber panelled double doors. Street fronted.
Appraisal
A malthouse of the middle size representing an integral component of the commercial or industrial legacy of Wexford Town having supported some of the local agricultural economy since the early nineteenth century: Peter Street or Gibson Street was traditionally the centre of the corn trade in Wexford throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with malted corn transported by ship to the Guinness breweries in Dublin. Although having been adapted to an alternative purpose following a period out of use, the elementary composition survives largely in place as identified by attributes including the traditional construction in local fieldstone with red brick dressings producing an appealing visual palette, the regular distribution of elegantly-swept small-scale openings on each floor, and so on. Forming a neat self-contained group alongside a contemporary (c.1825) counterpart (15503060), the resulting ensemble makes a positive contribution to the streetscape value of Peter Street (Gibson Street).