Survey Data
Reg No
15503077
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
National Bank of Ireland
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1805 - 1810
Coordinates
304892, 121794
Date Recorded
16/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced three-bay four-storey townhouse, built 1806, on a rectangular plan. In alternative use, 1836-67. Renovated, 1998, with replacement shopfront inserted to ground floor. Pitched fibre-cement slate roof with clay ridge tiles, rendered red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stringcourses below capping, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined wall to front (east) elevation; rendered surface finish (remainder). Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-granite sill courses, and moulded surrounds with "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed hood mouldings framing replacement fittings. Square-headed window openings (upper floors) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (second floor) or three-over-three (top floor) timber sash windows without horns. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
A townhouse representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one subsequently described as 'the National Bank…a large house of four stories [sic] in height with an ornamental front finely situated in the centre of the main street' (Lacy 1863, 409), confirmed by such attributes as the rectilinear plan form; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline. Although recently (1998) much modified at street level, the elementary form and massing survive intact overhead together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, including shimmering crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames, thus upholding much of the character or integrity of a townhouse making a pleasing visual statement overlooking Anne Street. NOTE: Given as the printing office of the "Wexford Herald" newspaper published by Christopher Taylor (Kehoe 1985, 44).