Survey Data
Reg No
15601102
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
In Use As
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
Date
1890 - 1900
Coordinates
315658, 159572
Date Recorded
07/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey parochial house, dated 1895, on a cruciform plan centred on single-bay full-height gabled breakfront; pair of single-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey returns centred on single-bay deep) two-storey return (east). Occupied, 1911. Renovated, ----. Hipped slate roof on an E-shaped plan centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof (breakfront), clay ridge tiles, paired rendered red brick Running bond central chimney stacks having stringcourses below corbelled stepped chamfered capping supporting terracotta pots, coping to gable on "Cavetto" kneelers with abbreviated finial to apex, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Replacement cement rendered walls on rendered chamfered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to corners. Pointed segmental-headed central door opening with cut-granite step threshold, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having overlight. Paired square-headed window openings (first floor) below shamrock-detailed date stone ("1895") with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Camber-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing one-over-one timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central vestibule retaining encaustic tiled floor, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; square-headed door opening into hall with glazed diagonal timber boarded door having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight; hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from line of street in landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A parochial house representing an integral component of the late nineteenth-century built heritage of Gorey with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on an expressed breakfront; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where encaustic tile work; contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a parochial house forming part of a self-contained ensemble alongside an adjacent presbytery (see 15601101) and the adjacent Catholic Church of Saint Michael the Archangel (see 15601096) and Loreto Convent (see 15601097) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in Saint Michael's Road.