Survey Data
Reg No
15605125
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1800 - 1840
Coordinates
271864, 127362
Date Recorded
21/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced two-bay three-storey house, extant 1840, on a rectangular plan with shopfront to ground floor; two-bay three-storey rear (east) elevation. One of a terrace of four. Pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered, ruled and lined red brick Running bond chimney stacks having stringcourses below capping, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipe. Rendered, ruled and lined wall to front (west) elevation with channelled pilaster to end. Timber shopfront to ground floor on a symmetrical plan. Square-headed window openings (upper floors) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (first floor) or three-over-six (top floor) timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to rear (east) elevation with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six or three-over-six timber sash windows. Street fronted with footpath to front.
Appraisal
A house erected as one of a terrace of four houses (including 15605124; 15605126 - 15605127) representing an integral component of the nineteenth-century built heritage of New Ross with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the symmetrical shopfront showing curiously angular Classical detailing; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character of a house forming part of a self-contained ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in South Street. NOTE: The premises of Jasper McCarthy (1850-1934) and his son, Joseph McCarthy (1894-1979), who was co-founder and First Lieutenant of the New Ross Company of Irish Volunteers. McCarthy was on standby but did not participate in any fighting during the 1916 Easter Rising. Nevertheless he was arrested and, briefly held in Wexford County Gaol and Richmond Barracks in Dublin, he was imprisoned in Wakefield and Wormwood Scrubs before being transferred to the Frongoch Internment Camp from where he was released in December 1916 [BMH.WS1497]. An article by Desmond Moore (1916-2000) recalls that, as a gesture of defiance against the Black and Tans at the height of the War of Independence (1919-21), McCarthy 'painted his premises green, white and gold, with black margins [but] was ordered to re-paint his shopfront in colours less offensive to the occupation forces' (Sunday Independent 1971). The shopfront once again displays a patriotic colour scheme and carries the Irish spelling of McCarthy in hand painted Cló Gaelach.