Survey Data
Reg No
11816069
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1850 - 1870
Coordinates
262873, 210257
Date Recorded
28/05/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay two-storey house, c.1860, on a corner site with render shopfront to ground floor and two-bay two-storey side elevation to south-east having round-headed door opening to right ground floor. Refenestrated, c.1990. Now disused to ground floor. Hipped and gable-ended roof on an L-shaped plan with slate. Red clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Rendered coping to gables. Cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves course. Rendered walls to ground floor. Unpainted. Moulded rendered string/sill course to first floor. Roughcast walls to first floor. Unpainted. Channelled piers to corner and to ends. Replacement render, c.1990, to rear elevation to north-east. Ruled and lined. Unpainted. Square-headed window openings. Stone sills (forming part of continuous sill course to first floor). Rendered surrounds. Replacement uPVC casement windows. Round-headed door opening. Rendered surround. Replacement timber panelled door, c.1990. Spoked fanlight. Rendered shopfront to ground floor with panelled pilasters, fixed-pane display windows, glazed timber panelled doors and render fascia over having raised lettering, consoles and moulded cornice. Road fronted on a corner site. Concrete footpath to front. Detached three-bay two-storey outbuilding, c.1860, to north-west. Hipped roof with slate (lean-to section to north-east possibly a later alteration). Clay ridge tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast walls to road front (south-west) elevation. Unpainted. Rubble stone walls to remainder. Openings and fittings not visible.
Appraisal
Brook House is a fine, substantial building of graceful, balanced proportions that is of social and historic interest as one of the earliest purpose-built commercial buildings in the locality. The building, although disused to ground floor, retains most of its original form and fabric – the replacement fenestration does not contribute positively to the overall appearance, however, jarring with the muted tones of the render, and the re-instatement of traditional timber fenestration might restore a more accurate representation of the original aspect. The house retains a very important rendered shopfront to ground floor, typical of the true traditional Irish style composed on a symmetrical plan and with raised lettering to the fascia – this feature ought to be retained in any future renovation works. The house, together with the attendant outbuilding to north-west, is a prominent and attractive feature on the streetscape of Drogheda Street, forming the corner with Drogheda Row.