Survey Data
Reg No
12314005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Scientific, Social
Original Use
Court house
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
241352, 143582
Date Recorded
15/06/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay two-storey courthouse, built 1838-40, on a symmetrical plan with single-bay two-storey advanced end bays; single-bay single-storey lean-to recessed porches. Closed, 2003. Now disused. Hipped slate roof; lean-to slate roofs (porches), clay ridge tiles, yellow brick Common bond "wallhead" chimney stacks (east) on yellow brick Running bond bases having cut-limestone capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-limestone dentil consoles on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered rendered, ruled and lined walls on benchmark-inscribed cut-limestone chamfered plinth with rendered band to eaves; part creeper- or ivy-covered roughcast surface finish to rear (east) elevation with rendered flush strips to corners. Camber-headed window openings in camber-headed recesses (ground floor) with drag edged tooled limestone ashlar channelled voussoirs framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-limestone monolithic sill course, and dragged cut-limestone surrounds with beaded hood mouldings on blind friezes framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to rear (east) elevation with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed door openings (porches) with cut-limestone step thresholds, and cut-limestone surrounds with monolithic pilasters supporting ogee-detailed pediments on consoles framing replacement timber boarded double doors having overlights. Lunette windows openings with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing fixed-pane timber fittings. Interior including vestibule (south) retaining timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled double doors, staircase on a dog leg plan with "spindle" balusters supporting timber banister terminating in timber panelled newel, and timber surround to door opening to landing framing timber panelled double doors; full-height courtroom with timber panelled gallery (south), and plasterwork cornice to ceiling. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
A courthouse erected to designs by William Deane Butler (1793/4-1857) of Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin, representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of Callan with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Butler-designed Urlingford Courthouse (1840; see 12304009), confirmed by such attributes as the compact symmetrical footprint; the silver-grey limestone dressings demonstrating good quality workmanship; and the monolithic stone work embellishing the roof: meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the near-total reconstruction of the courthouse on behalf of Thomas Drew (----), Secretary of Kilkenny County Council (Irish Builder 8th December 1928, 1042; Surveyor 74 1928, 364). 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 where contemporary joinery; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the modest artistic potential of the composition: however, a proposed 'development [consisting] of works to…the existing building envelope [and] internal works [consisting of] the removal of the existing gallery and stairs' may determine the ongoing architectural heritage status of a courthouse forming part of a self-contained group alongside an adjacent Garda Síochána station (see 1231406) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in Green Street.