Survey Data
Reg No
12504004
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1820 - 1840
Coordinates
-1, -1
Date Recorded
29/08/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey house, built c. 1830, with a Gibbsian doorcase, flat-roofed two-storey single bay extension to rear. Hipped slate roof with ridge tiles, two chimney stacks in the ridge, cast-iron rainwater goods to original structure. Roughcast walls and plainly rendered quoins to front elevation, square-headed window openings with painted rendered surrounds, painted door surround with blocked architrave and plain archivolt with keystone. One-over-one timber sash windows with convex horns, four-panelled door of c. 1890 with glazed upper panels, single pane to fanlight. Chimney stacks indicate a tripartite internal division. Two limestone steps to entrance open onto front landscaped garden, house set back from Green Road behind low wrought-iron railings on low rendered plinth course with cut-limestone copings, central entrance gate. Rubble limestone walls enclose the side gardens, substantial plainly treated rendered piers for gate to side garden to north. Substantial single-storey mews to the rear at the south with four bays including carriage arch and replacement corrugated-iron roof, windows and doors blocked up. Former privy and fuel storage shed against north wall.
Appraisal
Detached house with cubic massing and ancillary buildings to rear,it is a significant landmark on the northern outskirts of the town core. The Gibbsian surround doorcase, sometimes referred to as 'block and start' is a common regional detail also found in Church Street in Portlaoise. The house retains much of its original fabric. It is likely that the later extension to the rear incorporates an earlier stair return as suggested on the 1841 OS map. Located to the north of Newpark House demesne, Greenfield House may have been associated with it or alternatively with the flour mill and mill pond on the Triogue River to the east. The house makes a significant contribution to the urban setting.