Survey Data
Reg No
15401407
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Electricity substation
In Use As
Electricity substation
Date
1948 - 1955
Coordinates
261451, 261303
Date Recorded
23/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay two-storey E.S.B. substation with single-bay single-storey wings to east and west, built c.1950. Flat roofs with cast-iron rainwater goods. Smooth rendered walls with E.S.B. name plaque and logo to east elevation. Square-headed window and door openings with fixed windows. Located within its own grounds with walled yard to front (north) containing electricity. Sited to the south of Delvin in rural countryside
Appraisal
A rare surviving example of a Modern Movement building in rural Westmeath. E.S.B substations of this nature were built to a common plan throughout Ireland as part of the Rural Electrical Scheme in the late 1940s and 1950s. The use of concrete in its construction allowed for the building of a structure which was both durable and economically viable to produce on a large scale. Buildings of this form came into use during the middle twentieth century as part of an overall scheme of rural electricification and are of social, economic and historic importance.