Survey Data
Reg No
15503056
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Post office
Date
1830 - 1835
Coordinates
305005, 121627
Date Recorded
05/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced two-bay four-storey house, built 1832, on a rectangular plan. In alternative use, 1892-1911. Renovated, ----, with replacement shopfront inserted to ground floor. Replacement pitched artificial slate roof with ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having capping, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipe. Rendered, ruled and lined walls; slate hung surface finish (south). Square-headed window openings (upper floors) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-one timber sash windows without horns (first floor) or replacement casement windows (remainder). Interior including (ground floor): hall (north) retaining Gothic-style timber surround framing timber panelled door, and egg-and-dart-detailed plasterwork cornice to ceiling; staircase hall retaining staircase with gesso-detailed turned timber balusters supporting carved timber banister, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; and (upper floors): carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
A house representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of Wexford with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline. Although recently much modified at street level, the elementary form and massing survive intact overhead together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including some crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of a house making a pleasing visual statement in Main Street South.