Survey Data
Reg No
20827313
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Public house
In Use As
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1810 - 1830
Coordinates
179878, 66462
Date Recorded
20/08/2007
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached single-bay four-storey former house, built c. 1820, having full-height bay window from first to third floor and shopfront to front (south) elevation. Later used as public house, now in use as shop. Pitched slate roof with rendered chimneystack. Rendered walls with recent limestone plaques to first floor. Square-headed tripartite openings having one-over-one pane timber sliding margin sash windows. Timber shopfront comprising pilasters supporting fascia and cornice. Square-headed display window with timber mullion. Recessed square-headed opening having overlight and half-glazed timber panelled door. Limestone threshold to entrance. Geometric coloured tiles to interior floor. Timber cabinets to interior, west and east walls having carved cornices, shelves and Corinthian-style pilasters with inset mirrors. Brass manufacturers mark to east cabinet. Mahogany counter with rectangular panels and carved consoles with grape motifs.
Appraisal
Notable for its slender form, its façade a tier of oriels showing margined glazing patterns, this shop-house is the only single-bay structure in West Beach. Once the home of Father Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), founder of the so-called "Knights of Father Mathew" which over time became the Catholic Total Abstinence Society, the shop-house was ironically later adapted as a public house. The original timber panelled counter survives with motifs, including grape-decorated consoles, alluding to a place wine and revelry. The counter was retained when the shop-house was repurposed as a pharmacy in 1907. The pharmacy was owned by John "Jack" Wilson (1877-1922) and Christina Mary Wilson (née Jessop) (1879-1968) who was the first fully-qualified female pharmacist in Ireland. The atmospheric interior retains a complete set of drawers and shelving with a label inscribed: "PARNALL & SONS/COMPLETE SHOP FITTERS/21 & 22/NARROW WINE STREET/BRISTOL".