Survey Data
Reg No
30314030
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Post office
In Use As
Post office
Date
1840 - 1880
Coordinates
129865, 225366
Date Recorded
04/09/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Corner-sited attached five-bay three-storey post office, built c.1860, having arcaded ground floor to front, four-bay side elevation and multiple recent additions to rear. Flat roof with concealed rainwater goods, and having oversailing eaves with render brackets. Front elevation has painted tiled walls to upper floors, and chamfered limestone plinth. Square-headed window openings having raised render surrounds and replacement timber casement windows to upper storeys and to south-east side elevation. Camber-headed recessed openings to ground floor of front elevation, windows having stall risers with brass-framed tiles and raised tooled limestone reveals, timber sills with metal-framed casement windows. Main entrance doorway with timber canopy and replacement double-leaf battened timber doors with paned overlight and limestone steps. Marble tile pilasters between openings with limestone plinths. Opening giving access to internal porch with timber glazed panels and doors. Square-headed door opening to south-east elevation having raised render surround and replacement timber glazed fire door.
Appraisal
This imposing structure is a striking feature of the Galway streetscape. Its well balanced façade is much enlivened by the contrasting cambered and square-headed windows and the interesting tiles which cover the walls. On a cultural note, Máirtín Ó Direáin, the famed Irish-language poet who worked as a postal clerk here between 1928 and 1937.