Survey Data
Reg No
31209054
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
In Use As
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
Date
1880 - 1885
Coordinates
114367, 290560
Date Recorded
21/11/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey presbytery, built 1886; extant 1895, on a rectangular plan with two-bay two-storey side elevations. Reroofed. Replacement hipped artificial slate roof with ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having stringcourses below corbelled stepped capping, and square profile rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on box eaves on decorative consoles. Roughcast walls on rendered plinth with drag edged rusticated cut-limestone quoins to corners supporting panelled frieze on red or yellow brick header bond stringcourse. Square-headed central door opening approached by flight of three cut-limestone steps, rendered surround having chamfered reveals framing glazed timber panelled double doors having overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-limestone sills, and moulded surrounds framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central vestibule; door opening into entrance hall with glazed timber panelled double doors having overlight; entrance hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from line of street in relandscaped grounds on a corner site.
Appraisal
A presbytery erected for Reverend James Lyons PP (d. 1911) representing an integral component of the later nineteenth-century built heritage of Castlebar with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression; and the decorative timber work embellishing the roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of a presbytery making a pleasing visual statement in the streetscape.