Survey Data
Reg No
31306606
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Convent of Mercy
Original Use
Convent/nunnery
In Use As
House
Date
1930 - 1935
Coordinates
82551, 296602
Date Recorded
06/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four-bay single-storey part double-pile convent with half-dormer attic, built 1932, on an L-shaped plan including two-bay single-storey chapel opening into single-bay single-storey flat-roofed apse (east) on a half-octagonal plan. Vacated, 1986. Sold, 1997. Renovated, 2002. For sale, 2012. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; drawing room (west) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with carved timber surround to window opening, "Faience Majolica" tiled cut-veined black marble Classical-style chimneypiece, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; bow-ended chapel (east) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door, herring bone-pattern timber parquet floor, carved timber dado rail, compartmentalised ceiling on stepped corbels, and stepped dais to sanctuary (east) with square-headed chancel arch; "back hall" or staircase hall (north) retaining staircase on a dog leg plan with timber balustrade supporting timber banister terminating in ball finial-topped timber newels, and carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors. Set in unkempt landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A convent erected to designs (1932) by Rudolph Maximilian Butler (1872-1943) of Dublin (Irish Builder 27th February 1932, 207; 21st May 1932, 484) representing an integral component of the twentieth-century built heritage of Mallaranny. Having been reasonably well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with 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 the composition: : however, the introduction of replacement fittings to the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a convent forming part of a self-contained group alongside the adjacent Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (see 31306605) with the resulting ecclesiastical ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural village street scene.