Survey Data
Reg No
50030043
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
St Anne's
Original Use
Stables
In Use As
Workshop
Date
1880 - 1890
Coordinates
321496, 236984
Date Recorded
24/11/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached U-plan single-storey stable block with attic accommodation, built 1885, now in use as artists' studios. Comprising seven-bay central range having gabled central breakfront to front (north-west) and rear (south-east) elevations, flanked by seven- and eight-bay projecting blocks, that to south having recent glazed extension. Natural slate roof, hipped to south corner, having terracotta ridge tiles and finials, decorative red brick chimneystacks having ornamented clay pots, cast-iron rainwater goods, carved timber bargeboards, moulded brick eaves course and gabled half dormer windows. Recent rooflights and dormer windows to south-west elevation. Domed cupola to centre, with fish-scale tiles, barley sugar columns, and weather vane finial. Red brick, laid in Flemish bond, to walls, with moulded terracotta stringcourses and red brick plinth course. Clock to breakfront. Square-headed window openings, with moulded brick hood-mouldings over carved sandstone lintels, chamfered sandstone sills, timber and cast-iron framed windows. Square-headed window openings to half dormers, with moulded terracotta lintel and sills, decorative terracotta panels to apexes, timber and cast-iron framed windows, some with timber shutters. Segmental-headed window openings to rear, granite sills, timber and cast-iron framed windows. Segmental-headed ventilation openings to walls, with cast-iron openwork panels and granite sills. Square-headed door openings, having carved sandstone lintels and moulded brick paviors, timber panelled doors and overlights. Round-headed recess to central pedimented bay, with moulded brick surround, segmental-headed opening to former loft to apex, moulded brick surround, sandstone sill and timber panelled door. Square-headed door opening to ground floor, with carved sandstone, Portland stone voussoirs and recent glazed door. Square-headed carriage-arch openings to north range, with moulded brick paviors, carved sandstone and Portland stone voussoirs, bull-nosed brick surrounds, double-leaf timber battened doors with glazed panels, sandstone blocks and cast-iron bollards flanking entrance. Double-leaf wrought-iron gate flanked by octagonal-plan cut sandstone piers having carved dentillated capping surmounted by wrought-iron lamp standards, with matching railings on red brick plinth having granite capping and plinth course, enclosing courtyard to front.
Appraisal
This impressive stable courtyard retains much of its architectural impact and character. Fine brick and terracotta detailing demonstrates the high standard of artisanship involved in the original construction, with sandstone and Portland stone detailing lending tonal and textural variation. The composition is representative of the typically high-quality complexes associated with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century houses. George Ashlin, the architect of All Saints Church in Raheny, was commissioned to construct this new stable range, and the same contractors, Collen Brothers, were also engaged. The composition is executed in Portmarnock red brick, and cost £6,000 to build. It was constructed at the behest of Lord Ardilaun, son of Benjamin Lee Guinness, who inherited St. Ann's estate upon the death of his father in 1868. In the succeeding decades, he continued his father's practice of improving and expanding the estate.