Survey Data
Reg No
60280003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Thornhill Villa
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
324575, 218533
Date Recorded
21/03/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey house, built 1840, on a cruciform plan originally three-bay two-storey on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey projecting porch to ground floor on an engaged half-octagonal plan; single-bay (single-bay deep) full-height central return (north). Leased, 1901. "Improved", 1911, producing present composition. Pitched slate roof on a T-shaped plan centred on pitched slate roof (north) with clay ridge tiles, concrete or rendered coping to gables with rendered chimney stacks to apexes having stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber box eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Creeper- or ivy-covered slate hung walls to front (south) elevation; roughcast surface finish (remainder). Paired square-headed window openings (ground floor) with cut-granite flush sills, and concealed dressings framing twelve-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (remainder) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central vestibule on a half-octagonal plan with moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; elliptical-headed opening into hall; hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber balusters supporting carved timber banister, and carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing 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 in landscaped grounds with piers to perimeter having cut-granite shallow pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A house representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on a polygonal porch; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated tiered visual effect with the principal "apartments" or reception rooms defined by bay windows: meanwhile, aspects of the composition, including the distinctive slate hung surface finish, clearly illustrate the continued development or "improvement" of the house in the early twentieth century. 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, thus upholding the character or integrity of a house having historic connections with the Buckham family including Robert Buckham (1854-1908) and Susan Maxwell Buckham (1864-1944) 'of Thornhill Villa Bray County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1908, 48).