Survey Data
Reg No
11803045
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Bean House
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1740 - 1780
Coordinates
293748, 237609
Date Recorded
01/05/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced five-bay two-storey over raised basement house, c.1760, probably originally detached on a symmetrical plan with round-headed door opening to centre approached by flight of steps. Refenestrated, c.1990. Gable-ended roof with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Roughcast chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods on eaves course. Roughcast walls. Unpainted. Cut-stone stringcourse to basement. Square-headed window openings. Stone sills. Replacement uPVC casement windows, c.1990. Round-headed door opening approached by flight of ten stone steps having cast-iron railings. Cut-stone (painted) Gibbsian surround with keystone. Replacement timber panelled door, c.1990. Overlight. Set back from line of road. Sections of cast-iron railings to forecourt. Attached three-bay two-storey outbuilding, c.1760, to right (south-east) with square-headed integral carriageway to left ground floor. Gable-ended roof with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Roughcast chimney stack. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast walls. Unpainted. Square-headed window openings. Stone sills. Timber fittings. Square-headed integral carriageway to left ground floor in segmental-headed recess. Timber boarded doors.
Appraisal
Harbour House, also known as Bean House, is an attractive and imposing substantial residence that is of social and historical importance, representing the early development of the suburbs of Maynooth. The scale and massing of the house, together with the fine detailing that includes an attractive Gibbsian doorcase, suggest that the house was originally built by a patron of high status in the locality. Renovated in the late twentieth century, the replacement fenestration is not an attractive feature of the design and the re–instatement of traditional-style timber fenestration would benefit the composition. The house is complemented by an attractive outbuilding immediately adjacent to the right (south-east), which retains most of its original form and character. Harbour House (Bean House) is an attractive feature on the streetscape of Leinster Street and forms a neat group with further middle- to substantial-scale houses on that street, including the former presbytery to south-west (11803094/KD-05-03-94).