Survey Data
Reg No
11816094
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
Railway station
In Use As
House
Date
1845 - 1850
Coordinates
262607, 210874
Date Recorded
29/05/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay two-storey Gothic-style former railway station, opened 1849, on an irregular plan retaining early fenestration with single-bay single-storey gabled projecting porch to left, single-bay single-storey projecting bay to centre and single-bay two-storey gabled projecting end bay to right. Closed, 1976. Now in residential use. Gable-ended roofs with slate (gabled to porch and to end bay). Clay ridge tiles. Red brick chimney stacks on cut-stone plinths. Cut-stone coping to gables. Cast-iron rainwater goods on eaves course. Irregular coursed tooled cut-limestone walls. Cut-limestone dressings including quoins to corners and supporting stones to eaves to gables. Shallow pointed-arch window openings (some paired). Cut-limestone chamfered sills and surrounds. 2/2 timber sash windows. Some decorative leaded fixed-pane timber windows. Pointed-arch door opening. Cut-limestone surround. Timber boarded double doors. Overlight. Set back from road in own grounds. Tarmacadam forecourt to front.
Appraisal
Monasterevin Railway Station (former) is a fine and imposing building on an irregular plan, and in terms of stylistic treatment can be compared with further Gothic-style railway stations, including Athy (not included in survey) and Sallins (11811028/KD-19-11-28). Although now disused, the station is well-maintained and retains its original form and character – the construction in cut-limestone remains in good condition also. An ornate, complex composition, the building is dressed with many gables that serve to articulate the skyline, topped by slender chimney stacks, while the façades incorporate subtle decorative features. The building retains many original features and materials, including timber sash fenestration, timber fittings to the door opening to porch, and slate roofs having cast-iron rainwater goods. The railway station is of considerable social and historical significance, having been built as part of the Great Southern and Western Railway network development in Ireland that improved the efficiency of public transport, linking remotes areas of the country with larger urban settlements and ports, while promoting the commercialisation and industrialisation of larger towns such as Monasterevin.