Survey Data
Reg No
11902304
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Fire station
In Use As
Fire station
Date
1895 - 1905
Coordinates
278341, 211478
Date Recorded
22/10/2002
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached two-bay five-storey red brick fire station, dated 1900, on a square plan with single-bay two-storey flat-roofed end bay to right and single-bay six-storey corner (water) turret to north-east on a square plan. Roofs not visible behind red brick parapet wall. Cut-granite chimney stack to turret with horizontal banding. Rusticated cut-granite walls to ground floor. Cut-granite date stone and plaque. Cut-granite stringcourse to first floor. Red brick English bond to remainder. Cut-granite dressings including stringcourses, spouts and moulded coping to parapet wall. Round-headed window openings. Cut-granite sills and sill courses. Red brick dressings with cut-granite keystones. Timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to top floor in round-headed recessed panels. Cut-granite transoms. Timber sash windows. Louvered timber over panels. Segmental-headed door openings. Replacement iron roller shutters. Sited in Curragh Camp complex to centre of complex in square.
Appraisal
The Curragh Camp Fire Station is a fine and imposing building that dominates its surroundings - soaring above the military complex the tower is visible from as far as Newbridge and Kildare town. The building appears to be one of the earliest purpose-built fire stations in the country, which is of historic interest. Although a functional building, much thought has been paid to the visual impact of all four elevations and the use of small round-headed window openings serves to maximise the solidity of the wall masses. Similarly the rusticated granite to ground floor appears as a suitable grounding base for the lofty tower over, the red brick of which is of fine quality. The fire station is still in use, is well-maintained and retains much of its original character, features and materials, including multi-pane timber sash fenestration. A feature of note is the water turret to north-east, which is of considerable technical or engineering merit. An important civic building in the complex, and one that is grouped around a square with buildings of similar interest (the post office (11902303/KD-23-03), and so on), the fire station is of considerable social and historic interest, representing the continued development of the military camp in the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries.