Survey Data
Reg No
12001034
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Kilkenny Presbyterian Church
Original Use
Church/chapel
In Use As
Office
Date
1835 - 1840
Coordinates
250684, 155525
Date Recorded
17/06/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay double-height single-cell Gothic Revival Presbyterian church, built 1839. Renovated, 1994, with interior remodelled to accommodate use as offices. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on cut-stone eaves. Limestone ashlar wall to front (south-east) elevation with cut-limestone dressings including gabled panelled stepped buttresses, stepped corner buttresses, battlemented parapet on stringcourse having gabled panelled corner pinnacles and finial to apex rising into spirelets, and unpainted roughcast walls to remainder. Tudor-headed window opening over entrance bay with cut-limestone surround having chamfered reveals, hood moulding over, timber Y-mullions forming five-part lancet arrangement, and decorative fixed-pane iron windows. Pointed-arch flanking window openings with cut-limestone surrounds having chamfered reveals, hood mouldings over, timber Y-mullions forming bipartite lancet arrangement, and fixed-pane fittings having diamond-leaded glazing. Pointed-arch window openings to remainder with cut-limestone sills, and fixed-pane timber fittings. Tudor-headed door opening with cast-iron bootscraper, cut-limestone surround having concave reveals, hood moulding over, and replacement timber panelled double doors, 1994. Double-height interior remodelled, 1994, to accommodate two floors. Set back from line of road with sections of iron railings to front on cut-limestone plinth having limestone ashlar panelled octagonal piers, and iron gate.
Appraisal
A picturesque small-scale church built to designs prepared by Charles Anderson (1802-69) making a pleasant impression on the visual appeal of Patrick Street Lower. Exhibiting a robust Gothic Revival theme the architectural design aesthetic of the composition is identified by the many dressings displaying expert craftsmanship in County Kilkenny limestone with fittings to some of the openings displaying carpentry of a high quality. Despite an extensive renovation programme including substantial alterations to the interior to accommodate an alternative use the exterior attributes survive substantially intact, thereby maintaining much of the character or integrity of the composition. Forming a neat group with the adjacent associated manse (12001033/KK-4766-14-33) the resulting assemblage survives as a reminder of the once-prosperous Presbyterian community in Kilkenny.