Survey Data
Reg No
15603009
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
In Use As
Presbytery/parochial/curate's house
Date
1905 - 1910
Coordinates
297009, 140048
Date Recorded
13/06/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached four- or six-bay two-storey parochial house, built 1908-9; occupied 1911, on a rectangular plan including single-bay two-storey "tower" with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed advanced porch to ground floor; four-bay two-storey side elevations. Part refenestrated, ----. Set in landscaped grounds including terrace centred on flight of eight cut-granite steps.
Appraisal
A parochial house erected for Reverend Robert Fitzhenry (1859-1928) to designs by Thomas F. Slevin and Sons (formed 1906) of Leinster Street, Dublin (Freeman's Journal 3rd July 1908), representing an important component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of Enniscorthy with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding 'a house lately erected by [Reverend James Keating (1783-1849), Bishop of Ferns (fl. 1819-49)] as a permanent residence for his curates' (Lewis 1837 I, 603), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking terraced lawns with the windmill-topped Vinegar Hill as a backdrop in the distance; the rectilinear plan form off-centred on a neo-medieval "tower"; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal "apartments" defined by polygonal bay windows; and the crow stepped battlements embellishing the roofline. 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 where encaustic tile work; contemporary joinery; chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition: however, the piecemeal introduction of replacement fittings to the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a parochial house making a pleasing visual statement in Cathedral Street.