Survey Data
Reg No
20512795
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Woodford Bourne and Company
Original Use
Shop/retail outlet
In Use As
Restaurant
Date
1870 - 1890
Coordinates
167315, 71886
Date Recorded
18/02/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Corner-sited seven-bay four-storey former retail outlet, built c. 1880, now in use as restaurant. Curved and pitched slate roofs with rendered parapet and decorative eaves cornice. Channelled render walls to ground floor, with plaque, lettering, consoles and decorative cornice. Rendered walls to upper floors having render quoins, string courses, platbands, and lettering. Timber sash windows to upper floors, with moulded render architraves. Timber fixed windows to ground floors, set in moulded render surrounds and having flanking pilasters.
Appraisal
This building, variously attributed to Henry Hill (c.1806-87) or Arthur Hill (1846-1921), makes a positive contribution to the streetscape in Saint Patrick's Street. The circular plan, the shopfront showing an egg-and-dart motif, the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor with those openings showing Classical dressings, and the parapeted roof, all contribute to the considerable architectural interest of the building. The retention of much original fabric, including timber sash windows, enhances the character of the building. Raised lettering remembers Woodford Bourne and Company who, according to the shopfront, were "IMPORTERS OF WINES FRUITS SPICES COFFEES TEAS [and] SPIRITS". It is believed that an apartment over the shop was leased (1932) to General Tom Barry (1897-1980) who was a prominent guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence (1919-21) and the Irish Civil War (1921-3).