Survey Data
Reg No
20820105
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Court house
In Use As
Court house
Date
1800 - 1810
Coordinates
181660, 98432
Date Recorded
06/09/2006
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached two-storey court house, built c. 1805, comprising three-bay central block with lower recessed single-bay flanking blocks. Recent extensions added c. 1980 to south and rear. Hipped slate roof to main block with carved limestone cornice and dressed limestone stepped parapet. Flat roofs to flanking bays with dressed limestone cornices having dressed limestone platbands below. Rendered walls with dressed limestone platband dividing floors, and dressed limestone quoins. Round-headed blind arch to north elevation. Round-headed recessed panels to first floor of main block. Square-headed openings throughout, with cut limestone sills, having new timber sliding sash windows, three-over-six pane to first floor of flanking blocks and six-over-six pane elsewhere. Square-headed door opening, with temporary timber sheeting, having dressed limestone Gibbsian surround, carved limestone architrave, frieze and cornice, triple keystone, and roundels. Building stands at west end of street, as focus of vista from town centre and has green to front.
Appraisal
Built by John Anderson, founder of Fermoy, and Archibald Grubb, the form and style of this courthouse are characteristic of such buildings of their era. It employs a restrained classicism, which lends the structure an air of authority. Symmetry is maintained throughout the design and is heightened by features such as the recessed panels, platbands articulating storeys, the central stepped pediment and the raised quoins. The central focus of the building is the elaborate doorcase, the Gibbsian style of which adds elegance to the façade. The building occupies a prominent site closing the vista from Patrick Street and stands on a wide site.