Survey Data
Reg No
21522009
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Cultural, Historical, Scientific, Social
Previous Name
Limerick District Lunatic Asylum
Original Use
Hospital/infirmary
In Use As
Hospital/infirmary
Date
1890 - 1910
Coordinates
158661, 156395
Date Recorded
22/07/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached nine-bay three-storey men's block, c. 1900, set perpendicular to the main hospital block to the east. It is almost identical to the women's block and both are joined by a five-bay three-storey wing. M-profile natural slate roofs with cast-iron rainwater goods and sprocketed and stepped eaves. A red brick chimneystack to the west section and a limestone chimneystack to the north and south side elevations of the eastern section. The seven-bay section has rough-hewn rubble limestone walls and squared limestone quoins with a single-storey three-sided canted bay to the north and south elevations. Square-headed window openings throughout with tooled limestone surrounds and original twelve-over-eight timber sash windows to the first floor eight-over-eight to the second floor and uPVC to the ground floor. The connecting five-bay wing has a flat roof and rough-hewn squared and snecked limestone walls over plinth course. Square-headed window openings to both elevations with aluminium windows and a square-headed door opening to the south elevation with a classical carved limestone surround and a glazed timber-panelled door. The easternmost nine-bay section has rock-faced squared and snecked limestone ashlar walls over plinth course with a pair of single-storey three-sided canted bays to the east elevation and a blind central bay. Square-headed window openings with smooth limestone surrounds and sills and twelve-over-eight timber sash windows to the first floor only, uPVC windows to the ground and second floors, with a central round-arched niche to the first floor of the east elevation having a carved limestone surround and pediment above. A further gable-fronted outbuilding is located to the north forms part of the later additions to the hospital complex.
Appraisal
This building forms part of the collection of buildings, erected later than the main complex, but executed in a complementary style. The masonry and fenestration are of a high quality although some inappropriate window replacements have compromised the overall integrity. On the whole, this addition has succeeded in extending the principal hospital building without detracting from its formal plan or its aesthetic appeal.