Survey Data
Reg No
22803041
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
Clodiagh
Original Use
House
In Use As
Orphanage/children's home
Date
1860 - 1865
Coordinates
246986, 115294
Date Recorded
25/07/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached five-bay two-storey house, built 1862 - 1863, possibly over basement on an L-shaped plan comprising three-bay two-storey recessed central bay having three-bay single-storey lean-to open veranda, single-bay two-storey gabled advanced flanking end bays, three-bay two-storey side elevation to west, two-bay two-storey side elevation to east having single-bay single-storey canted bay window to east, and three-bay single-storey return with half-dormer attic to north-east. Extensively renovated and extended, post-1999, comprising two-bay single-storey wing to east to return to accommodate use as institution. Pitched slate roofs (gabled to end bays; lean-to to veranda; gabled to half-dormer attic windows) with replacement fibre-cement slate, post-1999, clay ridge tiles, red brick chimney stacks (some paired), decorative timber bargeboards, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods, post-1999, on timber eaves having elongated corbels. Unpainted rendered, ruled and lined walls with rendered medallions to gables. Unpainted replacement cement render, post-1999, to rear (north) elevation and to return. Combination of pseudo-three-centre- and shallow elliptical-headed window openings (in tripartite arrangement to ground floor advanced end bays) with stone sills, and moulded rendered surrounds. 1/1 and 2/2 timber sash windows with some replacement models, post-1999. Square-headed window openings to return (elliptical-headed to west elevation of return possibly remodelled, post-1999) with stone sills, and no dressings. 1/1 and 2/2 timber sash windows. Pseudo-three-centre-headed door opening under veranda having three cut-granite steps, replacement iron pillars, post-1999, moulded rendered surround, and replacement glazed timber panelled door, post-1999. Set back from road in own grounds with tarmacadam drive leading to forecourt, and landscaped grounds to site. (ii) Remains of detached multiple-bay single-storey rubble stone outbuilding, built 1862 - 1863, to north on a quadrangular plan about a courtyard with series of shallow segmental-headed carriageways. Now in ruins. Roofs now gone. Random rubble stone walls with lime mortar, and traces of unpainted lime render over having corbel table to parapet. Square-headed window openings with stone sills. Fittings now gone. Series of shallow segmental-headed carriageways with squared rubble stone voussoirs. Fittings now gone.
Appraisal
An attractive, well-composed substantial house, built to designs prepared by John Skipton Mulvany (1813 – 1871) for Frederick Malcomson (n. d.). Distinctive features, including the veranda, the combination of profiles to the window openings, and fine detailing, including rendered dressings, and profiled timber joinery, all serve to enhance the architectural design quality of the composition. Despite a subsequent change of use, the house retains most of its original form and massing, together with a range of important salient features and materials. Although now in ruins, an outbuilding contributes to the group quality of the house, although much of the setting has been compromised by the partition and extensive development of the much of the attendant grounds.