Survey Data
Reg No
22904005
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Previous Name
Hotel Monatrea
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Convent/nunnery
In Use As
House
Date
1826 - 1837
Coordinates
211654, 77474
Date Recorded
24/09/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay (four-bay deep) two-storey house, extant 1837, on a rectangular plan. In alternative use, 1922-45. Sold, 1946. Resold, 1948. In alternative use, 1948-63. Hipped artificial slate roof on a quadrangular plan with pressed iron ridges, rendered chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves with cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls bellcast over rendered plinth with rendered quoins to corners. Hipped segmental-headed central door opening with two steps, timber mullions supporting timber transom, and concealed dressings framing timber panelled door having sidelights below fanlight. Square-headed window openings with sills, and rendered surrounds framing replacement uPVC casement windows replacing six-over-six timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, cornice to ceiling centred on decorative plasterwork ceiling rose, staircase with wrought iron balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors, and plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on decorative plasterwork ceiling rose in oval frame. Set in landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A house representing an integral component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Waterford with the architectural value of the composition, one erected by Reverend Percy Scott Smyth (d. 1846) following his inheritance (1826) of the Headborough House estate and his marriage (1827) to Catherine Odell (d. 1882), suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking Youghal Harbour; the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a canopied doorcase showing a margined hub-and-spoke fanlight; and the uniform or near uniform proportions of the widely spaced openings on each floor. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the reordered interior where decorative plasterwork enrichments highlight the artistic potential of the composition: however, the introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a house having historic connections with Percy Scott Smyth (1839-1910) of Headborough House (see 22902905); and a succession of tenants including Colonel Henry Downes Sheppard (d. 1883) and Melian Sheppard (née Roche) (d. 1891) 'late of Monatrea [sic] House County Waterford (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1883, 798; 1892, 826); William A. Lamb (1825-1913); Elizabeth Donovan (----) who repurposed the house as "Hotel Monatrea" (1922-45); and the Sisters of the North Presentation Convent of Cork who used Monatray House as a summer retreat (1948-63).