Survey Data
Reg No
31204119
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
School
In Use As
School
Date
1900 - 1910
Coordinates
125232, 319085
Date Recorded
12/12/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached thirteen-bay two-storey over part raised basement boarding school with dormer attic, designed 1893; built 1904-6; opened 1906; extant 1911, on a H-shaped plan with two-bay (five-bay deep) gabled projecting end bays centred on single-bay full-height buttressed gabled breakfront. Mansard and pitched slate roof on a H-shaped plan including gablets to window openings to dormer attic centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof with perforated crested clay ridge tiles, yellow brick Flemish bond chimney stacks centred on paired yellow brick Flemish bond chimney stacks having thumbnail beaded cornices below copper-covered capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, cut-limestone coping to gables on cut-limestone thumbnail beaded corbels with Celtic Cross finials to apexes, and cast-iron rainwater goods on yellow brick header bond thumbnail beaded cornice retaining cast-iron square profile downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered rendered, ruled and lined walls on cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on rendered channelled base. Segmental-headed central door opening approached by flight of ten cut-limestone steps between barley twist-detailed cast-iron railings, timber mullions on step threshold supporting timber transom, and cut-limestone block-and-start surround having chamfered reveals with hood moulding over on monolithic label stops framing timber panelled double doors having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight. Round-headed window opening in bipartite arrangement (first floor) with cut-limestone thumbnail beaded sill course, three quarter-engaged Corinthian colonnette mullion, and cut-limestone block-and-start surround with hood moulding over on monolithic label stops framing one-over-one timber sash windows. Camber-headed window openings (basement) with cut-limestone sills, and channelled voussoirs framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Camber-headed window openings (ground floor) with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings with hood mouldings over framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-limestone thumbnail beaded sill course, and concealed dressings framing two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central vestibule with moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; segmental-headed door opening into hall with glazed timber panelled double doors having sidelights on panelled risers below overlight; carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled splayed reveals or shutters to window openings. Set in landscaped grounds on an elevated site with cruciform-detailed limestone ashlar piers to perimeter having trefoil-detailed roll moulded gabled capping.
Appraisal
A boarding school erected under the aegis of Reverend John Conmy (1843-1911), Bishop of Killala (fl. 1893-1911), and to a design signed (1893) by William Henry Byrne (1844-1917) of Suffolk Street, Dublin (IAA; Irish Builder 1901, 640), widely regarded as a particularly important component of the built heritage of Ballina with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Byrne-designed Saint Joseph's Convent of Mercy (1894-8), Ballyhaunis (see 31213014), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking rolling grounds; the symmetrical or near-symmetrical footprint centred on an expressed breakfront; the definition of the principal floor as a slightly elevated "piano nobile"; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression; and the miniature gablets embellishing the roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of a boarding school making a dramatic visual statement overlooking the River Moy.