Survey Data
Reg No
31215040
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1855 - 1860
Coordinates
119100, 264207
Date Recorded
25/11/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced four-bay two-storey townhouse with dormer attic, built 1856[?]; extant 1880. Renovated to accommodate continued alternative use. Replacement pitched slate roof including hipped gabled slate roofs to window openings to dormer attic with ridge tiles terminating in rendered chimney stacks on rendered bases having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, and uPVC rainwater goods on dragged cut-limestone "Bowtell" consoles on dragged cut-limestone stringcourse. Rendered, ruled and lined walls on rendered chamfered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to ends. Square-headed window openings in square-headed recesses (ground floor) with drag edged cut-limestone sills, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing replacement one-over-one timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-limestone sill course, and concealed dressings having chamfered reveals with red brick voussoirs centred on drag edged tooled cut-limestone keystones framing replacement one-over-one timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): vestibule with tessellated terracotta tiled floor, timber boarded or tongue-and-groove timber panelled wainscoting supporting timber dado rail, and run moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; square-headed door opening into entrance hall with glazed timber panelled double doors; entrance hall retaining timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with timber panelled reveals or shutters to window openings. Street fronted with concrete footpath to front.
Appraisal
A townhouse allegedly erected for John W. Fair (Historical Ballinrobe) representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of Ballinrobe with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression; and the miniature gablets embellishing a high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original or sympathetically replicated fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; and Classical-style chimneypieces, all highlight the artistic potential of a townhouse making a pleasing visual statement in Main Street.