Survey Data
Reg No
31310022
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Ballyglass Constabulary Barrack
Original Use
Garda station/constabulary barracks
In Use As
Garda station/constabulary barracks
Date
1925 - 1935
Coordinates
123132, 277036
Date Recorded
11/01/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay two-storey Garda Síochána station, surveyed 1929; built 1933, on a cruciform plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor; single-bay (single-bay deep) two-storey central return (west). Refenestrated, 2009. Pitched and hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan centred on pitched slate roof (west), clay ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having stringcourses below lichen-covered capping supporting terracotta pots, rooflights (west), and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Fine roughcast walls on rendered plinth. Square-headed window opening (porch) with concrete sill, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement window replacing two-over-two timber sash window. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement uPVC casement windows, 2009, replacing six-over-six timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds on a corner site.
Appraisal
A Garda Síochána station erected to designs by the Office of Public Works (established 1831) representing an important component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of Ballyglass with the architectural value of the composition, one repurposing an earlier constabulary barrack occupied (1901) by Sergeant Michael Hickie (----) and (1911) by Sergeant Myles Gilhooly (1865-1912), confirmed by such attributes as the compact symmetrical footprint centred on an expressed porch; 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 utilitarian interior: however, the recent (2009) introduction of replacement fittings to most of the openings has not had a beneficial impact on the character or integrity of a Garda Síochána station making a pleasing visual statement in a rural street scene.