Survey Data
Reg No
40000341
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Social
Previous Name
The White House
Original Use
House
In Use As
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1850 - 1890
Coordinates
241991, 304726
Date Recorded
14/06/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay three-storey house, built c.1870, with shopfront to ground floor and three-storey extension of c.1975 to rear. Pitched slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods. Ruled-and-lined rendered walls with channel-jointed quoins. Square-headed window openings with one-over-one timber sliding sash windows, painted sills and moulded architraves. Square-headed door to upstairs accommodation north of shopfront with moulded architrave and historic timber panelled door. Shopfront to ground floor flanked by panelled pilasters with decorative stucco corbels supporting fascia and cornice incorporating awning, tilted signage band with 'Footwear FOX, Specialist.' in historic gilt lettering. Recessed glazed timber door with overlight flanked by curved glass display windows with slender colonette corner mullions over rendered panelled stall risers in corresponding curve. Mosaic-tiled threshold laid in fan pattern with coloured meander border and inlaid serif lettering reading 'THE WHITE HOUSE'.
Appraisal
An elegant well preserved shopfront, which is one of the most striking on Main Street, that includes curved glass, slender mullions and low stall risers. The quality of the materials and composition attests to the former importance of Main Street as an elegant shopping area. The tiled threshold recording an earlier name of the shop demonstrates skill in design and execution which was commonplace in former times but now quite rare. It illustrates how the retention of earlier names can enhance the visual appeal and historical interest of a building. The shop has been run by the same family since 1928 and is a part of the commercial and social history of Cavan town. The house is a well composed building, which despite loss of its characteristic chimney stacks retains much of its historic appearance and details and makes a strong contribution to the historic town centre.