Survey Data
Reg No
40815065
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1900 - 1910
Coordinates
234449, 431891
Date Recorded
12/09/2008
Date Updated
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Description
End-of-terrace two-bay three-storey house, built c. 1905, having two-storey flat-roofed canted bay window to the north end of the front elevation (west). Three-storey return and two-storey extension to the rear (east). One of a terrace of four with neighbouring buildings to the south (altered and not in survey). Pitched artificial slate roof having stepped red brick chimneystack to the north gable end. Smooth rendered walls. Square headed window openings having stone sills, and with one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows at ground and first floor level, and with eight-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows at second floor level. Rendered lugged architraved surround to window over entrance at first floor level, continuous moulded sill courses to canted bay window. Square headed door opening to the south end of the front elevation (west) having timber panelled double-doors, overlight, and with render surround comprising Doric pilasters with segmental pediment over. Set back from road in own grounds with garden to front of site. Located to the west of the centre of Buncrana overlooking Lough Swilly to the west. Garden to front enclosed by rendered boundary wall having decorative cast-iron railings over. Pedestrian gateway to site comprising a pair of cast-iron gate posts with decorative cast-iron gate.
Appraisal
This substantial terraced house, of early twentieth-century date, retains its early form and character. The plain front elevation is enlivened by the two-storey canted bay window, which is a feature of many buildings of its type and date in this part of Buncrana, and indeed throughout Ireland. Its visual expression and integrity is enhanced by the retention of original fabric such as the timber sliding sash windows and the timber panelled double-doors. The plain front elevation is enlivened by the surround to the doorcase having segmental pediment, and by the lugged architraved surround to the window opening over. It forms part of an attractive and imposing formal terrace of four houses along with its neighbours to the south (altered and not in survey), and this is the only building along this terrace that retains the majority of its salient fabric. This terrace of four buildings may be the one built to designs by the Derry architect Robert Eccles Buchanan (b. 1864/5) in 1901 (Irish Builder). This building originally dates from the period when Buncrana was a popular seaside resort, frequented by the middle classes of Derry, particularly following the opening of the railway line to the town in 1864. Its forms part of an interesting group of substantial houses and villas built to the west and south-west of Buncrana during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. This building is an integral element of the architectural heritage of Buncrana, and is an attractive feature in the streetscape to the west of the town centre. The attractive and intricate cast-iron gate and railings add significantly to the setting and context, and complete this composition.