Survey Data
Reg No
40833023
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Original Use
Shop/retail outlet
In Use As
Restaurant
Date
1870 - 1900
Coordinates
225810, 402998
Date Recorded
11/10/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached corner-sited end-of-terrace five-bay two-storey building (comprising three separate units) with dormer attic level, built c. 1885, having canted oriel window with canted gable-fronted dormer window over at attic level to the centre bay to three-bay section to the west, and having canted bay to the corner at the east end following road-alignment. In use as public house and restaurant with accommodation over. Pitched natural slate roof with overhanging eaves to front with exposed rafter ends, red clay ridge tiles, two stepped red brick chimneystacks with clay pots over, and with raised rendered coping to the gable end to the east having gable-fronted finial at eaves level. Timber bargeboards to gable-fronted dormers with timber spear finials to gable apexes. Smooth rendered walls over projecting smooth rendered plinth course, projecting rendered eaves course, and with rendered block quoins to the east end, and continuous moulded rendered sill course at first floor level with moulded rendered stringcourse under; moulded render stringcourse over ground floor openings (forming continuous fascia panel); moulded triangular finial\pediment to the east end of fascia panel. Moulded render rectangular motifs under ground floor window openings. Square-headed window openings at ground floor level having replacement fittings. Square-headed window openings at first floor level (tripartite to oriel window, and bays to either end) having flanking fluted pilasters, replacement windows, and with stucco pediment motifs over. Square-headed window openings to dormer openings having replacement windows. Square-headed doorways to either end of the main elevation having replacement timber doors and plain overlight. Central square-headed doorway having timber panelled door, flanking fluted pilasters with capitals, and with stucco pediment over. Painted shop names to fascia over bays to either end. Encaustic tiles to hallways to doorways. Road-fronted to the north-east corner of the Diamond, Raphoe. Modern galvanised steel gate to the east giving access to rear.
Appraisal
This appealing and well-detailed purpose-built collection of three commercial premises with accommodation over, dating to the end of the nineteenth century, retain much of their original form and character despite some modern alterations. The extensive moulded render detailing, including stringcourses and pedimented surrounds to the window openings at first floor level and to the central doorway, adds interest to the main elevation and creates an attractive composition. Additional interest is added by the oriel window, the canted corner to the east end that follows the road-alignment, and by the gable-fronted half-dormers with timber bargeboards and spear finials; that all combine to give this building a strong presence in the streetscape to the north-east corner of the Diamond to the centre of Raphoe. This building is similar in detailing to its neighbour (see 40833027) adjacent to the west, which suggests they were built around the same time and were possibly originally in the ownership of the same person\firm. Its integrity is enhanced by the retention of natural slate roof although the loss of the original fabric to the openings detracts somewhat from its visual appeal. This building forms an integral element of an interesting collection of eighteenth and nineteenth-century structures surrounding the Plantation-era Diamond at Raphoe, and is element of the built heritage of the town. The buildings of the Diamond are of greater significance together than on their own, resulting from their collective townscape character.