Survey Data
Reg No
40843015
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1800 - 1840
Coordinates
192898, 378446
Date Recorded
06/02/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay three-storey house, built c. 1830 with modern shopfront to the ground floor and integral segmental-headed/basket-arched carriage-arch to the north end of the front elevation (east). Possibly formerly in use as a constabulary barracks c. 1900. Pitched natural slate roof with projecting eaves course, and having smooth rendered chimneystack to the south gable end. Roughcast rendered walls with smooth rendered bands to margins and smooth rendered band to eaves. Square-headed window openings having rendered architrave surrounds and one-over-one pane horned timber sliding sash windows. Modern shopfront to the ground floor having glazed door, square-headed window openings with fixed-pane display windows, and having fluted timber pilasters support timber fascia over with console brackets to either end and with dentil course to head. Road-fronted to the centre of Donegal Town overlooking The Diamond to the east.
Appraisal
This substantial terraced building, of early-to-mid nineteenth-century appearance, retains its early form and much of its early character despite the insertion of a modern shopfront in recent years. Its form having an integral carriage-arch is a typical feature of many buildings of this type in urban contexts in Ireland, and originally gave access to outbuildings and yard to the rear. Its visual expression is enhanced by the retention of features such as the natural slate roof and the timber sliding sash windows, while the rendered architraves to the window openings on the upper floors adds an element of decoration to the otherwise plain main elevation. This building is the best surviving example along a terrace of three three-storey buildings to the north-west corner of The Diamond, and it makes a positive contribution to the streetscape at the centre of Donegal Town. This building may have been in use as a constabulary barracks c. 1900 (appears to be indicated as such on a twenty-five inch map of the town). This building is a modest addition to the built heritage of Donegal Town.