Survey Data
Reg No
40843026
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1860 - 1900
Coordinates
193051, 378424
Date Recorded
06/02/2008
Date Updated
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Description
Attached four-bay three-storey house, built or heavily altered c.1880, with shopfront to ground floor, c. 1950. Integral square-headed carriage arch to the east end of the main elevation (south). One of a pair with the building adjacent to the west (see 40843025). Pitched artificial slate roof with overhanging bracketed eaves with cornice, clayware ridge tiles, and having smooth rendered chimneystacks to either end (east and west) with rendered coping over. Cast-iron downpipe. Smooth rendered walls with rendered block-and-start quoins to the corners/margins at first and second floor levels. Stringcourse at second floor level. Diminishing segmental-headed window openings to the upper floors having one-over-one pane timber sash windows. Continuous render/stucco stringcourses to upper floors, moulded and bracketed at first floor level. Render stringcourse to the first floor level forming hoodmoulding with keystone detail over window openings. Square-headed display windows at ground floor level having fixed-pane windows. Central square-headed doorway shopfront having timber double-doors and plain overlight. Raised lettering over shopfront. Square-headed doorway, offset to the east side of centre and giving access to upper floors, having replacement timber door flanked by pilasters with console brackets over, and having leaded overlight with stained/coloured glass. Timber double doors to carriage arch. Road-fronted to the east of Donegal Town centre, to the centre of Main Street.
Appraisal
This substantial and well-detailed building, of late nineteenth-century appearance, retains its early form and much of its early character despite alterations at ground floor level. Its architectural integrity is enhanced by the retention of features such as the timber sliding sash windows to the upper floors. The front elevation is enlivened by the render decoration to the upper floors, while the pronounced overhanging bracket eaves is a distinctive feature that gives this building (and its neighbour to the west) an interesting roofline and a strong presence in the streetscape to the east of Donegal Town centre. The scale and decorative treatment of this building suggests that it was originally built in conjunction with (or slightly before) the building to the east (see 40853025). The scale of these two buildings suggests that they may have been originally constructed as a hotel or substantial commercial premises. It was formerly in use as a hardware store. This building is an integral element of the built heritage of Donegal Town, making a positive contribution to the streetscape along the main approach road into the town centre from the east.