Survey Data
Reg No
40904807
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Original Use
School
Date
1900 - 1905
Coordinates
172423, 415341
Date Recorded
07/04/2014
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached single-storey Gothic Revival Erasmus Smith school, dated 1902, with three-bay main block facing southwest having projecting gabled porch, and single-bay section to northwest end. Now derelict. Pitched purple slate roof, with raised parapets having rendered copings with gablet kneeler stones, shamrock finials to all gables, corbelled dentillated eaves course, gable to mid-facade having shield plaque within oculus inscribed 'Burtonport Erasmus Smith School 1902', and cast-iron rainwater goods. Wet-dashed-rendered walls with stepped buttresses to front elevation. Paired square-headed narrow window openings to northwest end of front elevation and triple-light trefoil-headed windows (with transoms) to mid-facade and to southeast gable, with integral sills and cut-stone surrounds. Shouldered-arch doorway to porch with cut-stone surround. Interior has vaulted ceiling with exposed timber trusses on brackets with diagonally set timber sheeting. Set in overgrown grounds adjacent to Roshin Lodge, with square-plan piers to south and double-leaf steel gate.
Appraisal
Burtonport Erasmus Smith School is a fine early twentieth-century building, designed by William Pinkerton in a subdued Gothic Revival style. Although now derelict, the building is of considerable architectural interest, having steeply pitched roofs to the main hall, porch and half-dormer, stone finials, kneeler stones and buttresses, all enhancing the composition and showing the quality of craftsmanship. Of particular merit are the tripartite trefoil-headed openings, ecclesiastical in nature, further enlivening the facade. Erasmus Smith was a Cromwellian adventurer who bequeathed his fortune for the furtherance of education.