Survey Data
Reg No
50020197
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Sun & Patriotic Insurance Company
Original Use
Office
In Use As
Bank/financial institution
Date
1905 - 1915
Coordinates
315786, 234073
Date Recorded
19/03/2015
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached two-bay five-storey office, built 1909, having recent attic storey, with shopfront to front (south) elevation. Flat roof having yellow brick chimneystacks with clay pots hidden behind sandstone balustraded parapet. Carved sandstone modillion cornice and eaves course having pulvinated frieze with egg-and-dart motif, over ashlar sandstone walls, raised sandstone quoins to first floor, carved wreath and ribbon motifs to second floor, double-height engaged Ionic columns to second and third floors over carved granite cornice and channelled granite having granite quoins to ground floor. Square-headed window openings with carved sandstone panelled pilasters, having scrolled brackets supporting segmental pediments and mild steel balconettes to first floor. Square-headed window openings with carved sandstone architraves to upper floors. Timber casement windows throughout. Oculi to ground floor, rusticated granite surrounds and cast-iron openwork panels. Shopfront to ground floor comprising central round-headed opening flanked by square-headed window openings, carved granite archivolt having scrolled keystone supported on Tuscan columns, double-leaf glazed timber door with timber cornice and plain fanlight. Square-headed window openings with mild steel security railings and plain timber-framed display windows. Located on north side of College Green at junction with Dame Street.
Appraisal
College Green has a long history and was recorded as a meeting place in the Viking period. Following the establishment of Trinity College it became a popular location for large townhouses and illustrations show terraces of gable-fronted houses on both sides of the street. The street was widened, remodelled and aligned with Dame Street by the Wide Street Commissioners in the 1780s. New commercial enterprises and financial institutions were introduced to the street in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at which time many of the existing buildings were rebuilt or remodelled. This building was designed by Horace (or Horatio) Porter in 1908-09 for the Sun & Patriotic Insurance Company. The combination of ashlar sandstone and channelled granite provides textural and tonal variation to the façade. The work of an experienced carver is evident in the well-executed wreaths and Classical-style details, adding visual interest to the façade. The decorative cast-iron plaques to the ground floor are testament to the artisanship involved in the manufacture of cast-ironwork.