Survey Data
Reg No
50070146
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Previous Name
Kingsbridge Pantechnicon
Original Use
Store/warehouse
In Use As
Office
Date
1875 - 1885
Coordinates
313788, 234450
Date Recorded
06/11/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached ten-bay three-storey former furniture store, built c.1880, having gable-fronted end bay to west of front (south) elevation. Now in use as office accommodation. Pitched slate roof, hipped to east, with rendered chimneystack, red brick string course and cast-iron rainwater goods. Snecked dressed calp limestone to walls, red brick block-and-start quoins and cast-iron wall-ties. Render to west elevation. Oculus to apex of end bay, red brick surround, blocked. Square-headed window openings, red brick voussoirs and surrounds, limestone sills and replacement timber windows. Segmental-arched window openings to end-bay, red brick voussoirs, surround, limestone sills and replacement timber bowed windows. Square-headed window and door openings to ground floor to front, red brick voussoirs and surrounds, replacement uPVC windows and doors. Segmental-arched opening to ground floor of end bay, red brick voussoirs and surrounds, timber-framed doors.
Appraisal
Having been restored for use as commercial accommodation, this building retains much of its form and character, with red brick used to good effect to enhance the calp limestone of the walls. It is reminiscent of the commercial and industrial heritage of the city. 14-22 Parkgate Street was listed as 'building ground' in Thom's Directory of 1860. 14-23 Parkgate Street was the premises of Fishbourne & Co. yard and stables in 1870, with a value listed of just £27. By 1881, it was in the hands of Henry F. Robertson, carrier, yard and stables with the same value given, but by 1882 the value was given as £95, indicating development or rebuilding took place at this time. Three years later it was occupied by Robert Strahan and Co, the Dublin Pantechnicon & furniture depositories, yard and stables, and remained in this use through to the early twentieth-century. A pantechnicon was originally a horse-drawn furniture moving vehicle, although it became used as a term for this building. The Strahans were a major furniture manufacturers (founded in 1776) who also provided a storage facility for furniture here.