Survey Data
Reg No
50070162
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Cavalry Square/Horse Square/Royal Barracks
Original Use
Barracks
Date
1780 - 1800
Coordinates
313959, 234462
Date Recorded
12/11/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached twelve-bay three-storey military barracks, built c.1710, rebuilt c.1790, having single-storey porch to front (east) elevation and two-bay toilet block extensions added c.1890 to rear (west) elevation. Now disused. Hipped slate roof, clay ridge tiles, red brick chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goods. Rubble calp limestone walls, dressed calp limestone block-and-start quoins. Granite plinth course. Red brick, laid in English Garden Wall bond, to toilet blocks to rear, lined-and-ruled render to porch to front. Square-headed window openings, granite sills, surrounds and six-over-six pane timber sash windows. Some cast-iron railings to ground floor window openings. Square-headed window openings, granite sills, red brick voussoirs and four-over-four pane timber sash windows to toilet blocks. Square-headed window opening to front of porch, render surround, granite sill and tripartite timber sash window, comprising central six-over-six pane timber sash window flanked by two-over-two pane sidelights. Round-headed door openings to front, granite surrounds, half-glazed timber panelled doors, carved granite lintels and spoked fanlights over. Square-headed door openings to front, rear (west) elevation and to north of porch, dressed granite surrounds, timber battened door to rear, blocked to front, timber panelled door to porch. Door to rear accessed via perron with cut granite steps.
Appraisal
The construction of the Royal Barracks was initiated by the 2nd Duke of Ormonde at the close of the seventeenth century, and was funded by a tax on tobacco and beer. Such a large scale residential barracks was an entirely new concept, and until the departure of the Irish Army from the site in the twenty-first century, it was considered the largest and oldest occupied barracks in Europe. The Royal Barracks originally comprised three open-fronted squares laid out side by side, and this block formed the west range of Horse Square, the most westerly and smallest of the three. It later became known as Cavalry Square, and originally provided stabling for 150 horses as well as accommodation for officers upstairs, later being rebuilt when stable blocks were built to the north. Originally designed by Thomas Burgh, Charles Brooking's map of the city of Dublin of 1728 shows a courtyard with closed corners, and ranges with pitched roofs. Its current character dates from the late eighteenth-century rebuilding, although it may contain earlier fabric. The formal, functional plan of this building is complemented by an unadorned façade, with a regularity of design and proportion seen in the even fenestration arrangement. The use of coursed rubble calp in the walls contributes to its stoic, forbidding aspect, and is subtly enlivened by granite detailing.