Survey Data
Reg No
60220039
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Library/archive
Date
1905 - 1910
Coordinates
318188, 225280
Date Recorded
27/02/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Façade of detached three- or five-bay single-storey library, designed 1907; dated 1907; opened 1907, on a T-shaped plan centred on three-bay single-storey lower breakfront. Burnt, 1982. Derelict, 1984. "Restored", 1997, to accommodate alternative use. Renovated, 2011. Replacement hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan extending into hipped slate roof (breakfront) with ridge tiles, paired rendered "wallhead" central chimney stacks on axis with ridge having cut-granite capping supporting ribbed terracotta tapered pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on paired cut-granite dentil consoles retaining cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls bellcast over rendered chamfered plinth with margined rock faced cut-granite piers to corners. Square-headed central door opening with cut-granite step threshold, and cut-granite surround framing replacement glazed timber panelled double doors. Square-headed flanking window openings in tripartite arrangement with cut-granite sills, cut-granite monolithic mullions, and rendered "bas-relief" surrounds framing replacement two-over-two timber sash windows. Interior remodelled, 2011. Set back from line of road in relandscaped grounds with piers to perimeter having pyramidal capping supporting replacement mild steel gate.
Appraisal
The façade of a library erected to a design by Rudolph Maximilian Butler (1872-1943) of Dawson Street, Dublin (Irish Builder 12th January 1907, 24), representing an integral component of the early twentieth-century built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Butler-designed Glencullen Carnegie Free Library (1907; see 60250024) and 'illustrating his straightforward and effective approach to planning' (Grimes 1998, 231), suggested by such attributes as the symmetrical frontage centred on a pedimented doorcase demonstrating good quality workmanship in a silver-grey granite; the multipartite glazing patterns; and the monolithic stone work embellishing a high pitched roofline.