Survey Data
Reg No
60260164
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Wilford originally Wilfort House
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1700 - 1812
Coordinates
325550, 219817
Date Recorded
21/03/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay (three-bay deep) two-storey over basement house, extant 1812, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay full-height "bas-relief" breakfront with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor; three-bay full-height rear (north) elevation. Occupied, 1911. Sold, 2000. Restored, 2001-2. For sale, 2010. Replacement hipped slate roof on a quadrangular plan centred on lantern, lichen-spotted clay or terracotta ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having cut-granite capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods rendered eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered replacement rendered, ruled and lined walls on cut-granite chamfered cushion course on rendered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to corners. Central door opening into house. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six (ground floor) or six-over-three (first floor) timber sash windows. Hipped segmental-headed central door opening to rear (north) elevation with concealed dressings framing timber panelled double doors having sidelights below fanlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six or six-over-three (top floor) timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered piers to perimeter having "Cyma Recta"- or "Cyma Reversa"-detailed cornices below capping supporting spear head-detailed wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A house representing an important component of the late eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds with Bray Head and the Great Sugar Loaf as picturesque eye-catchers in the distance; the symmetrical footprint centred on an expressed, albeit replacement porch; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original or sympathetically replicated fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments 'in the style of the Dublin stuccadores Michael Stapleton [c.1747-1801] and George Stapleton [1777-1844]', all highlight the artistic potential of the composition (Pearson 1998, 38). Furthermore, a symmetrically-composed coach house-cum-stable outbuilding (extant 1837); and a walled garden (extant 1909), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained estate having historic connections with Charles Lawrence Toole (d. 1875; Lewis 1837 I, 392); Captain Arthur Blundell George Sandys Hill (1837-1923) 'of Wilford Bray County Wicklow [sic]' (Howard and Crisp 1898 II, 5); Lieutenant Colonel George Rowan Hamilton JP (1845-1920), 'late of Wilford Bray County Wicklow [sic]' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1920, n.p.); and Richard S.G. Fowler (1881-1961).