Estate house

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Two storey three bay house in brick with hipped slate roof and brick chimneys to either side of central entrance hall. Flat brick arch over windows and door painted white. Bricks on jambs of openings also painted in a quoin like pattern. Small fanlight over two panelled entrance door. Window to each side of door, three aligning above, all with sandstone cills and sashed. Victorian pattern to sash windows i.e. central pane much wider than side lights. 12 panes of glass to each window. Main facade faces south west towards Drenagh House (HB02/11/002A).

The side facade on the south east is blank. The side facade on the north west has a glazed door (Georgian pattern) with flat fanlight in the centre and a sashed window as described at first floor a little nearer the rear. A kitchen extension two thirds the width of the house aligns to the back. It is made of reclaimed brick with stained boarding at first floor. Two wide casement windows align at ground and first floor. The main roof extends over the return unbroken.

The rear elevation shows a second pair of casement windows, one at each level, exactly as the north west, and near that facade. A second such window is at the other end of the return at first floor, (which extends across two thirds of the width). Victorian sashes at ground and first aligning with the front of the house on the remaining building. Access to the kitchen is from a door at the junction of the return.

The house is situated in flat farm land on the Drenagh Estate. To the south east, and rear, a forested area plunges steeply to the Curly River.

Historical information

Not recorded on 1848 - 52 Ordnance Survey map. Shown on 1907 map. From design of Victorian windows in a ‘Georgian’ shell, it probably dates from the early 1860s and may be associated with improvements to the estate circa 1865 when Broad Road was moved to the other side of Drumahose Church (HB02/11/004). Like most estate properties the building was renovated during the Second World War to accommodate RAF Personnel. During the 1960s its occupant was Frances Rhodes designer of the Moon Garden (HB02/11/002F) who may have been responsible for alterations to the hearth fireplace. The back return was demolished and rebuilt in the late 1970s. The present occupant has lived in the house six years.

References:

Ordnance Survey Maps
Occupant (1997)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Of interest mainly as a surviving example of a Drenagh Estate house. Most have been sold and renovated with the application of pebble dash, (Cahery House on 84 Broad Road is an example of this). Its Georgian plan layout is in contrast with the roughly contemporary ‘Pheasantry’ (HB02/11/0002 I) which has a more vernacular three room plan layout.