Gate Lodge

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

An asymmetrical single-storey three-bay gate lodge, formerly marking the entrance to St Luke's Hospital (formerly Lunatic Asylum) (HB15/16/009A), on the Loughgall Road, north of Armagh city. Constructed c.1825 to designs by Francis Johnston and William Murray. Rectangular on plan, without abutments.

Hipped natural slate roof, patched in places, with angled hip and ridge tiles and two limestone chimneystacks; that to west on a brick base, that to east on a stone base. Ashlar limestone eaves support cast iron rainwater goods. Walling is limestone rubble bedded in lime mortar, built to courses to front and sides, random construction to rear. Dressed sweeping chamfered quoins to all corners. Openings have dressed long-and-short limestone surrounds and projecting ashlar cills, except where otherwise stated. All openings are infilled with concrete blocks.

Principal elevation faces north and has a door opening to right of centre having a window opening to right and two to left.

Side elevations each have a single window opening.

Rear elevation has a single window opening formed in brick.

Setting:
The lodge is set at the former main entrance to St Luke's Hospital, now blocked off by four dwarf bollards. Opposite the lodge is a tall rectancular entrance screen in dressed Armagh limestone, having the same swept-chamfer detail to corner and supporting the remains of an original lamp standard. The stone boundary wall to the site abuts the gate screen to north and the lodge to south (this south section has been rebuilt). The avenue is now grassed over although trees indicate its former sweep. A new entrance to the hospital has been created to south, with a secondary entrance to north.

Roof: Slate
Walling: Limestone
Windows: Infilled
RWG: Cast iron

Historical information

The single-storey gate lodge at St. Luke’s Hospital was constructed in c. 1825. It was built for the adjoining hospital which originally was Armagh’s Lunatic Asylum (built 1820-25 - see HB15/16/009A) and was designed by the same architects. The classical asylum and its gate lodge were designed by Francis Johnston and William Murray. The Dictionary of Irish Architects notes that Francis Johnston (1760-1829) and Murray (1789-1849) were Dublin-based architects. As architect to the Board of Works Johnston was responsible for the design of the General Post Office in Dublin and, during the 1820s, a series of buildings for the Commissioners for the Erection of Lunatic Asylums. In 1822 William Murray became Johnston’s assistant and the pair designed the standard layout of the Lunatic Asylums in Belfast, Londonderry and Armagh (DIA).

Johnston and Murray’s original Lunatic Asylums at Belfast and Londonderry have been demolished leaving the Armagh asylum and its gate lodge is the sole surviving example of their design in Northern Ireland. Dean states that the gate lodge in Armagh possessed ‘a standard plan no doubt used at the other two locations … three-bay symmetrical and two-roomed.’ The lodge was first recorded on the 1835 Ordnance Survey of Armagh which depicted the building as a small square-plan building. The contemporary Townland Valuations did not value the lodge separately but set the combined value of the asylum and its grounds at £200 (between the 1830s and 1972 the valuation sources continued to value the lodge along with the asylum).

When first completed the gate lodge was smaller than it is now; an additional bay and chimney have been added to the building. The adjoining asylum continues to be utilised as a medical building having been converted into St. Luke’s Hospital, however the gate lodge is no longer occupied and has had all its windows and openings blocked up with concrete blocks. The original entrance is no longer utilised (a new entrance to the site has been opened to the south) and the original gate screen has been removed (Dean, p. 40; Listing Query Files).

References

Primary Sources
1. PRONI OS/6/2/5/1 – First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1835)
2. PRONI OS/6/2/5/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map (1860)
3. PRONI OS/6/2/5/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1905-06)
4. PRONI OS/6/2/5/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map (1948-49)
5. PRONI VAL/1/B/2A – Townland Valuations (c. 1830)
6. PRONI VAL/2/B/2/1G - Griffith’s Valuation (c. 1862)
7. PRONI VAL/12/B/10/4B-4H – Annual Revisions (1864-1899)
8. PRONI VAL/12/B/10/8A-C – Annual Revisions (1899-1929)
9. Ulster Town Directories (1852-1943)
10. First Survey Record – HB15/16/013 (1970)
11. NIEA Listing Query Files – HB15/LQ060
Secondary Sources
1. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Online Resources
1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.ie

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
V. Authorship
R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance

Evaluation

An asymmetrical early nineteenth-century single-storey three-bay gate lodge with gate screen, built c.1829 to designs by Francis Johnston and William Murray, and, along with the former Asylum, thought to be the sole surviving example of their asylum work in Northern Ireland. The lodge is located at the former entrance to what is now St Luke's Hospital (HB15/16/009A), at the north side of Armagh City. Like the hospital, the lodge is characterised by restrained but elegant detailing in distinctive Armagh limestone, characteristic of early nineteenth-century institutional architecture. Although now disused, the lodge contributes to the integrity of the historic hospital group and is prominently set along the Loughgall Road, representing an important part of the evolution of the site.

General comments

First survey record under a separate HB No HB15/16/013.

Listing Criteria R - Age; S - Authenticity and T - Historic Importance also apply.