Achill Sound Courthouse

Detached single-bay (three-bay deep) single-storey pedimented courthouse, dated 1938, on a rectangular plan. Pitched (gable-fronted) and hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, concrete coping to gable, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods on box eaves. Rendered wall to front (north) elevation with rendered monolithic pediment framing inscribed date stone ("1938") in moulded rendered frame; roughcast surface finish (remainder) on rendered chamfered plinth. Square-headed central door opening behind series of three round-headed openings with rendered surround framing timber panelled double doors. Square-headed window openings (side elevations) with concrete sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows. Full-height interior retaining timber panelled fittings. Set back from line of street.

A courthouse representing an integral component of the twentieth-century built heritage of Gob an Choire [Achill Sound] with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the contemporary Ballycroy Courthouse (1939; see 31304403) and Kilkelly Courthouse (1939; see 31307203) and thereby attributable to Thomas Patrick Flanagan (1895-1980), County Surveyor for County Mayo (appointed 1924), suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form; and the streamlined Classical frontispiece. Having been well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a courthouse forming part of a self-contained group alongside a later Garda Síochána station (1949) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a waterside village street scene.