Glenaulin Nursing Home

Detached five-bay two-storey former house, built 1903, with full-height bay window to front (south) elevation, circular-plan two-storey towers to east and west elevations, three-storey return and recent extension to north elevation. Now in use as nursing home. Hipped slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and red brick chimneystacks. M-profile hipped slate roof to return. Conical terracotta tiled roofs to towers, with copper wind vane to east tower. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond, with moulded brick dentillated eaves course, and string courses over ground floor. Segmental-headed window openings, having red brick voussoirs, replacement uPVC windows and cut granite sills. Timber-framed oriel window to east elevation of return, having single-pane timber sash windows. Elliptical-headed entrance arch to front elevation with elliptical-headed door opening set within open porch, having tiled floor and two granite steps. Double-leaf timber panelled doors with stained glass panels and early brass door furniture. Elliptical-headed door opening to west elevation, having double-leaf timber panelled door, with stained glass panels and rectangular overlight. Located to south of River Liffey.

This substantial house retains many of its principal exterior features, including the attractive doorcases and doors. The use of machine-made red brick is typical of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while the towers are an unusual and attractive feature. The former residence is picturesquely located on the south bank of the River Liffey and was constructed in 1903 for Mr. Tim Healy, the first Governor General of the Irish Free State. Healy’s nationalist sentiments are expressed in a large fireplace in the entrance hall that is decorated with Celtic Revival zoomorphic ornament.