McDowells

Attached pair of three-bay two-storey former houses with attic accommodation, dated 1868, now in use as public house and having shopfronts to front (south) elevation, with lower two-storey lean-to return to rear (north) elevation. Pitched slate and artificial slate roof having rooflights, lined-and-ruled rendered chimneystack to west gable, rendered parapet with cornice to front (south) elevation, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls, having channelled quoins, and painted lettering. Square-headed window openings, having rendered window surrounds, painted sills, and one-over-one pane timber sash windows. Shopfront to west comprising central display windows flanked by door openings, timber panelled pilasters with carved foliated consoles flanking fascia and dentillated cornice. Timber framed windows, panelled riser, timber panelled double-leaf door to public house, sheeted timber door with plain overlight to east. Later shopfront to east, having recent steel shutters.

This public house occupies a corner site on Emmet Road and shares similar scale and proportions with neighbouring buildings, making a positive contribution to a coherent streetscape. Its form is enhanced by render detailing such as its window surrounds and quoins, while timber sash windows add a patina of age. The survival of the shopfronts is significant, demonstrating the quality of craftsmanship in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Richmond House was a popular public house with the soldiers of Richmond Barracks, an infantry barracks built to the immediate south in 1810 and closed in 1924. The public house is of social as well as architectural interest, and is painted in the colours of Saint Patrick’s Athletic Football Club, with the rear of the building overlooking Richmond Park stadium to the north.