Guinness Brewery

Corner-sited attached double-pile seven-bay two-storey vathouse, built c.1870, having two-bay double gable-fronted elevation to south. Now disused. M-profile pitched roofs with cast-iron rainwater goods and granite verge stone to gables. Metal access deck at eaves level to front (east) elevation. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond having dressed snecked limestone to ground floor, cut limestone quoins and buttresses. Round-arched window openings to first floor having granite sills, brick voussoirs, recent metal grilles and security bars. Round-arched openings to ground floor having brick voussoirs, covered by recent metal panel to exterior. Cast-iron railings to front area.

Vathouse No.4 is part of the Guinness brewery that was founded in 1759 when Arthur Guinness purchased buildings and lands south of James's Gate from Mark Rainsford, and subsequently expanded in all directions. The brewery underwent extensive rebuilding in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, including the construction of this and adjacent buildings on Rainsford Street, used for the storage and maturation of beer. Skilled stonemasonry is evident in the limestone detailing and the building retains its early industrial character.