Government Buildings

Detached symmetrical single-storey building with double-height interior and half dormer attic, built c. 1910 as part of Royal College of Science. Front (north) elevation has nine framed units, middle having pedimented doorway flanked by triple windows, outermost projecting slightly and having doorway and paired windows, and others having two sets of triple windows. Now in use as government offices and refurbished c. 2008. Pitched roof, hipped to middle section, with lead-capped parapet raised to entrance bays. Ashlar granite chimneystack and corbelled brown brick chimneystack with concrete coping, having terracotta pots. Ashlar granite walling over plinth, with crown cornice, modillioned to front elevation. Square-headed recessed frames to window units and end doorways. Windows units have granite mullions, splayed flush granite sills, moulded cornice with keystone-like device to middle, and replacement four-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows; six-over-six pane windows to east gable in plain granite surrounds, and paired timber dormers to each frame and concealed behind parapet. Outermost bays have plainly detailed square-headed door opening with replacement timber battened double-leaf doors, accessed by granite steps. Main entrance has shoulder-headed doorway with pitching door overhead with timber lintels and replacement timber battened doors within segmental-headed recess having modillioned granite open-bed pediment breaking through crown cornice on angled console brackets; timber hoist fixed to upper lintel. Located to rear of Merrion Row, accessed through ornate ironwork gates from Upper Merrion Street, within grounds of Government Building complex.

This ancillary building for the former Royal College of Science has an unusual double-height form with classical detailing and excellent granite masonry. The pedimented main entrance recalls the first floor windows to the Government Buildings quadrangle and the rest of the elevation is enhanced by the stone dressings and unusual groupings of openings. Retention of the hoist is a reminder of the nature of the building as being at least partly a store.