Saint Joseph's National School

Detached multiple-bay single-storey school, built c.1955, having a flat-roofed block running along the length of the building to the entrance front (north) and single-storey wings with canopied entrances and toilet blocks flanking main block to either side (east and west). Water tower on square-plan attached to the east end and a single-storey extension to the rear (running north to south). Pitched tiled roof with overhanging eaves and a pair of rendered chimneystacks to the main body of building. Flat roof to side wings and a shallow pitched roof over the water tower. Pebbledash walls over smooth rendered plinth to main body of building with banded block detailing to side wings. Square-headed window openings with rendered reveals, painted stone or concrete sills and a variety of window types - timber sliding sash, metal casement and uPVC. Square-headed door openings with timber doors to side wings having concrete canopies over. Set back from road in extensive grounds to the east side of Rathwire. Rendered boundary wall and mild steel entrance gates to the road-frontage.

A pleasantly-composed modest-scale rural national school built to a standard design prepared by the Office of Public Works accommodating classrooms together with associated ranges in a wholly integrated compact design. Having been well-maintained, this school presents an early aspect and retains much of its early form, character and a great deal of its early fabric. The architectural style used in the construction of this school building is typical of the linear style used throughout Ireland in the 1950s, particularly for school buildings, which blended traditional Irish building forms with contemporary international design elements. The water tower to the west end is a typical feature of national school from the period and this feature breaks the rigid symmetrical form of the design and adds incident to the skyline.