Saint Mary's Convent

Attached seven-bay two-storey limestone school, built c. 1870, with polychrome brick dressing. Pitched slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods, the gutters of which rest on a polychrome brick eaves course. Three red brick chimneystacks, one to the north gabled wall with yellow brick stringcourses. Coursed squared rubble limestone walls with red brick corner pilasters with yellow brick detailing. Red and yellow brick stringcourses at first floor sill level to the gabled side elevation. Segmental-headed window openings to front side and rear elevation, with red brick arches, block-and-start reveals, and limestone sills surrounding replacement uPVC windows. Windows form tripartite composition to gabled side elevation. Mild steel security grilles to all windows on Bishop Street elevation. Segmental-headed door opening with red brick arch having yellow brick keystone, red brick reveal with stepped yellow brick inner reveal, replacement panelled timber double-leaf doors with replacement uPVC glazed overlight. Modern school attached to south with building site adjacent to north.

The national school is part of Saint Mary's Convent, whose establishment dates back to 1812 and is an important part of the City's history. The school was founded by the Sisters of Mercy. The site comprised of two separate buildings and are marked on the 1872 edition of the Ordnance Survey of Limerick as 'St. Mary's National Schools'. Which suggests that there was a male and a female building. Very much adhering to the nineteenth-century educational building typology, composed of restrained, yet effective, architectural detailing, Saint Mary's indicates the economic considerations behind its construction. The north and west elevations of the school, in particular, demonstrate interesting brick detailing.