Shaw and Sons

Terraced five-bay four-storey building, c.1840, on a corner site retaining original fenestration with ten-bay four-storey side elevation to north-west. Renovated, c.1940, with replacement shopfront inserted to ground floor. Renovated, c.1990, with some openings remodelled to ground floor. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves. Painted rendered walls with channelling to ground floor, rendered fielded quoins to corners, rendered course to second floor, and dentilated cornice to eaves. Square-headed window openings with rendered sills (forming sill course to second floor) and moulded rendered surrounds (with consoled entablatures to first floor). 2/2, 3/6 and 6/6 timber sash windows. Bakelite shopfront, c.1940, to ground floor with fixed-pane display windows, and glazed fascia over having moulded cornice. Square-headed openings remodelled, c.1990, to part ground floor with replacement fixed-pane timber display windows, c.1990. Road fronted on a corner site with concrete flagged and concrete brick cobbled footpath to front.

This building is an attractive large-scale composition of balanced proportions that has been well maintained to present an almost-intact early aspect. The building is of significance as one of the earliest surviving purpose-built commercial ventures in Waterford City, and the present shopfront may incorporate fabric from the original shopfront on site. The building is distinguished by the fine moulded rendered dressings, which are of some artistic importance. Also of significance is the present shopfront, the Modern quality of which creates a visually interesting contrast against the Classical-style backdrop. Bakelite shopfronts are increasingly rare in the region, and the survival of an example on Meagher’s Quay is important. The building has a positive impact on the visual appeal of the streetscape, forming an important corner site linking the quay with Gladstone Street.