Sundrive Garda Station

Detached U-plan ten-bay two-storey red brick Garda Síochána station, built c.1945, with six-bay south-west and north-east elevation, and two-storey flat-roofed extension between returns to rear (north-west) elevation. Hipped terracotta tiled roofs having terracotta ridge tiles, red brick chimney stacks having cut stone coping, slightly sprocketed eaves, and cast-iron rainwater goods on carved granite cornice to eaves. Red brick walls laid in stretcher bond over concrete plinth course. Square-headed window openings with cut stone sills, red brick soldier course voussoirs to ground floor, and six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed door opening with carved granite block-and-start doorcase with cornice, granite steps, granite planters, and double-leaf timber panelled doors. Set back from road with red brick English bond boundary wall and corner piers having cut stone coping, metal railings and double-leaf gates.

An elegantly-composed large-scale Garda Station, built to a standard design prepared by the Board of Public Works, forming an appealing focal point in the streetscape of Crumlin Road. It recalls a contemporary station located in Harcourt Terrace, Dublin, built in 1946. Despite its construction at the height of Modernism, the design of the station is grounded in long-established traditions with a symmetrical plan and classically-derived proportions, redolent of the neo-Georgian style. The construction in red brick with cut stone dressings creates a sober and conservative facade, an appropriate face for the relatively new police force. The off-centre door opening enlivens an otherwise symmetrical façade. A well-maintained building, the station presents an early aspect with much fabric surviving intact, and makes a positive impression on the character of the locality.