Suva House

Detached three-bay two-storey house, c.1830, retaining early fenestration to first floor. Renovated, c.1900, with render shopfront inserted to ground floor. Extended, c.1975, comprising three-bay two-storey flat-roofed return to rear to south-east. Gable-ended roof with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves course. Flat-roofed to return. Bitumen felt. Timber eaves. Plastic rainwater goods. Rendered walls. Painted. Square-headed window openings. Stone sills (concrete to return). Early 1/1 timber sash windows (timber casement windows to return). Render shopfront, c.1900, to ground floor with pilasters having moulded necking, fixed-pane (five-light) timber display window and glazed timber door having render fascia over with moulded cornice. Road fronted. Concrete flagged footpath to front. Laneway along side elevation to north-east.

This house is an attractive composition of graceful balanced proportions that retains most of its original form and fabric to the first floor. Renovated over the course of the twentieth century, the render shopfront to ground floor is an attractive addition to the building, although the late twentieth-century extension to rear has been built in a manner unsympathetic to the original integrity of the design, in terms of scale, the proportions of openings, and so on. The house retains some important early features and materials, including timber sash fenestration and a slate roof having cast-iron rainwater goods. The render shopfront to ground floor, which alludes to the true traditional Irish model without superfluous ornamentation, is a good example of the quality of craftsmanship practised in the locality, although the modern roller shutter box to the fascia is an unattractive feature. The house is of social and historical interest, the shopfront providing early evidence of the commercialisation of Maynooth. The house has a positive impact on the streetscape of Main Street, continuing the established streetline and roofline of the planned street.