Villa Nova, house in County Donegal

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Detached three-bay two-storey rendered house, built c. 1880, having single-bay flat-roofed entrance porch to the centre of the main elevation (east), two-storey return to rear (west), single- and two-storey extensions to rear (west) and single-storey extension attached to the south end of the main block. Hipped natural slate roof with clay ridge tiles, smooth rendered chimneystack offset to the north of centre. Replacement rainwater goods. Lead-lined flat-roof to porch with dentils and cornice to eaves. Smooth rendered walling with channelled banded quoins to corners and projecting smooth rendered plinth to base. Shallow segmental-headed window openings with rendered architrave surrounds, painted sills and one-over-one pane horned timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed door opening to south face of porch having replacement timber panelled door and glazed sidelight adjacent to west side. Set back from road in extensive grounds to the west of Bundoran, adjacent to coast overlooking Donegal Bay to the east and north. Outbuilding to north and modern two-storey house to the south set within grounds. Main entrance gateway to the south with long approach avenue to house. Modern stone clad boundary wall to road-frontage to the south. Detached three-bay single-storey former gate lodge having hipped slate roof and shallow segmental-headed openings located adjacent to entrance to the south.

A well-proportioned and symmetrical house, of late nineteenth-century appearance that retains its original architectural character and form. The front elevation is enlivened by the good-quality, if understated, render decoration to the window openings and to the porch. The various extensions to the rear and to the south fail to substantially detract from its visual expression. The form of this building is typical of its type and date, and its appearance is similar to many contemporary parochial houses and middle-sized houses built by the middle classes throughout the country. It dates to a time when Bundoran was a popular ‘genteel’ seaside resort, and it may have been originally constructed as a holiday home. Located in an appealing seaside location overlooking Donegal Bay, this middle-sized house is an attractive feature along the main approach road into Bundoran from the west, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the town.

From the Buildings of Ireland (National Inventory of Architectural Heritage) record 40851034

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Photo credits

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Mr Red, Geograph · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
Kenneth Allen, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Kenneth Allen, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Donegal Live; individual photographer not named, www.donegallive.ie
Maker not stated on source page, www.flickr.com
N Chadwick, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
N Chadwick, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Kenneth Allen, Wikimedia Commons
Wanfried-Dublin, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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