Appraisal of Candidate Architectural Conservation Areas South Dublin County Council Development Plan Review
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Appraisal of candidate Architectural Conservation Areas South Dublin County Council Development Plan Review A review prepared by John Cronin & Associates on behalf of South Dublin County Council April 2015 Contents Background ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Butterfield Avenue and environs ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Fortfield Road and environs .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Hazelhatch Bridge ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Kimmage Road West and Whitehall Road ...................................................................................................................... 8 Lucan Village Extension ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 Newcastle Village ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Palmerstown Village .............................................................................................................................................................. 15 Rathcoole Village ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Rathfarnham Road, Park and Ballytore Road ........................................................................................................... 19 Riverside Cottages ................................................................................................................................................................... 20 St. Patrick’s Cottages, Grange Road ................................................................................................................................ 22 Whitechurch Road and Taylor’s Lane ............................................................................................................................ 25 South Dublin County Council Appraisal of candidate Architectural Conservation Areas | 2 Background South Dublin County Council engaged John Cronin & Associates to support a review of the Record of Protected Structures (RPS) and Architectural Conservation Areas (ACAs) as part of the statutory review of the South Dublin County Council Development Plan. The review of the South Dublin County Development Plan, pursuant to Section 11 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) commenced on 5th September 2014. This process will take up to 2 years and will conclude with the publication of the South Dublin County Council Development Plan 2016 – 2022. In relation to the review of potential candidates for ACA designation, South Dublin County Council tasked John Cronin & Associates to carry out an assessment a total of 12 no. areas that the Council considered merit more detailed assessment with a view to possible formal designation under Part IV of the Act and in accordance with requirements and criteria set out in the Architectural Heritage Protection Guidelines for Planning Authorities (Department of the Environment, 2004). The twelve areas were as follows: Butterfield Avenue Fortfield Road Hazelhatch Kimmage Road West/Whitehall Road Lucan Village Extension Newcastle Lyons Palmerstown Village Rathcoole Village Rathfarnham Park and Ballytore, Rathfarnham Riverside Cottages St. Patrick’s Cottages/Grange Road Whitechurch Road and Taylor’s Lane A significant amount of baseline research has been compiled by SDCC (in accordance with the Designation Procedures for Architectural Conservation Areas (Planning Guidelines No. 9, page 57). The project team drew on this work and specifically undertook the following actions: Inspect the extent of each selected area Established boundaries Identified the character of the area Noted buildings of particular significance to the character of the area Noted important streetscapes, vistas, planting and the like Consider setting of the area (views in and out of it) Identify parts of the area that detract from its character and special interest At the outset of the project it was agreed that there was no need to prepare an architectural inventory of the structures and features within each area as this would involve significant expense and in addition most areas have been previously recorded by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage). The following sections outline a summary of the work undertaken and contains recommendations regarding whether a particular candidate area should be designated as an ACA. Finally in designating new or expanded ACAs, it is considered critical to review whether such a designation will improve or provide a more appropriate level of protection to the special South Dublin County Council Appraisal of candidate Architectural Conservation Areas | 3 interest of the areas concerned. Many of the areas looked at in this process consisted of terraces or groupings of dwellings (or “cottages”) that were designed and built as distinct entities or areas. The ACA designations proposed within this document will serve to provide a more appropriate (indeed better-suited) and consistent form of protection for such groupings of domestic/residential terraces and houses. The report authors are strongly of the opinion that where groups or terraces of residential buildings that are currently designated as protected structures will now be included in new or amended ACAs that the Planning Authority remove such structures from the Record of Protected Structures in recognition of the fact that the special interest value of such buildings will be afforded protection via the ACA designation. The ACA designation will facilitate the control of inappropriate development and material changes to the exteriors of such buildings and associated public and private open space. This report highlights and identifies protected structures that should be removed from the RPS where and when the recommended designation of ACA is adopted by the Planning Authority. Acknowledgements The project team wishes to express their gratitude to the steering group for this project, in particular: Ms Irenie McLoughlin, Architectural Conservation Officer Ms Karen Kenny, Senior Executive Planner Mr James Phelan, Executive Planner Mr Feargal Ó'Súilleabháin, Architectural Services Department South Dublin County Council Appraisal of candidate Architectural Conservation Areas | 4 Butterfield Avenue and environs Summary opinion on its potential designation as an Architectural Conservation Area This area comprises various buildings types from different periods. It remained a quiet rural road on the outskirts of Rathfarnham village with only a few buildings (including Butterfield House, now a protected structure and old Orchard House) until the late 1920s/early 1930s when a development of two-storey, semi-detached houses was constructed on Butterfield Drive, Butterfield Crescent and Butterfield Park. Significant architectural details of interest on these arts-and-crafts and art-deco inspired dwellings include the use of stained glass, circular windows, deep recessed porches and unusual stepped battlement on adjoining walls between houses. There are also a limited number of cottages [House Numbers 214, 216, 182 and 184] from the early twentieth-century South Dublin Rural Council building scheme dotted along the road. These cottages feature the typical style of the then county architect T.J. Byrne who designed many examples of such high-quality, working-class housing. Having conducted background research and detailed survey work, we do not recommend that South Dublin County Council (SDCC) give consideration to the formal designation of an architectural conservation area (ACA) for this housing scheme, for the following reasons: moderate significance discreet, limited development pressure, absence of landmark buildings no significant loss of building fabric or dereliction South Dublin County Council Appraisal of candidate Architectural Conservation Areas | 5 Fortfield Road and environs Summary opinion on its potential designation as an Architectural Conservation Area As part of the current development plan review process, John Cronin & Associates (JCA) have been commissioned by South Dublin County Council to conduct research, field inspection and produce recommendations on a number of potential architectural conservation areas (ACAs). The following is a short summary account of our assessment of the Fortfield Road area. This area consists of three linear developments opposite Terenure College with mostly semi- detached houses on Fortfield Road, Fortfield Drive and Fortfield Park. The houses on Hyde Street include Fortfield Lodge which was located in the grounds of the no longer extant Fortfield House, as well as a modern cottage build and an older structure (possibly