St Joseph's Home, Seaview, Warrenpoint, Newry, Co Down, BT34 3NQ

St Joseph's Home is a large and prominent 19th-century hotel standing at the corner of Prince's Street and Seaview in Warrenpoint. The building comprises two distinct blocks: the taller left block with its striking corner tower, and the lower right block designed to resemble a pair of typical seafront villas.

The Left Block

This is the larger and more imposing section, rising three-and-a-half storeys over three bays. It has a steeply pitched natural slate roof with overhanging eaves supported on slender timber brackets, and moulded metal rainwater goods. A wide rendered chimney stands between the central and right bays. The front elevation faces southeast and its rendered and painted walls feature band rustication with V-channelling, plus moulded sill courses between each floor and moulded hood courses over the windows.

The most prominent feature is the octagonal corner tower on the left, which clasps the building's corner with five canted faces, each containing a window. The tower has a steeply pitched octagonal roof covered in natural slate with iron cresting and eaves matching the main block. Below the eaves, each face displays a recessed decorative panel, and at first floor level the windows open onto an iron veranda with fine wrought iron balustrade.

A prominent attic gable projects at the front right, smooth rendered and painted with a coped gable and roundel inset at its apex. A tall rendered chimneystack rises from the eaves of its right pitch. The right bay is chamfered at its corner at ground and first floor levels, while at second floor the bay is inset, as is the dormer above. A flat roof over the first floor right bay is concealed behind a moulded parapet.

The main entrance is contained within a broad single-storey porch at ground floor right, with chamfered front corners. Its walls have a chamfered base course and are band rusticated at lower level, becoming smooth above a hood mould course running to the spring of the large semicircular-headed doorway. The doorway spandrels and chamfered corners each contain a small roundel with hood mould and foliated stops. The flat roof is concealed behind a quatrefoil fretted masonry parapet, upon which rests a religious statue of Mary. The doorway has a roll-moulded and chamfered reveal, and its archivolt is painted with the inscription 'STAR OF THE SEA PRAY FOR US'.

All windows are one-over-one segmental-headed sliding sashes with unpainted granite sills. There is one window to each exposed face of the tower, with the first floor windows opening onto the iron veranda. The central bay has a single window at each floor. At first floor right, above the entrance, three narrower windows are grouped together. The second floor right has a pair of windows, and another pair appears in the attic gable at right, these ones having a shelf sill supported on three decorative brackets.

The left (southwest) elevation is two bays wide with a pitched natural slate roof containing two small dormers—one central, one right—each with a hipped natural slate roof, slated cheeks, and a pair of timber casement windows. A tall rendered chimneystack on this pitch, parallel with the elevation, has V-channels running down its length marking four flues, a moulded coping, and a supporting slated gable to the rear. The right bay is abutted on its right side by the clasping tower. Most faces have windows, except the left faces at first and second floors which contain doors leading to metal escape stairs off the balcony. The remaining elevation has three windows at each floor.

The rear (northeast) elevation is abutted by numerous returns and additions, all with pitched roofs, rendered and painted walls, and mostly sliding sash windows. There is a small internal yard, a glazed link to the rear extensions, and a modern garage. Abutting the right side is a single-storey block with a pitched roof aligned parallel with the rear elevation, canted and hipped at the southwest end. Its canted southwest end has large segmental-headed window openings on each face, each containing a two-paned casement window with transoms over.

The Right Block

This symmetrical block resembles a pair of typical seafront villas without front doors. Its front elevation continues from the left block and also faces southeast. Four bays wide, the central two bays are narrower than the outer two. The pitched natural slate roof has rendered chimneys with moulded copings to either side of the central bays. Overhanging eaves carry half-round metal rainwater goods. Walls are band rusticated with a moulded string course between each floor.

The windows are two-over-two sashes with stop-chamfered reveals and heads, and unpainted granite sills. Those at second floor are slightly reduced in height. The left and right bays feature three-storey canted bay windows with a window on each face and a canted natural slate roof tying into the main roof. The central bays share three ground floor windows. At first and second floors, each central bay has a single window—the left one with a window to its left, the right one with a window to its right.

The right gable fronts onto Prince's Street and continues as a narrow bay to the right under a return roof. The gable displays a highly decorative timber bargeboard whose heavy frame is supported on three large wall-mounted granite corbels. The frame is chamfered with Gothic lancet panels and curving braces. Each floor of the end gable has three windows matching those on the façade.

The three-stage return extending to the rear is detailed as follows: The first stage is narrow with a pitched artificial slate roof aligned north-south, a rendered chimney on its end gable, and a plain bargeboard. Its left face (to Prince's Street) ties in with the right gable and is similarly detailed, with a ground floor doorway flanked by narrow one-over-one fixed leaded sidelights, a pair of glazed timber doors, and a leaded transom over. Two narrow windows appear at each upper floor.

The second stage is slightly lower with a pitched natural slate roof aligned north-south and a rendered chimney on its north end. Its left face continues from the first stage with similar detailing (though windows and string courses step down). It has three windows at each floor, with bars on the ground floor ones. The first floor window heads are contained within gabled wall-head dormers with pitched artificial slate roofs.

The third stage is taller than the second stage, with a pitched artificial slate roof aligned west-east. The east gable has a decorative timber-framed bargeboard inset with Gothic roundels. Rendered and painted chimneys stand on each end gable. Its left face is flush with the left face of the second stage (though windows and string courses step up), with two windows at each floor and bars on the ground floor ones. Windows on its gable are paired together.

The end (north) elevation of the third stage is abutted at ground floor by a rear hall. The wall above is lined rendered with band rusticated quoins at the left corner. Each upper floor has a single two-over-two central window. The second floor window head is contained within a gabled wall-head dormer with pitched artificial slate roof and timber bargeboard.

The hall has a hipped natural slate roof aligned north-south with a modern skylight on its left pitch (facing Prince's Street) and a high parapet wall to this elevation with plain coping. The left elevation is band rusticated and the left end has a doorway with a four-panelled varnished timber door (top two panels glazed) and a two-paned transom over, with deep stop-chamfered reveals and head. Five large equally spaced windows along this elevation each have two large fixed panes with a pair of narrow transoms over, and painted concrete sills.

Extensions

The rear extension is in two stages joined to the main block by the glazed link, with its roof aligned northeast-southwest. The first stage at the northeast end is modern (late 1970s to early 1980s) with a concrete roof, rendered walls, and modern windows. The second stage (late 1990s) is constructed sympathetically to the house with a pitched natural slate roof, rendered walls, a corner tower, and segmental-headed sash windows.

In the garden to the southwest stands a small timber garden shelter.

Setting

The front garden is wide, extends to the southwest, and curves with Seaview. It is enclosed by a rendered dwarf wall carrying railings with foliated finials and alternating hoop tops. Gate piers appear in pairs at either end of the front elevation—octagonal with canted conical copings, the left piers being taller than the right. Gates are missing at the left end and infilled with railings. Decorative wrought iron gates remain at the right end.