Manor of St. John, Waterford, Co Waterford
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 200. “(Bonaparte Wyse/IFR) A Tudor-Revival house by A.W. Pugin, built for Sir Thomas Wyse, MP, the politician, diplomat and author who married Napolean’s niece, Laetizia, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte. The house, which replaced an earlier house on a different site….[see below]. In the present century, the Bonaparte Wyses leased the house to Sir Henry Forde, and afterwards to Mr and Mrs Arthur Crosbie, who bought it 1947 and re-sold it to Waterford Corporation ca 1965.”
Saint John’s Manor, Church Road, WATERFORD CITY, Waterford, County Waterford
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Detached five-bay two-storey red brick Gothic Revival house, c.1840, on a symmetrical plan with single-bay two-storey gabled projecting entrance bay to centre. Extensively renovated, 1998, to accommodate use as community centre. Now disused. Hipped roof to main block with replacement clay tile, 1998, clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods, 1998. Pitched (gabled) clay tile roof to entrance bay with decorative clay ridge tiles, cut-stone coping to gable having finial to apex, and replacement uPVC rainwater goods, 1998. Red brick Flemish bond walls to front (south-east) elevation with cut-limestone dressings including stringcourse to first floor, quoins to corners to entrance bay, and vitrified blue brick diamond panels to first floor flanking bays. Painted rendered walls to remainder. Square-headed window openings with cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having hood mouldings over, mullions forming bipartite arrangement (pointed heads to first floor; tripartite arrangement to first floor entrance bay), and replacement uPVC casement windows, 1998. Triangular-headed opening to gable to entrance bay with cut-limestone surround having chamfered reveal, hood moulding over, and fitting not discerned. Ogee-headed door opening in square-headed recessed panel with two cut-limestone steps, cut-limestone block-and-start surround having hood moulding over, and replacement iron rolling door/shutter, 1998. Set back from road in own grounds.
Appraisal
A well-composed, middle-size house, attributable to Agustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 – 1852), which is distinguished by the construction in red brick with fine cut-limestone and vitrified blue brick dressings, producing an appealing polychromatic and textured effect. Now disused, the house nevertheless contributes to the character of an area that has been comprehensively developed in the late twentieth century. The house is of additional importance for its historical associations with the Wyse family.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=M
Thomas Wyse is recorded as the lessor of this property in 1850 when it was vacant and valued at almost £32. . In 1814 Leet also noted it as the seat of Thomas Wyse. The house at the site is labelled Roanmore on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. A much larger property, labelled St. John’s Manor, appears on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. This house was constructed in the nineteenth century to replace an ancient manor at the site, also belonging to the Wyse family. The building is still extant and now the focus of a Youth Services Project.
Irish Historic Houses 