An Taisce in Kilkenny has said that it is not in favour of the decision taken by Kilkenny County Council, in conjunction with the Butler Gallery, which proposes to relocate the Butler Gallery from Kilkenny Castle to Evans Home, as An Taisce believes it is ‘unsympathetic to the older building and ancient priory to which it will be integrated.’
A Part 8 notice has been issued regarding the development and McCullough Mulvin architects was commissioned to produce a plan to restore and adapt the existing building, together with a new building to house the gallery’s collection. The plans were put on public display and observations could be made until today, Friday November 19.
“The committee of this association has considered these plans at considerable length and although the restoration of the two-storey old building is admirably sensitive and appropriate, and greatly welcomed, the proposed new building is a three storey metal-clad box-like structure with very little glazing or modulation on its facade,” An Taisce said in a statement. “It is much higher than Evans Home and the nearby Carnegie Library, and will dominate views from the centre of the city and from the river.
“An Taisce is of the view that the new structure will not be in harmony with the surrounding streetscape and is instead an adversarial intervention into what is a designated architectural conservation area.
“We believe that the proposed design for the new building at Evans Home is unimaginative and unsympathetic to the older building and ancient priory with which it will be integrated. We believe that Kilkenny and Evans Home deserve a more appropriate and sympathetic new build for such an important project. We urge those responsible to reconsider what is proposed.”
Evans Home is a classical style building in Kilkenny city adjacent to St John’s medieval Augustinian priory and national monument in John Street. Originally built as a barracks, it was converted in 1818 as an almshouse. In recent years it was used as sheltered housing for elderly people, and later as a storage space for the public library. The grounds around it are used as a garden plants nursery for the local authority’s environment function.
