Grey Square

Discussion for Donabate/Portrane Local History
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Sleepy
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Anyone able to tell me when Grey Square was built? The deeds we got when we bought were for the land rather than the buildings and were dated in the late 1800's while the Statement of Character for the Architectural Conservation Area states:
Grey Square was built as accommodation for the staff of St. Ita's Hospital. There were several
schemes of housing built in the grounds for the staff, dating mostly to the early part of 20th
century, other examples being the adjoining Red Square and the houses along the main avenue.
The Grey Square development does not appear on the 1908 edition of the Ordnance Survey map.
This was revised in 1937 by which time the square had been built (1940 edition). A site plan dating from January 1953, by the architect Vincent Kelly, shows The Grey Square, described as the Lower
Square.
...

The houses are offormal design and are good examples of the domestic architecture of the 1920s.
So, clearly they were built within a 29 year window, most likely within a single decade but it'd be great to know the actual year of build. For both my own curiosity and to be able to give the house insurance people an honest answer but also that as we're surely approaching the centenary of the square, it'd be nice for those of us living there to mark it somehow (any excuse for a pint!)
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Ken
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I'm sure there must be somewhere you can get a pretty exact build date. I wonder if the planning department in FCC would be a good start? They could possibly point you in the right direction.
Regards,

Ken.
Sleepy
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I'd have assumed the planning department would have been the ones responsible for the ACA document?
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Ken
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Sleepy wrote:I'd have assumed the planning department would have been the ones responsible for the ACA document?
Possibly, but there are other resources. The likes of Griffith's Valuation are historical records of property that may be some indication.
Regards,

Ken.
Sleepy
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Griffiths Valuations doesn't appear to have anything at all for the street but thanks for the suggestion.

Google was obviously my first port of call but it doesn't throw up much beyond some estate agents records of sales in the last decade or so. The Local History guide to Donabate and Portrane doesn't mention much about the square either.

I was hoping some of the older members of the forum might have some memories / old photos etc.
Galleryman
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Have you tried looking at the old OS maps of the area? Certainly wouldn't give an accurate year, but by process of elimination could narrow it down quite a bit.
Sleepy
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Grey Square doesn't feature on the 1908 Ordnance Survey map but it's on the 1940 edition which was revised in 1937, so sometime within those 29 years!
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