User:Financefactz/sandbox/Turvey House

Turvey House (Tuirbhe)  was a substantially altered 16th century house in Donabate North County Dublin which was demolished in controversial circumstances by construction company, the Murphy Group, in 1987. The house was much altered during the late 18th century to create a Georgian nine-bay, three-storey over raised basement property.

The house is said to have been constructed with stone from the ruins of the nearby Grace Dieu Abbey by either Sir Christopher Barnewall or Sir Patrick Barnewall and is named after the townland of Turvey which is said to be a reference to the Irish mythical character Tuirbe Tragmar ("thrower of axes").

Structure
The top or third floor of the house featured distinctive lunette or diocletian windows which were created after the original triplicate Dutch style gables were removed from the front of the house to create a more fashionable flat roof when an additional floor was added to the house between 1725-50. The house contained tall narrow windows grouped in threes which at the time of demolition were two panes wide and five panes high. The house also contained an unusual baroque door surround.

Alterations were made to the house including the installation of a then fashionable Venetian window during alterations by Robert Birch in 1773.

The interior ceiling of the house contained an elaborate rococo ceiling in the library which was added during the eighteenth century. The large attic rooms in the house were said to have never been completely finished. The house also contained a secret or safe room.

The house had originally been purchased by the Murphy Group in the late 1960s. Dublin City Council, under the direction of George Redmond, then assistant Dublin city and county manager, finally gave the order for its demolition in 1987.

The structure incorporate an earlier tower house, likely from the 15th century, as well as much of the original 16th-century house associated with the Barnewell family. Much of the original rubble masonry was said to have been salvaged from the remains of the nearby Grace Dieu nunnery. Archaeological monitoring of rubble removal in 1993 revealed remains of a barrel vault over the ground floor