Ambitious plans have been unveiled for the refurbishment of an historic Cork City property, once linked to the world’s largest butter market, as a community and creative space that could include recording studios.
Cork City Council’s plans for the Weighmaster’s House at No 2 Church St, behind the city’s famous Butter Market building and in the shadow of the iconic Shandon steeple, are being advanced as part of a Part 8 process — a local authority’s way of applying for planning permission.
Submissions from the public have been invited.
Once they are considered, a report will be prepared for city councillors early in the new year for decision.
The Weighmaster’s House, which fronts onto Church St, is part of a protected structure within the Shandon Architectural Conservation Area (ACA).
The planning documents say the refurbishment has been designed to deliver a significant community resource and creative space which could be used as a recording studio, for work desks, meetings, events, and exhibitions.
They say the layout will ensure it can be adapted for use as a large multi-use flexible space or “market hall” with an entrance foyer and café, a first-floor open plan desk space, and other office spaces.
They add that the house will be refurbished in line with best conservation practice, transforming it into “a versatile and multi-functional but purposeful and accessible community and creative space” that will link with and compliment the proposed enterprise innovation hub in the Butter Exchange — which was granted planning two years ago.
Butter market evolution
The Butter Market was established at the end of the 18th century, around the same time that Cork became Ireland’s major Atlantic trading port.
According to the Part 8 documents, there is a record of a “North Weigh House” on the site in 1721 and this is possibly why a butter market evolved on this site.
The market grew to become the largest in the world and a major centre of butter distribution on the international market.
The Butter Market Exchange building opened in 1770 but, despite its scale and importance, it was not until the early 19th century that a unified covered area was built.
By the mid 1800s, the market was extensively remodelled and extended to the designs of John Benson — with the addition of the classical façade and portico that are still visible today — and the Weighmaster’s House was incorporated into the market.
The Butter Exchange was operating 24 hours a day at the time, trading almost 500,000 firkins each year.
The exchange had a weighmaster who checked the weights and measures to ensure they were being honestly traded and he lived in the house, where the accommodation appears to have been located on the first and second floors, with an internal bay window overlooking the market interior.
The Butter Exchange finally closed in 1924. Sometime after, the western bay — the location of the Weighmaster’s House — was walled off from the rest of the market.
In the 1930s, Sunbeam Wolsey occupied the former market building to make woollen clothes.
Later, T O’Gorman and Sons made hats and caps under the ‘Shandon’ brand until it was destroyed by the fire of 1976.
The entrance portico with its east boundary wall and the western bay, including the Weighmaster’s House, survived the fire.
The house appears then to have been used by various businesses between the mid-1940s and 1974, including soft drinks firm Deasy’s and Harrington’s Bakery, before later being used as a dance studio.
There was a proposal in 1999 to convert the building into a home for the Graffiti Theatre Company, but the premises has been vacant since the late 1990s and it has suffered considerable water damage.
The Weighmaster’s House, which is substantially intact, has also suffered from water ingress.
In 1980, the then Cork Corporation bought the remains of the Butter Exchange to secure the preservation of its facade and portico. With the help of the IDA, the site was developed as a new craft centre which operated from 1984 to 2008.
Restoration hopes
It is hoped the refurbishment of the Weighmaster’s House will lead to the faithful restoration of its roof, including the restoration of its slate covering and clerestory glazing, and the restoration of its small pane sash windows.
Blocked lunette windows to the western wall of the former Butter Market area will be reopened and reinstated.
The staircase and any salvageable surviving historic fabric — such as floor joists, floorboards and joinery items — will be retained, and the chimney to the Church St elevation will be reinstated to restore the 19th-century character of the property.
The large opening to the ground floor, which provides access off Church St, will be retained as a public entrance to the building.
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