auction house and harbourmaster's office killybegs

Marcus Donaghy

Built circa 1979|80
Architect: Liam McCormick

Docked on Killybegs main pier and almost big enough to vie in scale with the largest super trawler, this is a building which arrests ones attention without knowing its provenance. More 'exuberant' than 'decorated' it makes shameless reference to its context without deferring to the fragmented surrounding fabric.

Typically of McCormick's work it is formally bold and highly articulated, underscored by characteristic clarity and restraint in use of materials. It comprises a linear shed terminated by a three-storey tower stacking lavatories and harbour master's offices with a pilot house on top containing a model of the harbour and displaying a panorama of the same. The shed has a serrated silhouette of cranked north-light roofing, supported on a rudimentary structure of steel portals and blockwork infill. It is clad monolithically in trapezoidal profiled metal sheeting the detail of which is simple, direct, and applied consistently from siding to roof and sliding doors.

The building serves aptly as a nave in which masses are said at the blessing of the boats every Summer, its opposing doors slid aside to frame the congregation against the backdrop of the harbour beyond.

Unpublished and taken largely for granted the building has by dint of its assertive form survived recent relining to hold its distinctive form along the waterline of Killybegs for at least as long as its new coat lasts.

Marcus Donaghy, architect.