Charlemont Place, Armagh

The buildings, which were designed by William Murray (1789–1849) in the Georgian style, were built between 1827 and 1830.^[6][7] The design for each of the buildings involved a main frontage of three bays facing onto Charlemont Place; they were faced in ashlar limestone and each building featured a round headed doorway in the left bay flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature with a fanlight above; there were sash windows with cast iron balconies on the first floor.^[6] The cornice was decorated with dentils and modillions.^[8] Archiseek has described the row of houses as "one of the best Georgian terraces in Ireland outside of Dublin".^[9]

The street was named after the Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone, Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont.^[10] The buildings were initially occupied by senior military officers from Gough Barracks but later became the home of nuns from the Sacred Heart Convent in Armagh.^[10] After the Second World War, the county leaders at Armagh County Council, who had previously held their meetings in Armagh Courthouse,^[11] decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to acquire additional premises: the location they selected was Charlemont Place, conveniently located on the opposite side of College Hill to the courthouse, and the acquisition was completed in 1945.^[12]

After the county council was abolished in 1973, the buildings became the regional office of several government departments.^[13] As a government office the buildings became a target for potential terrorist attacks and they were damaged by a car bomb in 1989.^[8]