Survey Data

Reg No

50060280


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic, Historical


Original Use

House


In Use As

Apartment/flat (converted)


Date

1800 - 1820


Coordinates

315697, 235785


Date Recorded

29/09/2014


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

End-of-terrace two-bay three-storey former house over raised basement, built c.1810, with dormer attic, and three-storey return to rear. Now in use as flats. M-profile hipped artificial slate roof with terracotta ridge and hip tiles, smooth rendered and brick chimneystacks with clay chimney pots over party wall. Flat-roofed dormer windows to front sides and rear of roof. Replacement rainwater goods. Roof set behind parapet wall with granite coping. Walling is red brick laid to Flemish bond over painted granite string course and smooth render to basement. Yellow brick to side elevation. Ruled-and-lined render to rear elevation and return. Square-headed window openings with rendered reveals, brick voussoirs, painted granite sills and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows with chamfered horns and some internal timber panelled shutters. Steel security railings to replacement basement window. Round-headed door opening with ovolo-moulded and ruled-and-line rendered surround, timber frame with raised-and-fielded panelled door, original decorative leaded petal fanlight over. Plaque adjacent to door reads, ‘Sean O’Casey House’. Door opens to concrete platform and step with pair of cast-iron griffin boot-scrapers. Split-level granite flagstone path to front gate, front garden and path bounded by granite plinth wall with wrought-iron railings. Gate within railings opens to path and basement well steps, square-headed door opening to basement with blocked up doorway. Smooth rendered wall with granite coping and wrought-iron railings to front of site with wrought-iron pedestrian gate. Vehicular entrance with rendered piers inserted to allow for parking space within front garden. Rear site bounded by roughcast-rendered wall. Terrace abutted to west by similar building No.424.

Appraisal

No.422 North Circular Road is one of the former homes of the renowned dramatist and socialist, Seán O’Casey. His celebrated Dublin Trilogy which comprised 'The Shadow of a Gunman' (1923), 'Juno and the Paycock' (1924) and 'The Plough and the Stars' (1926) was written at this house on the North Circular Road. Characterised by well-balanced proportions and restrained detailing, the house is a typical example of early nineteenth-century domestic architecture, found across the city. Complemented by the adjoining terrace, the ensemble makes a significant visual and architectural contribution to the streetscape and the appearance is further enhanced by the survival of the ornate fanlight.