Survey Data

Reg No

50010965


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic


Previous Name

Magnificat House


Original Use

House


In Use As

House


Date

1765 - 1770


Coordinates

315806, 235278


Date Recorded

22/09/2011


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Terraced three-bay four-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1768. Pitched slate roof behind red brick parapet wall with moulded granite coping. Red brick chimneystacks with clay pots shared with adjoining houses. Cast-iron rainwater goods throughout. Flemish bond red brick walls having moulded granite plinth course and platband over rendered walls to basement level. Gauged red brick flat-arched window openings with brick reveals and granite sills. Granite block-and-start surrounds to basement windows. Early replacement timber sliding sash windows throughout,six-over-six pane to basement, ground, first and second floors, and three-over-three pane to third floor. Round-headed door opening within tooled limestone doorcase comprising engaged Tuscan columns on plinth blocks with responding pilasters surmounted by frieze, entablature and open-bed pediment housing original three-pane timber fanlight. Replacement timber panelled door with timber four-pane sidelights, having tooled limestone stone reveals, opening onto granite-flagged platform with cast-iron bootscraper and granite stepped approach bridging basement area. Approach flanked by wrought-iron railings on moulded granite plinth having cast-iron corner posts. Interior with entrance hall having black and white limestone flagstone floor and Rococo plasterwork to ceiling and cornice. Fanlight to doorway to stair hall. Stairmhall having flagstone floor and curtail balustrade with round-headed window to half landing and Ionic pilasters to architrave. Rear room of ground floor having original floorboards, egg-and-dart cornice with modillions and Kilkenny limestone chimneypiece. Plasterwork removed from ceiling.

Appraisal

As one of the first buildings to be built on this terrace, this historic townhouse served in the mid-nineteenth century as a private residence and in the late twentieth century as Magnificat House, a premises of the Legion of Mary. The retention of various key historic features, such as its fine brick façade, an elegant doorcase and historic timber sash windows, has helped maintain the building's historic aspect and it continues to be an integral component of this important Georgian streetscape. Also of note are the fine granite window surrounds to the basement level which are a feature shared with several other houses in the terrace, notably Nos. 45-50. North Great George's Street itself, laid out in steep, stepped terraces, was developed from 1768 as a result of the granting of commercial leases on the avenue leading to the Mount Eccles Estate and in response to the expansion of the Gardiner Estate. There are fine extant Rococo interiors, particularly to the entrance hall, further enhancing the building's architectural and artistic merits.