Survey Data
Reg No
50011036
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Apartment/flat (converted)
Date
1795 - 1800
Coordinates
316089, 235331
Date Recorded
11/11/2011
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced two-bay four-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1798, with recent single-bay five-storey hipped extension to rear. Now in use as flats. Pitched roof of unknown material to front, with perpendicular pitch to rear and half-pitch to west. Stepped red brick chimneystack with clay pots to east party wall and rebuilt red brick parapet wall with squared granite coping. Cast-iron rainwater goods breaking through to front (north) elevation. Flemish bond red brick wall with granite plinth course and granite platband over rendered walls to basement. Top floor rebuilt. Rear (south) elevation of red brick in English garden wall bond. Gauged brick flat-arched window openings with patent rendered reveals and granite sills, granite block-and-start surrounds to basement window. Replacement timber sliding sash windows to front (north) elevation, six-over-six pane from basement to second floors, and three-over-three pane to top floor. Cast-iron convex balconettes to first floor, and cast-iron grilles to basement. Original timber sliding sash windows to rear elevation, six-over-six pane to basement, ground, and second floors, nine-over-nine pane to first floor, and three-over-three pane to top floor. Round-headed door opening with gauged brick voussoirs and limestone doorcase comprising replacement timber panelled door flanked by engaged Ionic columns on plinth blocks with responding replacement sidelights, stuccoed lintel forming support to replacement fanlight. Door opens onto limestone-flagged platform, having granite-stepped approach bridging basement area. Approach flanked by wrought-iron railings with cast-iron corner finials on moulded plinth with matching gate giving access to basement via turned stone staircase with recent cast-iron handrail and cast-iron door accessing under-street coal bunker. Rear of site flanked by masonry walls and enclosed by steel gate.
Appraisal
The last of Dublin’s squares to be developed, Mountjoy Square was built c.1789 at the northeast corner of Luke Gardiner’s growing estate and is linked to the Custom House by the recently opened Gardiner Street. The development, with its staggered junctions of secondary streets terminated by four-bay blocks and modest Georgian townhouses, commands an important presence in the city. No. 47 is one of only ten two-bay structures on the square and maintains an elegant but modest appearance subtly enlivened with an exposed limestone doorcase and convex balconettes. Along with No. 46, it is also one of only two extant buildings erected by Archibald Manning. Its ornate, fluid interior is said to boast roundels of putti in the first floor ceiling, marked by an octagon within a rectangle with a leafy centerpiece. The composition and massing of the structure are in keeping with its neighbours, forming an integral part of the rhythmic streetscape. The retention of timber sash windows throughout contributes to the building's architectural character and the retention of stone steps and plinth and cast-iron railing to the street edge provides an appropriate historic setting.