Survey Data
Reg No
50070437
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
House
In Use As
Surgery/clinic
Date
1790 - 1810
Coordinates
315493, 235368
Date Recorded
09/12/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Terraced four-bay three-storey over basement former house, built c.1800, having former integral carriage-arch, now infilled. Now in use as flats, clinic and shop. Flat roof having parapet to front (north) elevation. Cut granite coping. Brown brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Painted cut granite plinth course over lined-and-ruled rendered walls to basement level. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills and timber sash windows. Six-over-six panes, tripartite to upper floors to west of door. One-over-one pane tripartite window to ground floor. Round-arched door opening, having painted masonry pilasters supporting a fluted frieze with paterae and cornice. Plain fanlight. Timber panelled door. Cut granite steps to entrance platform having metal railings on granite plinth wall. Basement area enclosed from pavement by cut granite plinth wall with metal railings and gates. Recent external stairs provide access from pavement to basement area. Recent timber shopfront infill to carriage arch.
Appraisal
This former house makes an important contribution to the streetscape. Its proportions and details are shared with neighbouring properties on Blessington Street resulting in a coherent terrace, however its tripartite sashes and carriage arch add individuality and interest. Early fabric survives in the door surround and structural brickwork. Blessington Street was laid out in the late eighteenth century appearing in the alphabetical list of streets in Wilson's Dublin Directory for the first time in 1795. It terminates to the west end at Blessington Street Basin, constructed in 1810 as a city reservoir supplied from the nearby canal, it is now a public park.