Survey Data

Reg No

50080325


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Social


Previous Name

Phoenix Porter Brewing Company


Original Use

House


Historical Use

Office


Date

1740 - 1780


Coordinates

314260, 233949


Date Recorded

29/05/2013


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

End-of-terrace three-bay four-storey over basement house, built c.1760. M-profile pitched roof, hipped to west, with yellow brick chimneystacks, hidden behind raised parapet having carved granite cornice and platband to front (south) elevation, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Yellow brick, laid in Flemish bond to front, in English garden wall bond to west elevation, with carved granite plinth course over roughcast rendered wall to basement level. Square-headed window openings with yellow brick voussoirs, granite sills and two-over-two pane timber sash windows. Cast-iron railings to those at basement level. Round-headed door opening having yellow brick voussoirs and painted masonry doorcase comprising moulded surround, Ionic columns supporting entablature with fluted frieze and dentillated cornice over timber panelled door. Granite platform and nosed granite steps. Wrought-iron railings on carved granite plinth course flanking steps and surrounding basement area to front. Outbuilding to rear with M-profile pitched slate roof having corrugated-iron vents to ridge and wrought-iron railings to parapets, with painted brick walls.

Appraisal

This substantial house makes a notable contribution to the streetscape. Its formal, functional plan complements a relatively unadorned façade, with a regularity of design and proportion in the even fenestration arrangement. Carved granite detailing is used to good effect to subtly articulate the façade, while the timber sash windows and elegant Ionic doorcase lend a patina of age to the building. This building is listed in Thom’s Directory of 1876 as the offices of the Phoenix Porter Brewing Company of Watling Street, which was established in 1778 by Samuel Madder, a London brewer, and purchased in the early nineteenth-century by Daniel O'Connell's son. By the end of the nineteenth century it was the second largest brewery in Dublin. It was subsequently purchased by its rival and neighbour, the Guinness Brewery.