Survey Data
Reg No
50100173
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1860 - 1880
Coordinates
316233, 233634
Date Recorded
07/06/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1760, rebuilt c. 1870, with three-bay ground floor and two-bay upper floors, and having slightly lower return to south end of rear. Now in commercial office use. Slate roof, hipped to centre, single-pitched to north and sharing hipped roof to south with No. 31; brick parapet to front with granite coping over cogged brick course, with parapet gutters; brick chimneystacks to north; and cast-iron hopper and downpipe. Flemish bond red brick walling, with painted smooth render to basement having painted masonry coping over; rendered to rear. Square-headed window openings with patent reveals, granite sills and replacement one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows, diminishing in height to upper floors and having profiled horns. Wrought-iron balconettes to first floor openings with decorative cast-iron side rails. Replacement timber casement window to basement. Elliptical-headed doorcase with brick archivolt, moulded reveals, painted timber panelled pilasters, foliate scrolls, lintel cornice, plain fanlight, and two-panel timber door with round-headed bolection-moulded panels. Entrance approached by single step from street, with concrete entrance platform. Basement area bounded by decorative cast-iron railings over painted masonry plinth.
Appraisal
This stretch of Kildare Street is characterized by a cohesive row of late eighteenth-century brick houses that were rebuilt in the Victorian period and are distinguished by the cogged brick eaves and three-bay openings to their ground floors. No. 32 is further defined by the fine elliptical-headed doorcase and the cast-iron balconettes to the first floor windows. The setting remains intact, with cast-iron railings to the basement area. Its brickwork provides a pleasant contrast with the stonework of the more monumental buildings on the street. Despite the insertion of some replacement fabric, including a concrete entrance platform, replacement sash windows and concrete sills, this terrace is relatively well retained, making a strong contribution to the character of Kildare Street and the wider historic core of south Dublin.