Survey Data
Reg No
50100301
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1780 - 1790
Coordinates
316317, 233347
Date Recorded
08/06/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1785 as pair with No. 11 to east, with shallow bow to west bays of rear elevation, flat-roofed attic storey over bow, and one, two and three-storey additions to rear of west end of rear. Now in commercial office use. Pitched slate roof to front pile and hipped to west end, behind brick parapet with granite coping, and flat-roofed to rear, with shallow faceted roof over bow. Brick chimneystacks to party wall with No. 11. Concealed rainwater goods. Flemish bond brick walling with ashlar granite plinth course over painted and rendered basement walls; rendered to rear. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and granite sills, having decorative cast-iron balconettes to first floor. Replacement timber sliding sash windows, six-over-nine pane to ground floor, nine-over-nine pane to first floor, six-over-six pane to second and top floors, and one-over-one pane to basement; similar fenestration to rear. Round-headed door opening with brick archivolt, painted rendered masonry doorcase with engaged Ionic columns having acanthus flower-enriched capitals, entablature, frieze detailed with urn, festoons and aegicrania, foliate garlands and rams' heads, plain fanlight with scalloped archivolt, and ten-panel timber door with figurative brass knocker. Granite entrance platform with cast-iron boot-scrapes and three steps to street. Wrought-iron railings with decorative cast-iron corner posts on granite plinth enclosing basement area. Buildings to rear of plot.
Appraisal
Forming a cohesive pair with No. 11, No. 12 was built by the stuccodore and master builder Charles Thorp. Characterized by finely balanced proportions and graded fenestration, the decorative cast-iron balconettes and good Ionic doorcase with an especially detailed lintel add ornamental interest to an otherwise restrained façade, which is highly representative of late eighteenth-century Dublin townhouses. Retains interior decorative details. Thorp was a significant figure in the creation of neo-Classical interiors in Dublin and key examples of his work include the Blue Coat School and Royal Exchange. A worthy example of its type, No. 12 is an important component of the Georgian character of Hume Street and contributes to the wider architectural heritage of south Dublin, while also constituting an important record of Thorp's skill as a stuccodore.