Survey Data
Reg No
50100600
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
In Use As
Office
Date
1790 - 1830
Coordinates
316798, 233370
Date Recorded
20/06/2016
Date Updated
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Description
Terraced three-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1810 as one of terrace of five, having full-height glazed extension of c. 1980 to rear. Extensively remodelled and in use as offices. Pitched roof to front span, hipped to west end, having brick parapet with granite coping and parapet gutters. Shouldered brick chimneystack to east with terracotta pots. Flemish bond red brick walling, having recent wigged pointing, on masonry plinth course over painted smooth-rendered basement walling. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and masonry sills. Replacement timber sliding sash windows with convex horns, six-over-six pane to ground and second floors, nine-over-six pane to first floor, three over-three to top floor, and three-over-six pane to basement with wrought-iron grilles. Round-headed doorway with stucco surround comprising engaged panelled pilasters with Adamesque Ionic capitals, stepped entablature with swags and rosettes to frieze, sidelights with oval-and-bar-motif, replacement petal fanlight, eight-panel replacement timber door with beaded muntin and brass furniture. Granite paving, inclined to street, with ornate cast-iron boot-scrape. Basement area enclosed by wrought-iron railings with decorative cast-iron posts on moulded granite plinth. Square-headed door opening beneath entrance platform. Rear enclosed by late twentieth-century buildings.
Appraisal
Although much of the original detailing of No. 59 was replaced during the renovation works of the 1990s, the overall character has been retained and it forms an important component of the streetscape. It displays a fine doorcase and fanlight, and intact setting details. Mount Street Upper was laid out in the 1780s and principally developed by a Mr Osburne and David Courtney linking the newly constructed Grand Canal to the upper-class residential developments that radiated from Leinster House. Built in pairs and rows over a period of thirty years, the fifty-four houses on the street were completed by 1834. The terrace is characterized by well-balanced proportions typical of the period, but the group at Nos. 58-62 boast more elaborate doorcases and greater window to wall ratios. Such variations within the groups in the street are a telling feature of its piecemeal development. Mount Street Upper is terminated by St. Stephen's Church at its east end, an impressive landmark focus making a key vista of Georgian Dublin.