Survey Data

Reg No

50100603


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Artistic


Original Use

House


In Use As

Office


Date

1790 - 1830


Coordinates

316821, 233357


Date Recorded

10/06/2016


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Attached two-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1810 as one of terrace of three, with full-height glazed extension of c. 1980 to rear. M-profile pitched slate roof, hipped to east end of front span, having brick parapet with granite coping, shouldered brick chimneystack to west with terracotta pot, and concealed rainwater goods. Flemish bond red brick walling on masonry plinth course over rock-faced limestone basement walling. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in height to upper floors, with patent reveals and granite sills; block-and-start yellow brick surrounds to basement. Replacement timber sliding sash windows with simple horns, six-over-three pane to top floor, three-over-six pane to basement and six-over-six pane elsewhere; visible part of rear has timber sash window to top floor and fixed six-pane windows. Ornate cast-iron balconettes to first floor and wrought-iron grilles to basement. Round-headed doorway with painted masonry columns, Ionic capitals, plain entablature, leaded batwing fanlight and four-panel timber door with beaded muntin and brass furniture. Shared granite platform with decorative cast-iron boot-scrape and two steps to street level. Basement area enclosed by decorative spear-headed cast-iron railings on moulded granite plinth. Rear enclosed by late twentieth-century buildings.

Appraisal

An early nineteenth-century Georgian row house, forming part of a terrace of three (Nos. 55-57). Although some historic fabric has been lost, the overall character of No. 56 has been retained and it constitutes an important component of the streetscape. It displays a fine Ionic doorcase, fanlight, ornate balconettes and intact setting details. Laid out in the 1780s and principally developed by Mr Osburne and David Courtney, this street was built to link the newly constructed Grand Canal to the upper-class residential developments radiating from Leinster House since the construction of the latter in the mid-eighteenth century. Built in pairs and rows over a period of thirty years, the fifty-four houses within the street were completed by 1834. The refined terrace is characterized by well-balanced proportions and good doorcases, typical of the period. Variations within the street, such as differences in parapet heights, are a telling feature of its piecemeal development. The street is terminated at its east end by St. Stephen's Church, providing an impressive landmark focus that, together with the tall terraces of houses, creates a high-quality urban space and a key vista of Georgian Dublin.