Survey Data

Reg No

50120201


Rating

Regional


Categories of Special Interest

Architectural, Technical


Original Use

Store/warehouse


In Use As

Apartment/flat (converted)


Date

1870 - 1890


Coordinates

316660, 236200


Date Recorded

26/11/2017


Date Updated

--/--/--


Description

Detached multiple-bay single-storey façade of former bonded warehouse, built c. 1880, having central three-bay very slightly projecting breakfront feature, and two-storey towers to ends. Now in use as apartments and commercial complex. Pyramidal roofs to towers, with clay tiles, moulded rendered eaves course supported on moulded render brackets, and wrought-iron weather vane finials. Rendered parapet throughout, having moulded granite cornice over moulded render eaves course. Rendered walling having render plinth course, with Doric pilasters to breakfront. Trio of round-headed window openings to first floor of towers, with replacement timber windows; square-headed window openings to main range with raised render surrounds, masonry sills and replacement six-over-six pane and four-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed doorways, nine pedestrian and six vehicular (or formerly vehicular), some likely recent, with replacement aluminium and mild steel fittings.

Appraisal

The façade of this former bonded warehouse dominates the streetscape and immediate neighbourhood, which is otherwise comprised of moderately sized early twentieth-century housing. A strong sense of symmetry is provided by the flanking blocks and central breakfront, lending the classically influenced façade a sense of grandeur. Bonded warehouses, controlled by the terms of the 1883 Revenue Act, were used to store goods before customs duty or tax was paid on them; goods could be divided, repackaged and aged there without incurring additional duty costs. This building may be associated with the whiskey distillery immediately to the north, suggesting that the Dublin Whiskey Distillery imported spirits as well as making their own product. It is an interesting and aesthetically pleasing reminder of the industrial heritage of Dublin City.