Survey Data
Reg No
50920185
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
House
Historical Use
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1760 - 1800
Coordinates
315622, 233119
Date Recorded
26/08/2015
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay three-storey former house, built c. 1780, with shopfront to front (west) elevation and full-height return to rear elevation. Refronted c. 1850. Currently disused. Pitched roof hidden behind balustraded parapet, rendered chimneystacks with yellow clay pots, cast-iron and replacement uPVC rainwater goods. Rendered walls with raised and rusticated rendered quoins to front elevation and moulded sill course to first floor level, ruled-and-lined render to north elevation. Square-headed window openings with masonry sills having rendered architraves, lugged to first floor and replacement sliding timber sashes; two-over-one to second floor and one-over-one to first floor. Shopfront to ground floor comprising square-headed door openings flanked by square-headed display window openings, over masonry-clad stall risers. Timber-panelled door with overlight to north-bay providing upper floor access. Art Deco-style leaded stained-glass transom lights over shopfront openings, deep timber fascia and cornice, framed by red brick and granite pilasters having fluted brackets with pediments. Street-fronted and located on eastern side of Camden Street Lower.
Appraisal
A late eighteenth century house refronted in the 1850s. Thom’s Directory 1862 records Michael O'Toole, purveyor, at this address. The work of an experienced stucco worker is evident in the window mouldings, adding artistic interest to the façade. The shopfront has been reinstated in recent years, with much replacement fabric inserted but elements of the original remain including the fascia, brackets and pilasters. Such early components of the shopfront attest to the artisanship involved in shopfront design in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Camden Street was part of an ancient routeway, named St. Kevin’s Port, leading south from the city towards Ranelagh and Enniskerry. It was renamed Camden Street in the late eighteenth century, possibly commemorating Charles Pratt, the first Earl of Camden.